When Riddles Come Rumbling: Poems to Ponder FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature
Have you ever been stumped by a really hard riddle, only to find out it was talking about something simple, like something you have laying around the house? Riddles can challenge our minds to think of everyday things in a new way. Poetry can do the same thing. That is why this wonderful collection of riddle poems that "weaves words/into puzzles" is so fascinating. Parents and children can read them and try to piece together all of the clues to come up with the correct answer. For instance, can you figure this out—"I boom,/ I pop,/ I stay up late—/ my neon colors/ decorate?" Each page provides a new challenge, first to understand the lyric and then to think of what it is describing. Fortunately, Karen Dugan's wonderful illustrations give us further clues when we are stumped. Overall, this book is an excellent exercise in poetry and a great introduction to riddles and logic puzzles. Its fun rhymes and vivid pictures are sure to provide hours of enjoyment. 2001, Boyds Mills Press, $15.95. Ages 7 up. Reviewer: Sheree Van Vreede
School Library Journal
Gr 3-6-Dotlich presents 29 short, descriptive, rhyming poems about everyday ideas and objects such as a telephone, soup, fireworks, a hula hoop, and an octopus, ending with a poet. Readers must guess what each poem is about and are helped by the realistic pictures that provide a two-inch border around each one. In addition to the riddle element, each picture also contains jumbled alphabet letters that spell out the poem's subject. Several of the entries are not obvious but the illustrations do help readers to ponder the solutions. If all else fails, the answers appear in fine print at the bottom of the copyright page. Children will enjoy these riddle poems either one-on-one or in a group setting.- Cathie Reed, The Montessori School, Lutherville, MD Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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