Rosenthal’s poems will bring smiles to children and adult faces alike. Her lighthearted, silly poems are quite reminiscent of Shel Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky, although a few in this book do lack the punch that these poets seem to hit every time. This poet includes long and short poems, rewritten nursery rhyme poems, and play-on-word poems, just to name a few. Additionally, Rosenthal often plays with the format of her poems in this book, writing one from top to bottom, several in dialogue clouds, and even one in the form of the Periodic Table. The simple, but perfect black and white accompanying drawings add a great deal to the experience of the poem. For a good afternoon’s worth of entertainment, children of any age would enjoy reading this book. I saw this book in the "new book" section of our library right after watching a video of Rosenthal on You Tube. To describe this book in one word I would choose "happy". It is just a nice fun book filled with things Rosenthal has always "wondered" about - poems, lists, palindromes, word games, observations, and so on. I will be adding it to my classroom library for kids to read and wonder with.
What do You think about The Wonder Book (2010)?
Funny, irreverent humor. Good book of poetry for the older elementary crowd.
—katherine
Creative, funny and whimsical...I enjoyed the ride!
—Aditi
This is like a cousin of Where the Sidewalk Ends.
—Jen
