My Dog May Be a Genius

Junior Library Guild Selection 2008
First Children's Poet Laureate

Citation:

My Dog May be a Genius by Jack Prelutsky.  Illustrations by James Stevenson.  (Greenwillow Books, 2008).  160p. Poetry Junior Book.

Summary:

A collection of amusing poems for children of all ages.

Critique:

a.         The fun, imaginative prose and pictures engage the reader in multiple styles of poetry.

b.          The drawings are unadorned yet detailed enough to convey the meaning of the poem.  The imaginative words and adventures in the poems take the reader on a laughing voyage.

c.         A Letter from Camp (p.14), Because I Don’t Like Lima Beans (p. 32), and My Sister’s Taking Lessons (p. 108) are some of the poems told using from first person point of view.  The Laugh of the Luffer (p. 86) and A Problem with the Probbles (p. 102) engage the reader with curiosity of imaginative creatures.

Curriculum Connection:  

My Dog is a Genius is a collection of poems that could be used with any grade level within a lesson on poetry.