Please Bury Me in the Library - Hardcover

J. Patrick Lewis has authored more than fifty books of poetry for children. In 2011, he was named the Children’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation and was given the NCTE Excellence in Children's Poetry Award. He lives in Westerville, Ohio.Visit his website at www.jpatricklewis.com.

KYLE M. STONE is the illustrator of Please Bury Me in the Library, written by J. Patrick Lewis. He lives in Michigan.

Grade 2-5–A semi-swell collection of 16 poems celebrating books, reading, language, and libraries. Subjects range from Otto the Flea (who writes, of course, his "Ottobiography") to "The Big-Word Girl" (who takes her Webster's to the movies) to "Great, Good, Bad" books ("A bad book owes to many trees/A forest of apologies"). The brief selections encompass various forms, from an eight-word acrostic to haiku to rhyming quatrains and couplets. The tone is generally light, with the last few entries turning more to wonder and metaphor ("A good book is a kind/Of person with a mind/Of her own..."). Usually printed one per spread, the poems are accompanied by richly dark artwork. The thickly applied acrylic paint and mixed-media illustrations are sometimes reminiscent of the work of David Shannon, with a comically grotesque air, and add comprehension to the verses. The Lewis hallmarks are all here–clever wordplay, humor, nonsense, rhyme–though the collection doesn't have quite the spot-on snap of his best stuff. Kids will enjoy the switcheroos of "What If Books Had Different Names?" ("Alice in...Underland?/Furious George...") and the faintly macabre title poem, but others, which reach a bit for even a nonsensical point, will have less appeal. Lee Bennett Hopkins's Good Books, Good Times! (HarperCollins, 1990) and Wonderful Words (S & S, 2004), which include offerings on the same subject from many fine authors, would partner in a nice balance with Lewis's frothier nonsense.– Nancy Palmer, The Little School, Bellevue, WA (School Library Journal )

Gr. 2-4, younger for reading aloud. This homage to reading salutes all the essential elements: letters, words, books. Lewis' poetry is continually clever, whether pithily summing up children's classics (a book that is excitedly read by a kid of 6 to another kid of 63) or capturing the thrill of reading in the dark. There are laughs in a poem called "What If Books Had Different Names?" that posits such titles as Goodnight Noon and Green Eggs and Spam as well as slightly more serious thoughts in the title poem. Despite the picture-book format, it will take children older than the preschool crowd to appreciate the wordplay, which on occasion is quite sophisticated (Lewis credits Lear, Carroll, and X. J Kennedy as his inspirations). The acrylic and mixed-media artwork (see cover, this issue) adds whimsy to the words. Case in point, a bibbed lamb eating the Dr. Seuss special. Ilene Cooper (Booklist - Ilene Cooper )