The Paper Doorway: Funny Verse and Nothing Worse. . - Poetry & Language - book review

Instructor, April, 2002 by Judy Freeman

By Dean Koontz; illustrated by Phil Parks. HarperCollins, 2001; 160 pages; $17.95 (Gr. 2-6).

Known for his scary young adult and adult novels, Dean Koontz gentles down here with a collection of 83 whimsical and sometimes irreverent poems celebrating childhood. You'll enjoy lots of appealing wordplay: a poem about plurals; speculations on what it's like to be a potato; a narrative poem about a girl's trip to Snowland, where all snowmen go when they melt. There's even a very nice poem by a dog that reads, in part: "Woof. Woof-woof-woof-woof. / Arf. Wuf-wuf, arf-wuf-moof. / Snort." (Your children can surely write an apt translation.) The attractive black-and-white illustrations each contain a hidden mouse for children to find.

ACTIVITY: Hand out copies of poems in the book for children to practice and read aloud for a poetry party.