My Dog May Be a Genius: An Irresistible Collection of Tongue Twisters and Silly Poems for Children

by Jack Prelutsky, James Stevenson (Illustrator)

Have you ever encountered an underwater marching band, a pig in a bathing suit, a pet orangutan, or a witch in a hardware store? Have you ever sat with a skunk in a courtroom, shopped for a dinosaur, or conversed with a Bupple, a Wosstrus, a Violinnet, or a Celloon? You will have, once you've read this exuberant collaboration from Jack Prelutsky and his "partner in crime" James Stevenson. The "reigning czars of silliness" have once again teamed up to bring readers an irresistible collection of poems that will have tongues twisting, imaginations soaring, and sides aching with laughter. The result is genius, indeed. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Genres: Poetry, Humor, Childrens, Picture Books, Juvenile, Animals, Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published February 26, 2008

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

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Seuss and Edward Lear
Were all the rage for many a year.
For something newer, something nutsky,
Try the poems of Jack Prelutsky.

[Kelly (Maybedog) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. Lauded as the "first children's poet laureate" James Stevenson should be a fantastic poet but these poems are blah blah blah. They all follow the standard rhyming scheme of the second line rhymes with the fourth or first and second rhyme and third and fourth rhyme. Shel Silverstein wrote funny children's poems that varied in rhyme or didn't rhyme at all, introducing children to a wider variety of poetry styles.

The poems aren't very funny, at least the ones I read, and they used words far beyond the reading level the poems are geared to (ostensibly?)

The illustrations are cute, though.

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of poetry by Jack Prelutsky. I've read a number of his books now, having discovered him only a few years ago. I know that his poetry is for children, however, I can't help but love it. Prelutsky's poems are fun, silly and he's definitely not afraid to play around with words, which is what I love about his poetry.

One of my favorite poems from book is called A Skunk Sat in a Courtroom on page 24:

A Skunk Sat in a Courtroom

A skunk sat in a courtroom.
A judge was on the bench.
He held his nose and shouted
"What is that dreadful stench?"

"It's only me, Your Honor,"
the skunk said in retort.
"I thought I heard you calling
for odor in the court."

How you cannot just love that? It's so silly and fun. Reading it made me laugh. Jack Prelutsky may write poetry for children, but I think his poetry will even appeal to adults. It's just so fun and I definitely recommend this collection.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly large book of poetry intended for lower-mid elementary with a different poem for each page opening. It is cute and has silly and imaginative poems I could see kids thinking funny. It was recommended to me by the librarian at our local library when I asked for a popular children's poetry book. I thought a few of the words would not be understood by younger kids and there was not always context clues to help find the meaning.

I guess its simply because I really like poetry that I didn't like it that much. The poems didn't make me look for the meaning or take me to an emotional place. I had intended to read straight through it, but instead had to put it down and come back throughout the day; it just didn't hold my attention. There was a poem in the beginning I did like, as I thought it was going to be predictable and ended funny: The Leaves Are Turning Colors.

In trying to come up with a way to incorporate this into the classroom, I struggled a little. The poems are short and I could easily use them as a transitional activity. In a poetry unit I would rather give an example of a poem with a more figurative meaning, at least something that wasn't quite so straight forward.

It's a good book for kids and would be a welcome addition to the classroom library, I just like a little more hidden meat in my poetry.

[Amber Graves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has so many great and funny poems. It will help children see poetry as not just something they have to sit through, but as something they can enjoy and laugh at. It is not just funny but also quite creative and will have their imaginations going. You can read about an absentminded elephant, or about a lamb who loves to dance. There are funny little pictures that go along with each poem as well. It is all in grayscale and looks like pencil drawings. This book will get the attention of children, and also adults, and will help establish the pure enjoyment of reading.

[Anne-thomas Donnelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Dog May Be a Genius is a collection of children poetry by Jack Prelutsky. This book is filled with fun, easy poetry that children and adults would both love! Each pome tells a little story about a forgetful elephant, or about two penguins that collided, or even about a dog that just may be a genius. These collections of poetry would be a fun daily activity to read to your classroom. It would also be a great book to introduce poetry to students. The illustrations by James Stevenson also add another fun element to the book!

[Bridget R. Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great collection for kids. Such silly, improbable poems. I love Prelutsky's wide, varied vocabulary. My favorite poems are "the View from Here," "If You Were a Rhinoceros," "One Day in the Woods," "A Fox Has Caught the Chickens," "Some Chickens," "The Average Hippopotamus," and "I'm Dancing with My Elephants." Stevenson's illustrations are perfect. I can't pick a favorite.

[Becky Loader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Try not to smile while you read these poems. Go ahead. Try.

[Almira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Prelutsky is my very favorite children's poet! I LOVE his humor!

I use his poems to start every story time, generally I tend to use "The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders" or "The Dragons Are Singing Tonight", however, I needed something different today and found this volume ---- did not read every one of them, but enough to know that the children will love these.

Today's selection "The Average Hippopotamus".

Need a smile or a laugh today, check Jack's poetry out! :-)

[James Biser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prelutsky writes entertaining poetry for young people. Once again I feel ambushed by Pioneer Library. I searched for audio-books of poetry. Instead of Pelutsky reading his poems, it was a collection of songs. I had to listen carefully to hear the poetry of these songs behind the tick-tock sound of banjos and drums.
They are good songs.

[Rachel Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of silly poems! As with most collection books, some of the poems are more high quality than others. However, I would love to buy this book to use for all the skills that can be introduced with poetry. These poems would also be great for working on fluency.

