Science Verse

Rating:
Summary: Is there anything worse...
Review: Is there anything worse

than meringue-y verse

whose rhythm goes all sprung

while it's being sung?

Now, if your ear doesn't detect any problem in the above quatrain, you will probably like this book for its inventive and colorful artwork and its agreeably silly text.

If you have any kind of ear for poetry, you will instantly hear the extra beat in the third line. It jars you and spoils the poem. Almost every poem in this book has at least one broken rhythm like that -- often, several -- and it is maddening. If you want to enjoy light verse with grotesque art, read Edward Gorey and stay miles away from SCIENCE VERSE. Whatever you do, do NOT get yourself trapped into having to read this doggerel aloud--it will be torture! Scieszka has cute ideas but he's got a tin ear, and his poetic license should be revoked forthwith.

Oh, and -- don't look for any actual teaching of science or the love of nature. The book gets its humor from playing word games with the vocabulary of science textbooks, or by poking snarky fun at how boring it all is. But of any tone or attitude that would suggest fondness for the wonder of the world or the joy of finding out how things work, there is none. Just because a book is funny and plays with the words of science does not make it a science book.

Rating:
Summary: FUN!
Review: This book is a ton of fun by a couple of very funny and clever guys. Apologies to Daniel Cortesi, who requires that everything he reads be a definitive treatise on something written a century ago, but this book does defy some widely-held poetic constraints. Unfortunately for snobs like Mr. Cortesi, writers are free to express themselves however they like, and need not first cosult the rulebook. In fact, some artists delight in scrapping the rules, as unsettling as that is to old chestnuts like our pompous Mr. Cortesi. If only, I guess, all writers would write in a way with which Mr. Cortesi is comfortable, the way to which he has become accustomed, etc. Personally, "Because It Has Always Been Done That Way" has never been reason, on its own, to do anything. And frankly, I don't get what purpose there is at all in skewering a work of art that you happen not to like. Why not just move on to something that ftis into your very narrow notion of what is worth reading, and leave it be? Why does it need to be panned? I love this book, and my students love it, and so will many other people who haven't got their head stuffed completely up Chaucer's behind.

Rating:
Summary: Laugh-out-loud funny!
Review: This book is laugh-out-loud funny! The verses brilliantly detail many scientific concepts. Written in the style of Edgar Allen Poe ("Once in first grade I was napping/When I heard a scary yapping"), Lewis Carroll (Jabberwocky becomes "Gobblegooky"), Robert Frost ("Astronaut Stopping by a Planet on a Snowy Evening") and others, Scieszka's clever rhymes and rhythm offer a unique take on science AND science teachers.
Lane Smith's zany illustrations of the subject matter (including the food chain, black holes or "twinkle-less stars", combustion, viruses, the Big Bang) are wonderful. This is a must purchase for every library!
Teachers in all grades will be rejoicing. A CD with the book read by Scieszka and Smith is included. Like Math Curse, this book will be a favorite for a long time. You don't have to be a science buff to appreciate the humor.

Rating:
Summary: A Kid and Parent Pleaser
Review: This book wonderfully introduces children to poetry and science. My 3 and 5 yr old love it even though they don't know many of the verses being parodied. My 5 year old quotes from the amoeba poem--finds it very silly and funny; my 3 year old likes to listen to the accompanying CD while he turns the pages. Rather like "Click and Clack" for children.