Review by Booklist Review
PreS-Gr. 3. Quiet in tone and, like traditional haiku, taking inspiration from the natural world, these 17 poems express the points of view of individual animals, from mouse to moth, from skunk to crow. Each turn of the page brings a new verse, illustrated with a variety of media but primarily brushed ink and watercolors. The wide, double-page spreads offer plenty of space for illustrations, but Rand approaches the compositions with admirable subtlety and restraint in the use of color and detail, and he creates a series of dramatic scenes. In the title verse, a little mouse cowers on the dark side of his mouse hole while a cat's nose, mouth, and whiskers appear in his lighted doorway. White letters on the black page proclaim, If not for the cat, / And the scarcity of cheese, / I could be content. The best of these poems play with sounds and words in an illuminating, satisfying manner, and even the more prosaic have the requisite 17 syllables, which teachers will appreciate. The appealing, accessible haiku verses and the large-scale, beautiful artwork will make this the go-to book for haiku to read aloud in classrooms. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2004 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
At once elegant and droll, this fine collaboration spotlights various animals through 17 haiku, each set against a stunning full-spread, close-range illustration of the featured creature in its natural habitat. Author and artist tip their hats to Eastern traditions with the poetic form and with mix-media compositions that echo Chinese silkscreen. The book takes its title from the first line of the inaugural poem ("If not for the cat,/ And the scarcity of cheese,/ I could be content"), and Rand's (Here Are My Hands) wry image of a mouse looking out from the darkness that dominates the spread, safe behind the wall, to the whiskered snout of a cat perched by the mouse hole, provides ideal accompaniment. By contrast, the brilliantly lit scene that follows highlights a glorious tangle of nasturtiums visited by a hummingbird. Prelutsky's (Scranimals) versatile verse adopts a pleasing range of first-person voices. Against a symphony of blues, the words of the jellyfish emulate its motion as it seems to swim across the spread ("Boneless, translucent,/ We undulate, undulate,/ Gelatinously"). A moth asks ponderously, "How foolish I am./ Why am I drawn to the flame/ Which extinguishes?"; Rand visually links the color of the moth with the halo around the candle, making its attraction seem inevitable. Though it's not difficult to identify the critters (specified on the final page), younger children especially will have fun naming each species. Deceptive in their simplicity, these haiku will send aspiring wordsmiths off to try their own. Ages 3-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-Each of the 17 haiku in this collection explores the essence of an animal, the words forming a sort of riddle answered in Rand's accompanying double-page illustration. The title poem, "If not for the cat/And the scarcity of cheese,/I could be content," features a mouse looking at a bewhiskered nose through a hole; a jellyfish drifts across a spread in "Boneless, translucent,/We undulate, undulate,/Gelatinously." Prelutsky shows his command of word choice through a minimalist form that is perfectly matched by Rand's control of his mixed-media artwork to create a wonderful celebration of the art of haiku. This book, like George Shannon's Spring (Greenwillow, 1996) and Dawnine Spivak's Grass Sandals (Atheneum, 1997), shows the continuity and vitality of this ancient poetic form.-Kathleen Whalin, York Public Library, ME (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary) On each of seventeen double-page spreads, a different animal describes itself in a haiku. Prelutsky's poems, which follow the traditional five-seven-five syllable structure, use words that convey meaning through both sense and sound. Alliteration in the beaver haiku (""I have no hatchet / And yet I fell a forest. / My teeth are my tools"") sounds quick and methodical. The jellyfish poem (""Boneless, translucent, / We undulate, undulate, / Gelatinously"") has an especially euphonic effect, its words transmitting to both mind and ear a soft, watery quality, the rhythmic lines swimming gracefully along. Words and images in the eagle haiku (""From nests in the clouds / We survey our dominion / With telescope eyes"") radiate a majestic superiority; internal rhyme in the crow haiku (""Raucously we caw. / Your straw men do not fool us. / We burgle your corn"") imitates the bird's repetitive call.Rand's art -- a mix of ink drawings, watercolors, and other techniques -- is equally eloquent; some illustrations are fittingly reminiscent of Japanese ink paintings, with their transparent brush work and elegant, calligraphic lines. The animals are portrayed realistically, with the rare exceptions (such as a smiling sloth) perhaps reminders that these poems are expressing human, not necessarily scientific, perceptions. Author and artist's perceptions, here, are particularly adroit and memorable. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Prelutsky changes pace and adopts a philosophical tone in a set of animal riddles framed as first-person haiku: "Gaudily feathered, / With nothing at all to say, / I can't stop talking." Answers are provided at the end, but they're superfluous, as Rand fills each spread with gorgeous inked-and-brushed figures; the parrot's plumage is more iridescent than "gaudy," a skunk's white stripes and tail explode like fireworks against a solidly black background, a mouse peers anxiously through its dimly lit hole, inches away from a feline nose. "If not for the cat, / And the scarcity of cheese, / I could be content." As the solutions are there on the page, this works best if children don't see the picture until they've heard the riddle, and had a chance to guess who's posing it. But even in this uncharacteristic form, Prelutsky's poetry is as engaging as ever, Rand has outdone himself, and the collaboration is likely to become as much of a storytime favorite as Beatrice Schenk De Regniers's classic It Does Not Say Meow (1972). (Picture book/poetry. 5-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
