Poems of A. Nonny Mouse

by Jack Prelutsky, Henrik Drescher (Illustrator)

A collection of 70 nonsense verses by that most prolific of poets, A. Nonny Mouse (long misspelled Anonymous due to a fateful typo). Prelutsky, a fellow poet and unabashed admirer, has compiled (along with four of his own creations) some of her most playful rhymes, limericks, quips, and chants--all with a touch of the wacky, the way-out, and the wonderful.

Selections are illustrated with Drescher's signature watercolors highlighted with black-ink scratches and splatters of color.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens

44 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Jack Prelutsky is an American poet. He attended New York public schools, and later the High School of Music and Art and Hunter College. Prelutsky, who has also worked as a busboy, furniture mover, folk singer, and cab driver, claims that he hated poetry in grade school because of the way it was taught. He is the author of more than 30 poetry collections including Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep< and A Pizza the Size of the Sun. He has also compiled countless children's anthologies comprised of poems of others'. Jack Prelutsky was married to Von Tre Venefue, a woman he had met in France. They divorced in 1995, but Jack remarried. He currently lives in Washington state with his wife, Carolyn. He befriended a gay poet named Espiritu Salamanca in 1997 and both now work together in writing poems and stories for children and adults alike.

Reviews

[Ronyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading various poem books that were illustrated by Henrik Drescher like No Plain Pets and Runaway Opposites I have stumbled upon this surreal classic called “Poems of A. Nonny Mouse!” Now, I have read a couple of Jack Prelutsky’s children’s poems, but his collaboration with Henrik Drescher has definitely made this book one of the most creative works done by Jack Prelutsky’s!

This book basically consists of several poems; four of them which were written by Jack Prelutsky himself and you have to find out which poems belong to him in this book! Some of my favorite poems in this book are:

“Jack Hall,
He is so small,
A mouse could eat him,
Hat and all.”

“Algy met a bear,
A bear met Algy.
The bear was bulgy,
The bulge was Algy.”

“How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
If a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would chuck
If a wood chuck could chuck wood.”

I had been reading Jack Prelutsky’s children’s poems for many years, so imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered that he written a children’s poems book with illustrations by Henrik Drescher! Jack Prelutsky’s poems are as usual extremely wacky and hilarious to read as each poem details the crazy activities that the characters in each poem get involved in, such as one poem having a young boy named Ben swallow his wrist watch and then coughing up the time and date and another poem where a character’s head rolls off his head and that character puts his head back on. Henrik Drescher’s illustrations are as usual wacky and bizarre and they greatly complement the zany nature of the poems. Some of my favorite illustrations by Henrik Drescher are the ones where there are half-human and half-bird like creatures littering all over the pages, giving the book a frenetic feel. I also loved the way that Henrik Drescher drew Nonny Mouse into each page as she witnesses the surreal activities of the characters.

For children who do not like bizarre illustrations, this book is filled with surreal drawings such as images of half-bird, half-human creatures and characters that have small pointed teeth. These types of images might scare children who are not used to seeing such illustrations and parents might want to read this book before showing it to their children.

Overall, “Poems of A. Nonny Mouse” is a truly fantastic book for children who enjoy reading wacky and surreal poetry books from the great mind of Jack Prelutsky! I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since some of the surreal imagery might scare smaller children.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Heather Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poems of A. Nonny Mouse is a poetry book with a collection of poems by Jack Prelutsky. The book has a wide variety of poems and is great for everyone. Whether you like to read about elephants, crocodiles, gorillas, or pigs there is at least one poem that you will enjoy. I enjoyed this book because of the variety of the poems and if I was not into one, the next one I was. I would recommend this book for a read-aloud to children in 1st grade, but would probably not be an independent read until 3rd grade. Since this book does have quite a bit of a collection of poems in it, it would be an excellent example of multiple types of writing poetry.

[Lindsey Greer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an eclectic mix of poems that I chose to read as a picture book because of the illutrations. They add to the oddity of the poems for sure. They're all simple and quick poems, generally multiple to a page. The poems weren't my cup of tea, as they're pretty random in my opinion, but young kids would love them. They would definitely induce some laughter.

[Freder · Rating 4 out of 5]

The point here is not the poems by Prelutsky, which I suppose would be fine if you were the kind of kid who liked that sort of thing, but that it's an excellent doorway to the art of the great Henrik Drescher, whose work you will want to seek out and fill your eyes with.

[Rick Christiansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some classics in here. Some good tongue twisters, mind benders, hilarious couplets, and quatrains. For example, my favorite-

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray I pass tomorrow's test.
If I should die before I wake,
That's one less test I have to take.