Frankenstein Makes A Sandwich: and other stories you're sure to like, because they're about monsters, and some of them are also about food. You like food, don't you? Well, all right then. by Adam Rex. 2006. Copy supplied by publisher, Harcourt, Inc.
The Plot:
A number of poems about a variety of monsters. Each monster gets a different type of unique poem; all are very funny.
A taste of the book:
The Invisible Man Gets a Haircut
"My hair is a fright!"
said Griffin one night.
"At least I assume that it is.
It feels awfully long,
and the part is all wrong,
and it's knotted with tangles and frizz."
The rest of the poem; well, you'll have to read the book!
The Good:
Brilliant. Why did I wait so long to read this one? (Oh, yeah, the kids took it.) A Best Book Read in 2007.
The Phantom of the Opera: poor guy. Each time it's his turn in the book, it's ruined because he has a song stuck in his head that twists his poem. From "It's a world gone crazy, a world gone wrong" (It's A Small World) to "All around the Opera House" (Pop Goes the Weasel) to... well, you get the picture.
This can work for all ages, but the older, the better, because of the references to other works, such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The illustrations; all done by Rex, all different, all great. The Phantom of the Opera (yes, I admit, he's my favorite) is done black and white, like a silent movie; the Mummy is against a background that looks like papyrus; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Henderson looks like a 19th century newspaper.
Plus, there are a ton of details hidden in the pictures. When the Invisible Man gets a haircut, a ton of other characters are in the background, including a snake-headed Medusa coming in the door. And, extremely amusing to me, is the paper that says the Bride of Frankenstein wants her hair like Britney Spears.
Peter Parker and Cheetah fight over this one. And Peter Parker calls it the Ghost Book, because on page 14 there is a ghost. He is also very amused by the idea of the invisible man getting a haircut.
The Poetry Friday round up is at Two Writing Teachers.
Links:
Author Blog
Blog from the Windowsill review
A Fuse #8 Production review
Kelly Fineman: interview with Adam Rex
MotherReader review
PlanetEsme review
Publisher's webpage, with author interview
Swarm of Beasts review
What Adrienne Thinks About That review
3 comments:
Thanks for linking to me. And yes, the book is genius. Not just for the main poems, but for the "hidden" ones as well (there are several in the Phantom's pages, for sure). I'm so looking forward to the sequel!
I made sure that this book made it on our Summer Reading List this past summer (I think I threatened a hunger strike if it didn't get on the list). I read parts of it to my daughter's 5th grade class, and they loved it - esp. the Phantom's parts.
Okay. Gotta buy this book. Love the title!
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