Release Date: October 2017

112 pages ● 5.5 x 5.5”
Black and white illustrations
Interest Level: Grades 2-7 (age 7-12)
Reading Level: Grades 4-6 (9-11)
ATOS Interest Level: MG
BISAC Subjects: JNF042010; JNF042000

Even the most reluctant readers absorb poetry structure and technique through creative wordplay

If I weren’t me,
What else would I be?

It’s a universal question that we all wrestle with, particularly as children. And it provides creative fodder for poetry teacher hal evans, who brings the sensibilities of Ogden Nash and Shel Silverstein, illuminated with zany mashups by illustrator Kevin Pope.

Leading the reader through a poetic menagerie in which our narrator tries on different guises, evans puns and brays and marches his way through a language-arts funhouse, adopting stances ranging from droll to comical to clever.

As they engage in evans’ infectiously zany wordplay, kids respond in kind, blissfully unaware that they are absorbing poetic structure, form, and technique.

As he curates his menagerie, Evans takes occasion to employ a variety of poetic forms in portraying both the common and the unusual ... Pope’s bold, directly expressive pen-and-ink illustrations amplify Evans’ wry message ... Kids after some highbrow ha-ha’s will find them here. (Poetry. 8-14)--Kirkus Reviews