The Wonder Book

by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Paul Schmid (Illustrator)

Overview

From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of I Wish You More, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, "a joyous, totally original potpourri of stories, poems, lists, palindromes, visual jokes, and random observations about the universal delights and conundrums of childhood."*

Reminiscent of classics like Falling Up from Shel Silverstein, this 80-page black-and-white book is meant for sharing and taps into the delightfully inquisitive world of a child.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal said it best:

Hello, You! 

So . . . this book is full of stuff I've always wondered about . . .

Like:

• Did Miss Mary Mack have friends who liked other colors?
• Could everything important about the world be summarized in a poem that rhymes?
• How do moms always know when you're about to sneak a cookie?
• Who hid something under the Tooth Fairy's pillow when she was a little girl?

Inside you will find stories, short poems, lists, palindromes, visual treats, and random observations. Some parts are happy, some sad-ish, some silly, some serious, some crunchy, some with a soft center.

You can open the book up anywhere and read. So the beginning could be the end, and the end could be the beginning. But I guess the middle is always the middle. . . .

P.S. Aren't Paul's drawings the best?!

—Amy Krouse Rosenthal

*School Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061429743
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/09/2010
Edition description:	First
Pages:	79
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.24(h) x 0.52(d)
Age Range:	5 - 10 Years

About the Author

Amy Krouse Rosenthal wrote more than thirty picture books, including the New York Times bestsellers I Wish You More, Uni the Unicorn, Plant a Kiss, and Exclamation Mark. A contributor to National Public Radio, a TED collaborator and speaker, a filmmaker, and the author of two groundbreaking adult memoirs, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life and Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Amy raised her three children with her husband on a tree-lined street in Chicago.

Paul Schmid's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all artists. He is the author and illustrator of A Pet for Petunia, Petunia Goes Wild, and Hugs From Pearl and the illustrator of The Wonder Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. In 2010, Paul was awarded a monthlong fellowship with Maurice Sendak. He lives in Seattle with his wife, Linda, and their daughter, Anna.

Editorial Reviews

The author has filled a book with the things everyone wonders about but adults become too inhibited to ask. Pancake College begs to be read out loud in a bubbling, wonder-filled voice. Wouldn't any kid want a dad who has attended Pancake College and can amazing the family with short-stack knowledge and skill? She does wonders with double meaning words, puns, take-offs on well-known nursery rhymes—"Mary had a little lamp," "This little piggy (the French little piggy) went Oui, Oui, Oui all the way home." "I wonder why they call it getting dressed when she is wearing pants?" "Whoever thought of using the periodic chemical table for table manners?" "You can't run with a lollipop in your mouth, your shoes tied together or twin porcupines, but you can run with a purple sock or a bag of marshmallows." Prince Backwards begins with The End. He wore his crown backwards, dessert first, and ended with "Once upon a time." As a fourth generation artist, Paul Schmidt has worked magic with black line drawings on white. Lines of children's pictures to signify palindromes: a word or phrase that reads the same forward and backward: Mom Dad Kayak. With an index of words the reader can find any favorite part in a jiffy. We celebrate a half birthday and are reminded that we are halfway through the book. The reader can begin reading anywhere. The beginning can be the end and the end can be the beginning, but the middle is always in the middle. Reviewer: JoAn Watson Martin

Children's Literature - JoAn Watson Martin

This waggish collection combines poems, wordplay, and black ink illustrations to Silversteinian effect. Familiar nursery rhymes are comically recast (“This little piggy played the stock market”), puns run rampant, a poem about a “backwards prince” is meant to be read backwards itself, and there are some winning palindromes (“Was it Eliot’s toilet I saw?”). An occasional gag falls flat (“I wonder why people don’t replace them when they take showers?”), but the sheer diversity of silliness ensures that there is something (funny) for everyone. Ages 5–10. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

An uneven collection of poems and witticisms, the very best of which evoke Shel Silverstein. Several poems are takes on old standbys, such as "It Could Be Verse": "Eeny Meeny and Miney Moe / Caught a tiger with their tow / The tiger hollered; they wouldn't let go / No more Eeny Meeny or Miney Moe." Others are short and super silly: "Tinkle / Tinkle / In the sea / Don't look under / While I pee..." Some of the most successful pieces are those in which Schmid's black-and-white drawings are integral to the poem's meaning. In the palindromes section, for example, "Won ton? Not now," is illustrated with a picture of a little girl offering a won ton to a boy who is hanging upside down while being squeezed by a large snake. Even when they are not absolutely necessary to the meaning of the poems, the illustrations, dynamic and expressive, lend a degree of charm and whimsy to a serviceable, often funny, collection. (Poetry. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

K-Gr 3—Here is a joyous, totally original potpourri of stories, poems, lists, palindromes, visual jokes, and random observations about the universal delights and conundrums of childhood. Set squarely in the world of the 21st-century child, with references to tae kwon do, 50 TV channels, and chocolate-chip pancakes, these varied musings nonetheless speak to everyone's inner child, young or old, mentioning table manners, dinosaurs, bratty children, whining, the tooth fairy, and moms and dads who can't relate. Simple, evocative, and childlike black-and-white line drawings, in concert with judicious and varied use of white space, perfectly capture the happy/sad/serious/silly moods of the selections. A book that can be opened on any page, it includes a handy, tongue-in-cheek index of key words and images to guide readers to subjects of interest. Make room on the poetry shelf between Prelutsky and Silverstein: fans of such well-loved titles as The New Kid on the Block (1984) and A Light in the Attic (1981, both HarperCollins) will flock to this winning volume of sheer fun.—Kathleen Finn, St. Francis Xavier School, Winooski, VT

School Library Journal