These poems are clever and fun to hear. The illustrations bring the words to life. My kids ask me to read these over and over again. (Fun for parents too.)

This is a very handsome book in which the author and the illustrator have collaborated with remarkable skill. The verse is always amusing but can give a young reader some pleasant shivers. The array of grotesque creatures - gremlins, goblins, basilisks, gargoyles, headless ghosts - is presented most fascinatingly by the very brilliant artist, while the author gives the faintly sinister but always poetic nature of the pictures a frequent dimension of humour. My seven-year-old granddaughter fell immediately in love with the book which I greatly enjoyed reading out to her, but her ten-year-old brother and twelve-year-old sister were just as taken with it. In fact her elder brother and sister could appreciate rather more than she did how witty some of the verse is. Certainly a book I can recommend unreservedly to all lovers of books - young and old.

I purchased this book for my almost-three-year old whom adores a gargoyle statue I own. On first reading, the monsters frightened her. However, she quickly picked up on the humor and emotions in the poems. She delights in the poems now and is less afraid of monsters. I would suggest that parents use a lot of goofy humor & voice fluctuations when reading the stories. Young children with a fear of monsters or an undeveloped sense of humor may need to grow into this book. Also, there are only 3 gargoyle poems, the balance are werewolf, vampire, gobblins, and boogeyman poems. This is now my daughter's favorite goodnight book..and no nightmares!

This is a book that I delight in reading over and over - something I can't say for most books. The rhymes are fun and imaginative and flow naturally. The vocabulary used is adult and lends depth to the images. The illustrations are fascinating and relaxing with their dense patterns, quiet colors, and wide vistas. My daughter, who is six, loves the book and I imagine she will love it for many years. Scranimals is a classic. It will definitely get passed down to future generations of our family.

Scranimal Island, we are told, does not appear on most maps, which explains why the strange creatures found with these pages are the sorts never seen before by human eyes. I was expecting to find creatures in the tradition of the chimera, but actually there are only a few examples of similar hybrids, such as the Ostricheetah, the Parotters, and the Stormy Petrelephant. But most of what you will find on Scranimal Island are like the Avocadodo, "a fruit and a fowl inexplicably linked." A few of these might be something you could come up with if you thought long and hard enough about such things on a rainy day, such as the Potatoad, the Orangutangerine, or the Porcupineapple. But it really takes somebody with a wicked sense of imagination to come up with Camelberta Peaches, Spinachickens, or my personal favorite, the Bananaconda. "Scranimals" are the creation of Jack Prelutsky, apparently the poet laureate of the elementary school set, and two-time Caledcott Honor artist Peter Sis. The back cover of this charming little book shows the roots of each of the Scranimals so young readers know how you cross a lion with brocholli and get a brocholion. Once they have finished reading this book, your kids can probably come up with some new Scranimals to join the merry menagerie.

"We're sailing to Scranimal Island,/It doesn't appear on most maps./The PARROTTERS float on the tide there,/The STORMY PETRELEPHANT flaps./We may find a rare OSTRICHEETAH,/There's never been one in a zoo./We're sailing to Scranimal Island-/You're welcome to come along too." So pack your bags and join a young boy and girl on the safari adventure of a lifetime. It's time to explore an island of never before seen mixed up animals, vegetables, birds, flowers, and sea creatures. Meet the aromatic RHINOSEROSE, the green SPINACHICKENS, lowly POTATOAD, and inert HIPPOPOTAMUSHROOMS. Frolic with the noisy PARROTTERS, and the sweet PORCUPINEAPPLE. Swing through the trees with the MANGORILLA, and ORANGUTANGERINE. Watch a pride of BROCCOLIONS hunting ANTELOPETUNIA for dinner, and cavort in a mountain meadow with a PANDAFFODIL. And don't forget to visit the TOUCANEMONES, RADISHARK, BANANACONDA, poor, extinct AVOCADODOS, and other scrambled creatures living out their days on this magical island..... Jack Prelutsky's creative and inventive "scranimal" poems are filled with rhyme, rhythm, engaging wordplay, humor, and silly puns. Award winning illustrator, Peter Sis' intricately detailed artwork dazzles, and will send imaginations soaring with each page turn. Perfect for youngsters of all ages, Scranimals is a unique and captivating, fun-filled romp, and definitely Prelutsky and Sis at their very best. "We've journeyed to Scranimal Island,/Where magical creatures are found,/Where AVOCADODOS still flourish,/And green SPINACHICKENS abound./We've seen a PANDAFFODIL dining,/A PORCUPINEAPPLE at play./Perhaps there is more to discover-/We'd like to return there someday." We can only hope that day comes very soon.

I just ordered several of these books to give as birthday gifts for my 9 year old daughter's friends, but I had to read through it before we gave them away. Now I may need to purchase one for our house! The stories were fun, interesting and challenging, but not so difficult that my daughter couldn't figure some out for herself. I agree with the previous review that it makes one "think outside the box" - and is a fun and valuable asset to any library!

