Review by Booklist Review
Who knew there were so many colorful ways to describe stinky animals? In these amusing poems, Yolen and her daughter Stemple vividly describe a variety of animals that give off revolting smells. According to the bombardier beetle poem, ""The stink it expels / Like a squirt of bug mace / Is a big, boiling blast / In the predator's face."" A millipede haiku states, ""This scared ball of bug / Sends you a cyanide gift / Smell my wrath and die."" Other stars of the smelly show include, of course, the skunk, ferret, and stinkbug, but also less recognizable critters like the shore earwig, stinkpot turtle, and hoatzin. Nobati's big, bold, exaggerated illustrations make the fetid odors almost waft off the page. Back matter explains why these animals emit such awful smells, and offers facts about each animal, including smelly word glossaries and a ""foul-scented"" bibliography. Readers will be simultaneously laughing while they hold their noses through this fun read. The animals may stink, but the poetry certainly does not.--Sharon Rawlins Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
What is that pong? These critters smell wrong!"Eek, you reek, / You made a funk. / Where you have been / Things stink, stank, stunk." Yolen and daughter Stemple (Monster Academy, 2018, etc.) team up again for a collection of poems thatum, celebrate those animals large and small that make the world a smellier place. The requisite skunk and stinkbug are joined by their lesser-known putrid pals. There are the stinkpot turtle, or Sternotherus odoratus ("There you are, oh odoratus, / With your musky turtle status. / Small mud-loving omnivore / That raccoons equally adore. / You pump out bad perfumes galore / When chased down by a predator"), and the hoatzin, a very smelly bird that digests like a cow and smells so foul no animal will eat it. A trio of haiku about icky insects adds to the fun (and info), as do longer poems on ferrets, musk oxen, wolverines, Tasmanian devils, and more. Nobati's green-tinged, digitally painted pencil drawings depict the reeking wretches and virtually make the stink visible. A paragraph of information on each creature graces the close, as does a glossary of smelly words and a fetid further reading list. The tone is fresh, however, and the foolish foulness may just hook those who think poetry stinks.Rancid rhymes and syncopated stank and plenty of eeeew just for you. (Informational picture book/poetry. 6-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
