review of poetry book

Bob Raczka, 2011, Lemonade, and other poems squeezed from a single word, www.roaringbrookpress.com. I wrote a nanoreview on Twitter, but this book deserves a little more. This is a slim orange volume of poems made from single words. In other words, you can use only the letters that are in the title word to make the entire poem. Here is an example

Breakfast

a f t
e
r

re st

ea t
fast
as
a
b ea st


See?! These poems are really utterly charming, and the concept (not original to the author of this book) is clever. Illustrations by Nancy Doniger add to the reader's pleasure. The book would appeal, I think, to anyone interested in words, perhaps especially children. The book is aimed at ages eight to 12, is 48 pages long, will cost $16.99 US, and will be on sale March 15 of the coming year. The ISBN is 978-1-59643-541-4.

A good gift for a playful bibliophile.