This book consists of folktales, very concisely told, that in some sense are a riddle, a puzzle, a play on words ... These stories are presented as problems to solve.

A major strength of the book is the variety of sources of the tales - Tibetan, Aesop, Armenia, India, Grimm brothers, Ethiopian, Japan; in fact many of the stories could have come from any of a number of cultures. The illustrations add to the interest of the book for its intended audience.

The only weakness is that in only one case does it offer alternative answers. For example, in filling a room perfume works as well as light; if children are reading the book independently, they may not have the confidence to recognize that their answer is a clever as the one given in the text.

The stories are fun - parents and children should enjoy this.

This is a wonderful book that combines mathematical reasoning and logic with fascinating folktales from around the world. A book that delights kids as well as adults.

I purchased this book for my two-year old "ballerina." She is learning her color words and this book is one of the reasons! She loves saying the book along with me (ex: "flutter" "dip" "twirl") and even gets inspired to do a few ballerina twirls of her own!!

Little Terry loves to dance and she practices everyday in front of the big mirror in her bedroom. She dons different costumes and watches herself as she twirls, leaps, dips, flutters and floats, in a pink tutu, red leotard, blue gown or yellow turban... And in the mirror, she watches a more mature and poised Terry dance..... Peter Sis has authored a simple, gentle story all budding ballerinas will love and want to imitate. On the left hand page, little Terry practices her steps. While on the right hand page, she watches herself as a more grown-up Terry dance, expertly. His minimal text is delightfully combined with charming and expressive line drawings with just a little color in all the right places. Perfect for pre-schoolers, Ballerina is a must have book for all those who love to dance.

Along the same veins as Dinosaur! and Ship Ahoy, this charming book works very well for those young ballerinas, or young girls who love to dance. The illustrations are clear and colorful, and the story does not get lost on the page, nor does it overshadow the pictures. I recommend this book for anyone who has a young ballerina in their life!

This book is the greatest. It folds out had has great pictures. I am going to order a second copy, since the first one is worn out from excessive use.

We read Sleep Safe Little Whale to our son every night before bed...he is almost one year old. Our son enjoys the lilting song of Sleep Safe Little Whale and the sweet pictures of all of the different animals. It is a great length. The repetion, song like quality, endearing illustrations, and the sweetness of it make Sleep Safe our favorite book.

This book is absolutely charming. The words have a melodious lilt to them, and the pictures are warm and beautiful. It is good cuddle time reading and soft fun for the eyes. Its confident message makes us ALL feel safer, as though someone IS ALWAYS THERE watching over us. My granddaughter loves the one I found accidentally in a bookshop! Another granddaughter is to be born soon. I must find another one for her.

I am reading a book called Soup and Me by Robert Newton Peck. Although no pacific date was given my opinon is that this story took place around the 1950's. The story took place in a small town in Vermont. This story is about two boys named soup and Rob who are always into trouble. Soup is one of the main characters in this book.Soup is a very caring boy and has a great imagination. He is always looking for something to do and to get into. Rob says in the book that when Soup moves a certen way or does something in a certain way thats how he knows when Soup is being serious. For example when he kicks a rock in a certain direction. Rob on the other hand is always trying to be funny when people are down.Like when Soup was hurt from being ran over by a girl, Rob tried o cheer him up by making a funny joke. He is always into trouble with his mother and Aunt, whom he lives with, like when he is late for choren time. I liked this book because it tells how kids our age were back in the 1950's. I love fun books. I think this book would be good for fith through seventh graders because it's about things boy's our age do and how they fix their mistakes.

My preschool class really enjoyed it; our broccoli became trees at lunch! Imaginative and thought provoking reading for preschoolers. Now it's hard to find an available copy at the public library!

This wordless picturebook is just right for sharing with a young dinosaur fan. It begins as a small boy heads to the tub with his toy dinosaur. Soon, "real" dinosaurs begin to creep into the pictures until they eventually spread across the pages and take over the bathroom. Only when mother comes running with a towel does the last dinosaur tail slip off the page. This is a fun book that blurs the lines between a child's imagination and reality.

As in the three previous Matt adventures by Peter Sis, gouache paints draw out a young boy's imagination. At the same time, plain white background pages in each book anchor the child in such daily activities as playing, spacing out on the sofa while his mother vacuums, putting away his toys, and this time bathing. Again, one color is highlighted: red in FIRE TRUCK, blue in SHIP AHOY!, orange in TRUCKS TRUCKS TRUCKS, and now green in DINOSAUR.

The author/illustrator takes the hallmark sparse text of FIRE TRUCK and TRUCKS TRUCKS TRUCKS one step further. Thus, DINOSAUR, like SHIP AHOY!, is wordless. Typically, each story holds its own just by the pen and ink and watercolor art. Also, when imagination has worked itself up to its wildest, there is the characteristic reality check reeling in of Matt by his mother: by making pancakes, reading a story, taking a walk, and here providing a bedtime towel rescue from the water-splashed battle in the bathroom.

