The Tomato Collection

by Kevin Kammeraad

The Tomato Collection is a book of goofy thoughts, some fears and a few dreams that will brighten any day. Sixty-four pages packed with fun poems, goofy drawings, thought provoking poems, photographs, characters such as Magooie Balooie, Achoogie Aboogie, Jacob, Norwood, Ethan, Bradford, Little Man Jay and lots more! Kevin wrote and illustrated his book over a period of 4 years, writing poems and stories in response to the emotions and thoughts from his everyday life. Using crayons, markers, paint, collage, sculpture, photographs and more, Kevin created a unique book that encourages the reader's imagination. The unconventional illustrations and insightful poems will invite children to illustrate the poetry with their own ideas and hopefully write their own! If you like the work of Shel Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky, you will certainly enjoy this book! The book is designed for grades K - 5, however, it truly is a book that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

Genres: Poetry, Childrens

Hardcover

Published April 3, 1999

About the author

Kevin is a childrens book author and illustrator and the co-producer of several childrens CDs. He brings his creativity and love of writing, art, music, and reading to elementary schools, libraries, bookstores, and conferences all over the world. Through puppetry, music, poetry, audience participation, multimedia, and humor, he captivates people of all ages.

Kevin and his family reside in Grand Rapids, MI in a home filled with books, music, friends, recycle bins, toys, and tortilla chips."

Reviews

[Danielle Minster · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tomato Collection is book of poetry. This collections contains such a variety of poems, from funny, nonsense, relatable and inspiring. The illustrations are just as different and unique with some pictures from the author's childhood, wire creations, and drawings. This book would be good to use in all grades. Younger students would love the silliness of the poems and older children would appreciate the humor as well as seeing the many different formats of poetry.

[Rebekah Yonker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book of poems. I like it because you don't have to read the entire book to understand the poems. You can just read one page if you want to! There is a bit of humor mixed into them too I like and I think students would like!
Age Range: 4-12 (I saw this on Kevin Kammeraad's official website and I'm guessing it is good for younger ages to read aloud to them and older ages for them to read independently)

[Elizabeth Prescott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, this is a children's book but I just discovered this book after it had been on the shelf for about 10 years. I read it cover to cover in one sitting (not that it was hard) and loved each poem/story. I laughed at some and nearly cried at others. Their are some poems that relate to real life issues and those ones were my favorite. But, it's a great read and I am requesting that my daughter's read it too!

[Ken Priebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is charming, quirky, hilarious and amazing. It played a big part in inspiring me to write my own poetry books. A great addition to any child's shelf, and check out the music album that goes with it!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection of poems. Some were a little more serious than I thought good for my kids, but still liked it.

[Jennifer Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: Poetry
Unique Feature: Illustrations are a mix of hand drawn, computer generated and photographs.
Grade Level: 1-3
Date completed: 2/16/2018

[Liz McKeever · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry. 4th+ grades. I like the idea of being whimsical, but a lot of these poems are out there. Not my favorite as a whole, but has really good parts.

[Lindsey Wabeke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fun poetry book containing poetry that Kevin Kammeraad wrote about his life. I would recommend using this text with a second or third grade poetry unit. Kid will love these unique poems because they are very silly and written as though through a child's view on the world!

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I remember correctly, the author visited my school when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. I don't remember the visit, but I do remember getting the book and the cd. The book was a magnificent art object as a child and I'd never had a book quite like it before. I read it so many times and I LOVED the cd, namely the song "Magooie Balooey and Achoogie Aboogie" (I have no clue what the spelling is). It will always hold a special place in my heart because it feels like a small, secret thing that made my childhood special.

I haven't reread it recently, but the 5 star rating is from my child-self who truly loved it.

[Carissa Cooley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of poems was a ton of fun to read! Unlike the typical picture book, the artwork in this is amazing! Not only are pictures drawn but actual photos are within each page making the poems much more interesting to read! Sometimes I feel the poems could get a little boring but over all this book was a lot of fun!

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one rivals Silverstein's A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends. There's even a companion cd of the poems turned into songs. Such an eclectic collection of music! Plus, he's a Michigan author! Everyone should own a copy.

[Danny Adlerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the finest, most pure poetry books (not only poetry, but that's what I would classify it as if I had to) ever. Unadulterated by "pros" who think they know what they're doing. Genuine. If you love poetry, this book is for you. If you don't, it's because you have not yet read this book.

[Humayra Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this book at a writer's conference in Grand Rapids ages ago. He signed it for me. :) It's an amusing collection of children's poetry.

[StephanieSmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of rhyming and non rhyming poems from a local author! (Grand Rapids, MI)

[Julie]

The genre of The Tomato Collection is Poetry. I would not recommend this book to any grade level because I did not like it one bit. I read all these poems and it was torture.