Grimericks
Grade 3-6–Pearson's 19 poems, using limerick form, are rather ordinary–A witch named Bettina von Spike/had neither a broom nor a bike…/nor a car, nor a truck–/she was quite out of luck./Poor Bettina was forced to witchhike. Or When Howard the goblin caught sight/of Gertrude the gremlin one night,/he fell in a swoon/that lasted till June./It must have been love at first fright. In spite of the clever title and Grimly's eerily wonderful pen-and-ink artwork, Jack Prelutsky and Arnold Lobel'sNightmares(1977; o.p.) andThe Headless Horseman Rides Tonight(1980, both HarperCollins) offer more clever frights and masterful wordplay.–Kathleen Whalin, York Public Library, MECopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.