My mother quickly distinguished birds and butterflies in flight because her parents not only showed her the classic stationary poses in books but also went out on their land at the edge of her small hometown to practice identifying the abundant nature in flight and in motion. Sis likewise decorates the inside pages of the front and back covers with immobile dinosaurs and then depicts them in motion across the Matt quartet's hallmark gate-fold illustration spreading to three pages. The dinosaurs get bigger and interact more forcibly until they all trample across a desert which was probably a jungle before the Jurassic jaws and paws chomped and clomped through it. In the process, DINOSAUR clears up the confusion over similar dinosaurs by grouping the plodding Apatosaurus and upright Plateosaurus; the three-toed Compsognathus and the two-toed Deinonychus; the anteater-faced Corythosaurus and Saurolophus; the armored Europlocephalus, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops; the bigger headed Tyrannosaurus and more pinheaded Camptosaurus.

I like to think of the four Matt adventure books as prequels to the previously published KOMODO! by the same author/illustrator. The little boy who collects trucks could end up collecting dragon memorabilia. Also, with his ship imaginings, Matt could take a trip to the island of the Komodo dragon, particularly after passing through a dinosaur adventure with a dinosaur toy in his earlier years.

This latest book in the Matt quarter takes its place on the shelf with the ZOOM and RE-ZOOM perspective books by Istvan Banyai and with such other classics as TIME TO GET OUT OF THE BATH, SHIRLEY by John Burningham and WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak. DINOSAUR helps young readers get through the terrors of the bath, as described by David F. Birchman in THE RAGGLY SCRAGGLY NO-SOAP NO-SCRUB GIRL and by Rebecca C. Jones in DOWN AT THE BOTTOM OF THE DEEP DARK SEA. Peter Sis also leads the young reader down the road to such classics as the nutcracker, the tin soldier, and the velveteen rabbit stories in which toys have their own lives. Thus, it is not only Matt but also the toy Tyrannosaurus clutched in his left hand that emerge clean enough from the bath ritual.

My husband and I bought this book for our 4 year old daughter for Christmas since it had received such great reviews (in two different parenting magazines). It is a truly fantastic book. Our daughter already owns Peter Sis's book "Ballerina" and loves it. His illustrations and simple but poignant text captivate our daughter. She just "gets" his books. We appreciate the surprise flaps and vivid illustrations, but it is evident that she finds some magical quality in them I can't define.
I can't wait to see his next book!

"In the universe, on a planet, on a continent, in a country, in a city, in a house on a block where everyone is walking a dog, there lives a girl named Madlenka who wants a dog very much..." Unfortunately her parents say NO! So Madlenka uses her very vivid imagination, and takes her invisible dog, complete with collar and leash, on a walk around the block. They greeting old and familiar friends who happily play along as they remember the special dogs of their past..... Award winning illustrator, Peter Sis is back, and his latest picture book, Madlenka's Dog, is just as charming and engaging as last year's Madlenka. Mr Sis keeps the text to a minimum, and let's his elegant and entertaining, detailed artwork tell the story. Children will enjoy poring over the pages, lifting flaps and peeking through die-cut holes. Little imaginations will soar as they travel around the block and to the far corners of the world on a magical journey with Madlenka and her neighbors. Perfect for youngsters 4-8, Madlenka's Dog is Peter Sis at his best, and a captivating adventure kids will want to take again and again.

This is an excellent childrens book. I purchased it when my son was a toddler and he still enjoys hearing and reading the story. He is now nine years old! I agree with the above reviewer, please do not let this precious story go out of print.

This is a wonderful book for reading aloud to the very young. Simple story, mysterious pictures. Rainbow Rhino goes adventuring with three birds who are his best friends. One by one the birds stay behind, and the rhino is left alone. In the end they are all reunited.

a book for adults and children. adults, the text and pictures in the book will take your breath away. i believe this was the last book edited by jacqueline kennedy onassis, and there is a little thank you to her in it. a perfect testament to a fey - in the nicest sense -- lady. it is ethereal and draws you in with a calming influence. absolutely wonderful. buy it for yourself or anyone who thinks about long ago with fond memories.

This dark and intricately illustrated book is simply excellent. The art work in it is fantastic and it gives a magically haunting overview of growing up in Prague. It has a magic cat with glowing eyes that walks the young traveler through the streets of his homeland. The drawings are rich with story and intricate with legend. It is an intense book, and some of the legends are dark and spooky. I wouldn't recommend it for children under the age of six, but for children who are just awakening to legend, history, and fairy tale, this is a must. I personally think it is a must for adults as well - I keep my copy on the coffee table because, really, the art as well as the story is of that caliber and it makes a great coversation piece. The book also has a fascinating development story, as well. Peter Sis was apparently encouraged and motivated by Jackie Onasis, working at Double Day at the time, to produce this wonderful book for his young daughter. Sis wanted to produce a piece for his daughter so that she would always know where her daddy came from. Jackie O. helped make Sis' dream a reality. It really is a fine piece of art, history, and story.