MotherReader

My offering up to the Poetry Friday gods is a new picture book by the name of Down the Back of the Chair. The author, Margaret Mahy, has unknowingly saved my the trouble of naming my blog entry today, as the title of her book is clever enough for me. That and I can’t think of anything else.

Anyway, Down the Back of the Chair is a picture book of one longish poem that follows the story of a girl and her family searching for money. When the car breaks down, the kids advise dad to do as they do — search for change down the back of the chair. But when dad gives it a try, he comes up with all kinds of things.

Some hairy string and a diamond ring
were down the back of the chair.
Pineapple peel and a conger eel
were down the back of the chair.

A sip, a sup, a sop, a song,
a spider seven inches long.
No wonder that it smells so strong —
down the back of the chair.

Cute, huh? Reminiscent of Shel Silverstein with the ridiculous objects and the rhythm and rhyme, this book will be great fun as a read-aloud. The illustrations by Polly Dunbar add to the fantastical element, though I would personally like the size of the dad’s eyes reduced by about half. They kinda creep me out. But that is a small detail that I am willing to overlook for this cool, humorous, POETRY book.

For more offerings for Poetry Friday, check out A Chair, A Fireplace, etc., as she usually keeps track of such things.