[Zack Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"My Dog May be a Genius" by Jack Prelutsky and James Stevenson is a very funny collection of silly poems. I thought it was pretty funny, and it is only good for people with a silly sense of humor. I think it would be good for little kids. (For extra pages in class, 160 pages)

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laughed out loud...shared many and was just generally annoying as I read and laughed my way through this book!

[Annie Cheesman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked out this collection of poems at the Taylor Education Library last week. I mainly picked this book because it had the word "dog" in the title and I love dogs. I was so excited to read silly poems I was hoping about dogs, but I ended up reading something much more engaging to read. Each poem had its specific individuality that I enjoyed because each poem was special in its own way. This series of poetry was definitely created for children due to the simplicity in language and illustrations, but that simplicity of each poem made it enjoyable for the readers to comprehend easily. My favorite poem out of the series of poetry has to be I Never Sit on Scrambled Eggs. I think this poem is so humorous because it incorporates such small concepts as "swimming in pudding" as a silly act for children. It made me laugh as a reader because the language is simple, but when children read this poem, it would probably make them hysterically giggle and think about the concepts discussed in the poem. Not only are the poems simple and enjoyable to read, but the images on each page depicting the poetry makes it clear for the reader to understand what the poem is saying. I never was a poetry reader as a young child, but I would recommend this book to fellow classmates and have it stored in my classroom library someday when I am an elementary school teacher.

[La Keesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only picked up this book of poems because it had the word dog in the title. We have 3 mastiffs and two cats so anything even remotely dog or cat friendly is a winner in our house. The dog is in fact a genius as is the Children's Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky. This collection of simple, funny and true poems for children brings to mind the work of Shel Silverstein without poaching on that genius' territory one bit. There is always room for laughter and fun in the world of children and this collection hits the mark. Poems like "A Table Saw a Cow Hide" are verbal fun and the illustrations by James Stevenson are delightfully whimsical while giving the younger reader a look at why the funny poem is indeed so funny. LOVED IT!

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my second reading challenge of the year:

For my poetry anthology - I was stuck between Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky with illustrations by James Stevenson. My dog may be a genius was my choice. This selection has some adorable poems. Aside from the title poem, my other favourites - A Bump in the Road, Funnel, a poem about climbing a ladder and being trapped in an egg. I love these poems because they use the shape or illustration technique. The egg poem is in the shape of an egg, etc. Years ago, David Booth edited a book of poetry and I loved one particular poem about a tomato for the same reason.
I always have loved children's poetry.

[Jeremy Manuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Dog May Be a Genius is a book of poetry geared towards kids. It's cute enough and has some pretty clever poems, but can feel a bit too similar overall. They're all rhyming and have a similar kind of presentation even if the subjects and quite varied.

It's hard for me not to compare a book of children's poetry to the poetry of Shel Silverstein and I must say I like Silverstein's work a bit better. However, if you're one who finds Silverstein's works a bit too out there, bizarre, or even a little too creepy I think you'd appreciate the tamer humor of Jack Prelutsky with some very capable poetry in its own right.

[Tandava Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as strong a collection as what else I've read of his, perhaps in part because of the rather unremarkable illustrations. But there were still a few good standout poems. In particular, I find "I'm Appearing Out of Nowhere" rather fascinating. I also really like the way he doesn't shy away from large words that some people might think don't "belong" in a children's book. The way he uses them, they tend to be exactly right and sound great, so kids can either just enjoy the sound, figure out the meaning by context, be inspired to ask what it means, or all of the above.

[Maddy Roth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: poetry
Date: 12-1
Grade Range: 2nd on up

Jack Prelutsky is a favorite for kids poetry. He is unique and creative and not afraid to play around with his works. He is always a funny read. Even though he writes for kids, it is always a pleasure to sit down and read his works. I enjoyed being able to read a book I hadn't read in ages again. Sometimes the images are spot on and other times you wonder why on earth they drew that until you read the entire poem.

[Nate Hipple · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's tough to rate this one so low because I have some heavy emotional attachment to reading Prelutsky to my little one, but this collection is weak. It's all of the same tricks you've seen before but without the clever bits that made them endearing. One or two of the story poems drew me in, but most of the stuff could've been left on the cutting room floor.

[✨emelynn miller-sunde ✨]

I really enjoy this book! Jack Prelutsky is one of my favorite authors- especially for poetry. His whimsical writing style with the funny punch lines at the end of each poem can make me happy no matter what. He is very talented, and all of his books, especially this one, really showcase his skill and hard work. Overall, I definitely recommend this and all of Jack Prelutsky's other books!

[Tirzah · Rating 3 out of 5]

These poems were not as engaging for my 1st graders as other Jack Prelutsky books. However, some of my 2nd graders understood the humor, so I would say this particular book is more for older children. The illustrations are black and white, which may be a deterrent for today's youngsters accustomed to bright, bold colors. Personally, I found many of the poems funny and clever.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, love Prelutsky's humor and wit (appropriate for all ages, with themes and nuance that speak to readers no matter their stage of life or position in the world), and loved the chance I had to read this at night with my boys as part of our bed time routine. Received this for my birthday, and so happy I got to share this with my boys.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good children’s poetry book.
The art is nice and cute and not creepy (vs Shel Silverstein).
There’s plenty of wordplay and more advanced vocabulary to stimulate young readers.
I do get bored with the repetitive rhyming scheme though.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, but my kids kept wanting to re-read "A Light in the Attic" again. We'll try another Prelutsky later on.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

These poems are clever in their sonic quality, diction, humor, and imagery. I love reading these to my son.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, engaging and entertaining.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can see young children enjoying these silly, sometimes nonsensical poems. Personally, I didn’t enjoy it much.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great poems for adults and kids alike

[KathleenSmith_]

Key Words: Poems, Concrete Poems, Animals