Love, Laughter, and Life

Adventures With a Book Lover

Tag Archives: word play


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Book Review: This Is Not A Unicorn! By Barry Timms and Ged Adamson

This Is Not A Unicorn!

Written by Barry Timms

Illustrated by Ged Adamson

Nosy Crow, 2023

Let me say, what a creative, imaginative picture book! Florescent colors, fun characters, delightful word play, and general amazing-ness. Thank you, Nosy Crow, for sending me a copy of This Is Not A Unicorn! (along with the super red tote)!

This Is Not A Unicorn! was the perfect gift for my 7-year-old granddaughter. She loves books and unicorns. In fact, after I gave her the book, we sat outside and read it together. And then we utilized the featured QR code (see below) and listened to the read aloud! So much fun! Books make perfect gifts.

I love the brilliant colors used in This Is Not A Unicorn!. At first, I was a bit shocked at how vibrant and glow-in-the-dark the illustrations and cover looked to be, but after reading, the colors fit perfectly with the story and the characters.

Word play is something I truly enjoy, and this is spot on for readers of this age. There is plenty of wonderful word play in this picture book.

Imagination! This ranks right up there with word play, characters, and colorful illustrations. Two thumbs up for This Is Not A Unicorn!.

I enjoyed reading This Is Not A Unicorn!. Perfect for readers who love unicorns with creative skills.


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Haiku Moment: leaking love

upon reflection

holes dripping lost connection

my heart leaking love

leaking love by Angie Quantrell

photo by Angie Quantrell, Tieton River Nature Trail, Washington state


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Blackout Poem: horse king

horse king by Angie Quantrell

Blackout poems are challenging and fun. I love playing with words and this take-everything-away-except-the-words-you-want is an exercise in deleting the fluff. I thought I was done with this poem, but something did not flow. It originally had 17 words. Actually, the entire page had hundreds of words, but I didn’t count those. I kept reading and rereading. Aha! I figured out which 2 words needed to be blacked out. Ta-dah! Here is horse king, a 15-word blackout poem by yours truly.

From the 15-word poem, can anyone guess which book this page comes from? Don’t worry, the book is old, missing pages, and falling apart. Besides recycling, wrapping gifts, art projects, and decorating walls, there is not much else I can do with this book. Let me know your guess in the comments below.


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Blackout Poem: pretend

I’ve been wanting to try a blackout poem for quite some time. And then I found this falling apart, old copy of Pippi Longstocking and decided to give it a try. The thinking and imagining is quite different when one is removing words instead of adding them. It’s a fun challenge!


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Haiku Moment: rocket

beach transport Rocket

he’s not rocket-y at all

my view from behind

rocket by Angie Quantrell

photo by Angie Quantrell

Ocean Shores, Washington


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Book Review: Poetrees by Douglas Florian

Poetrees

Written and illustrated by Douglas Florian

Beach Lane Books, 2010

I finally had a chance to borrow Poetrees from the library. What a fun book!

Written and illustrated by Douglas Florian, the pages resemble different aspects of trees – bark, roots, rings, leaves, and more. I love the way the reader needs to turn the book on its side to read up to down the long way, resembling the height of trees. So much fun!

Why I Like This Book:

~ the variety of trees included in the book, each as unique s the next

~ the wordplay and fun-on-your-tongue poetree

~ the artwork gives glimpses into the words and thoughts inspired by the poetree

~ what I learned about trees, especially the ones not found in my Pacific Northwest region

~ the glossatree gives more info about each tree or tree part

~ the sense of awe, wonder, and amazement which exudes from this book of trees


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Book Review: Squish, Squash, Squished by Rebecca Kraft Rector and Dana Wulfekotte

Squish, Squash, Squished

Written by Rebecca Kraft Rector

Illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte

Nancy Paulsen Books, 2021

As the oldest child in a family of 4 children and 2 parents, I can relate to being squished in the car. And squabbling and fighting about it, especially over who gets a window seat. (This was before the time of cell phones, electronic games, and movie viewing options many children have now. Back in the dark ages. We had a car. A station wagon car. With fold up bench seats in the way back, but that was usually full with the family dog and picnic lunch stuff.)

I digress.

I won a copy of Squish, Squash, Squished from Rebecca Kraft Rector through Kathy Temean’s blog, Writing and Illustrating. You can view the original post to learn more about Rebecca and Dana here. THANK YOU, Rebecca and Kathy!

Squish, Squash, Squished is such a delight to read! I loved the problem (squished in the back seat), the characters (adorable cuties with their no-nonsense mom who takes extreme-but fun-measures to stop the bickering), and the imaginative cast of characters who hop in for a ride. The words are just perfect with plenty of language and word-play, and the illustrations are the icing on the cake.

I suggest this book for anyone who has bickering children in the backseat, anyone who has children (or is a child), those who love fun word-play and stories, and creative minds who believe animals can do the things they do in this book.

Why I Love This Book:

~ told in the style of It Could Always Be Worse, the escalating drama is wonderful

~ I love the word-play and sing-song silliness

~ fun cast of characters, a mix of people and animals (love it)

~ adorable setting and the perfect illustrations to make this picture book of the magical sort

~ while not preaching about keeping it quiet in the backseat, readers will get the hint that it could always be worse . . .

Living in an RV, I sometimes drift into the theme of being squish, squash, squished, but I better hush-mush or my hubby might invite in some passers-by…


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Haiku from Two #Haikufromtwo

(OOPS! In my picture, I have the hash tag incorrect! Sorry! Should read #Haikufromtwo!)

look! by Angie Quantrell, photo by Angie Quantrell

How fun! I love writing haiku, though I usually pair it with one of my photos. I had so much fun writing the first #Haikufromtwo, I had to do it again! Thanks, Amanda (https://www.instagram.com/amandadavis_art/)!

ridiculous + flower

first word: ridiculous

Taken from Potato Pants! by Laurie Keller (Henry Holt and Company, 2018)

second word: flower

Taken from Jonesy Flux and the Gray Legion by James Pray (Sterling Children’s Books, 2020)


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Happy Hump Day Haiku Challenge: 31 October

AB96CD53-BA90-46FF-A837-E278B2215619

autumn’s pumpkin king!

here today, cooked tomorrow;

commence with slaughter

 

by Angie Quantrell

 

good-bye 31 of October, hello 1 November!

Besides pumpkin delicacies, what are you looking forward to in November? We’d love to read your haiku! Or just your comment. But you could write your comment in 5-7-5 syllable format! That would be fun. 😉 Also, it would be haiku.