So put on your pith helmet and prepare to explore a wilderness of puns and rhymes where birds, beasts, vegetables, and flowers have been mysteriously scrambled together to create creatures you've never seen before -- and are unlikely to meet again! Your guides -- Jack Prelutsky, poet laureate of the elementary school set, and two-time Caldecott Honor artist Peter Sis -- invite you to join them on an adventure you will never forget! Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Berger's (Not So True Stories & Un- reasonable Rhymes) inventive, textured collages add up to a visual treat in this first-rate collection of Prelutsky poems. Readers will behold not only the bold umbrellaphant, whose trunk is literally an umbrella, but also more than a dozen other amusing creatures who (similar to the hybrid mythical beasts of Prelutsky's Scranimals) are a cross between an actual animal and an inanimate object, and exhibit combined traits of both. "The Solitary Spatuloon," its body shaped like a black spatula with wings, cries "Syrup!" plaintively, flipping pancakes with its tail. ("Its tail, we note, is well designed/ With this peculiar task in mind.") Especially clever are "The Tearful Zipperpotamuses," whose bodies are zippers that keep unzipping, "So they worry and they fret/ That their insides will fall outside,/ Though this hasn't happened yet." The clever rhymes do not miss a beat, and Berger's collages brim with both unusual visual humor and irony. She pictures the Clocktopus ("Its tentacles in tempo/ With the clock upon its face") with as many clocks, pocket watches and wristwatches as it has appendages, none of them synchronized; and "The Ballpoint Penguins" swoop like ice skaters on lined pages used for cursive writing exercises the critters "do little else but write and write./ Although they've nothing much to say,/ They write and write it anyway." Young readers will behold a wonderful, fantastically silly book. Ages 4-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 3-6-Prelutsky is one of the best word crafters in the business, and this collection does not disappoint. Each entry is about a creature that is part animal and part inanimate object. For instance, the Alarmadillos have alarm clocks for bodies, and the Ballpoint Penguins can write with their beaks. The poems are full of fun and wit, with wordplay and meter that never miss a beat. The whimsical illustrations use cut-print media, old-fashioned print images, and a variety of paper textures to create a rich visual treat well suited to the poetry. The detail in the mixed-media pictures makes this a good choice for individual or lap reading, but the poetry begs to be read aloud. This is definitely a "do not miss" poetry pick.-Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information