Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz (Children's Literature)
Poet Laureate Prelutsky continues to play with sounds and words, encouraging young readers to join in the fun. Here seventeen verses describe exotic, imaginary combination creatures, from the Umbrellaphant, the Ballpoint Penguins, and the Shoehornets to the Tearful Zipperpotamuses and the Solitary Spataloon. Their activities are frequently frantic and always funny. Reading the verses aloud is almost imperative. As in his Scranimals, the rhymes can stimulate young imaginations to dream up their own wild combinations. Berger’s accompanying collages may be more sophisticated than the younger readers can value. Much of the language on the torn scraps of paper will not be meaningful. The Umbrellaphant’s are even set in some, perhaps, Arabic orthography; others are mere snippets that act more as decorative elements. Both text and illustrations offer challenges to the thoughtful. 2006, Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins Publishers, $16.99. Ages 4 to 9.

Beverley Fahey (Children's Literature)
Prelutsky has the uncanny ability to take the ordinary and with a twist make it creative and amusing. When you cross an umbrella with an elephant you get an umbrellaphant that is protected from the shade and sudden rain. Ballpoint Penguins come in black and white and “do little else but write and write.” The combination of toads and toasters results in Pop-up Toadsters that hop and hop “and place in slots atop their heads fresh slices of assorted breads.” So it goes through Cloctopuses, Zipperpotamuses, Tweasels, the Circular Sawtoise, the Shoehornets, and Panthermometers, etc. These poems beg to be read aloud and could serve as a springboard for imaginative creatures from clever readers. Full color art interprets the zany creatures from toasters with toad legs to hippos with zippers, and a menacing panther with a thermometer tail, and brings life to Prelutsky’s wild pairings. This is just plain fun from cover to cover and will be a hit with his legion of fans. 2006, Greenwillow/HarperCollins, $16.99. Ages 6 to 12.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 18))
The reigning king of iambic "pun"tameter returns with 17 new poems. By compressing words with shared syllables, Prelutsky hybridizes common objects and animals. Kids will delight in meeting "The Eggbeaturkey," "Shoehornets" and "The Ballpoint Penguins." The poems, most executed in iambic tetrameter, turn on trademark absurdity: "The TRUMPETOOS and TUBAOONS / Are blaring out discordant tunes. / They play them loud, they play them long, / But most of all, they play them wrong." Tautly controlling meter and rhyme, Prelutsky brings the roiling fun to a simmer with wry conclusions. ("They march about in close array. / We wish they'd simply march away, / Or stop and take a silent snooze- / Those TUBABOONS and TRUMPETOOS." Berger's whimsical collages craftily handle exotica like "The Solitary Spatuloon" and "The Ocelock." A few poems present challenges. "The Limber Bulboa's" pun is a stretch for younger gigglers, though redeemed with this surefire couplet: "It has no idea what it's likely to find / As it lights up its way with its brilliant behind." Pretty brilliant, indeed. 2006, Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 32p, $16.99. Category: Poetry. Ages 5 to 9. © 2006 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 2006 (Vol. 60, No. 3))
Having previously introduced us to Scranimals (BCCB 10/02), Prelutsky now continues his tour of the portmanteau animal kingdom with seventeen more poems about combinative creations. In addition to the titular Umbrellaphant (who always stays dry in the rain), verses cover the Ballpoint Penguins (who “do little else but write and write”), the Lynx of Chain (which “makes resounding clanging sounds”), and the Shoehornets (who “choose/ To help with shoes”), among others. Prelutsky’s verses scan superbly, as usual, and the ideas remain clever; his multiplicity of forms and tightly knitted lines, spiced up with droll turns of phrase and touches of polysyllabic absurdity, keep the energy flowing from poem to poem. Berger’s collages treat each poem individually rather than linking them together in an underlying narrative, as Sís did with Scranimals her palette of recurring browns and gray-touched hues and her copious employment of reclaimed paper objects, especially black-lined images and text-printed snippets, recalls Stinky Cheese-era Lane Smith with its cool sophistication. This collection offers a multitude of possible uses: the verses would make tasty readalouds individually or collectively, they could add creative zing to a language-arts lesson, and, of course, poetry fans will simply enjoy its linguistic pleasures. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2006, Greenwillow, 32p.; Reviewed from galleys, $17.89 and $16.99. Grades 3-7.