The New Kid on the Block by James Stevenson

The New Kid on the Block Reviews

• 
  Bonnie

  The New Kid on the Block was my all-time favourite book of poetry to read to students in my classes. I usually chose to read a poem at the end of the day. It was almost a guarantee that they would go out the door laughing.
• 
  booklady

  Mr. Prelutsky, but I am henceforth a devoted fan! This book sat on our shelves forever and still looks brand new, although it must date from our daughters' childhood. Somehow, it was missed. Thankfully, spotting a rhyme endorsing this author on my friend Richard's review of another of Prelutsky's book, I recalled this one and then the enthusiasm from other GRs friends about this author told me to READ it RIGHT AWAY! I am very glad I did.
  
  It was a fun quick read. I will be on the lookout for other books by this talented author. Thanks Richard, Laura and Fonch!
• 
  Sara

  It's a poem book so I can not really explain what happens.
• 
  Dolly

  I grew up reading
  Shel Silverstein's books like
  Where the Sidewalk Ends and
  A Light in the Attic. I never tired of these amusing poems, and I would reread the books often. I've introduced our girls to these books, too, and we've all come to love the whimsical poems and the humorous illustrations. Our oldest received this book of poems as a present from her third-grade teacher and she loves them just as much.
  
  Advanced vocabulary and fun, rhyming poems highlight this book of poetry for children. Most of the poems are rather short and easy to read aloud, but our girls were introduced to some vocabulary words they were not familiar with. I enjoyed the humorous twist to many of the poems and we all took turns reading the poems aloud. Overall, it's an entertaining book and we really enjoyed reading this book together.
• 
  Josiah

  Outside of Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss, one would be hard-pressed to come up with an American composer of juvenile poetry who was more a fixture over the course of his or her long career than Jack Prelutsky. His books were brought to life by some of the finest illustrators of his day, a veritable Hall of Fame of the art form including Victoria Chess, Brandon Dorman, James Stevenson (illustrator of The New Kid on the Block), Dan Yaccarino, Peter Sís, Paul O. Zelinsky, Chris Raschka, Garth Williams, and Arnold Lobel, collaborators he conspired with diligently to set the perfect tone for his work in word and image. Jack Prelutsky guest-starred on the classic PBS animated television series Arthur in the episode I'm a Poet, which first aired May 19, 1997, reciting a couple of his famous poems from The New Kid on the Block in his role as judge at a kids' poetry contest. But I think what lifted Jack Prelutsky to rarified air among his poet contemporaries is the appealing mix of comedy and deeper meaning in his work. One never knows which way his poems are going to turn until the last line, so there's a sense of unexpectedness to his verses. Jack Prelutsky writes humor well, as effectively as Shel Silverstein at his best, but positioned amidst the laughs are islands of personal affirmation, literary substance that reinforces the rest of the book and allows it to stand taller. I've also noticed that few—if any—children's poets utilize vocabulary like Jack Prelutsky. He ransacks the lexicon for witty, applicable rhymes to keep his poems pithy and rhythmic, but the super-advanced terms usually define themselves easily by the context they're used in, a plus for his unique methodology of complex word integration. The introduction of high-level vocabulary is as painless as possible, and that means learning takes place while the laughs arrive in droves. No matter your age or education, The New Kid on the Block will enhance your grasp of the American language, and that's good for everyone.
  
  "I spied my shadow slinking
  up behind me in the night,
  I issued it a challenge,
  and we started in to fight.
  
  I wrestled with that shadow,
  but it wasn't any fun,
  I tried my very hardest—
  all the same, my shadow won."
  
  —I Spied My Shadow Slinking, P. 72
  
  The New Kid on the Block contains too many poems to discuss each individually, but several deserve special mention. Jellyfish Stew is the composition Jack Prelutsky starts reading at the end of his Arthur episode, to a crowd of excited third-graders who can't get enough of his clever verses. Clara Cleech is about juggling, so what's not to like? If I were going to commit one poem in this anthology to memory, it would probably be Clara Cleech. I Am Running in a Circle is the amusing misadventure of a boy caught in a revolving door, but captures the feeling of being stuck in any situation, going around and around in circles, helpless to get untracked. An Unassuming Owl is one of the book's funniest offerings, a mixture of wordplay and goodnatured ribbing of grammatical sticklers. We find deeper substance in Ah! A Monster's Lot is Merry, a goopy swamp creature's raucous ode to the joys of antisocial living if it means we're allowed to be gross, unkempt, and play by our own rules without having to impress anyone. The reader is left to decide for him- or herself if it's better to have friends or live entirely as one pleases. I mustn't forget to praise Homework! Oh, Homework!, a cathartically expressive rant against the evils of mounds of unwanted homework being dumped in the laps of kids every day. Who wants to go home after clocking seven or more hours at school and then put in a few more hours doing the same sort of assignments? I think we all can empathize with the sentiment of Homework! Oh, Homework!
  
  My Dog, He Is an Ugly Dog is a lovely composition concealed beneath the topsoil of silliness. A boy runs down a litany of his dog's many faults, only to conclude the dog is the perfect pet for him. When we acknowledge the flaws in our friends and ourselves, we're free to love without unfair expectation, unconditionally, and that's the rich soil which grows relationships of value. Yubbazubbies (wow, what a title!) is a heartsong to the sweet, scrumptious Yubbazubbies that run around everywhere, flavorful little fruits irresistible to the taste buds. Yubbazubbies are a treat too tantalizing to turn down when they come your way. You can't blame a person for trying a few, right? We're only human. In Gussie's Greasy Spoon, the narrator outlines every way the titular restaurant fails its customers with its invariably stomach-turning food options. Everything about the place is disgusting...so why does the narrator return for lunch every day? I suppose our lack of judgment in indulging our own unseemly habits deserves no less ridicule, going back to sup on the same queasy fare day after day, settled into old, destructive habits and lacking momentum to escape the rut. Gussie's Greasy Spoon leaves us with something to consider in that regard.
  
  The Cherries' Garden Gala showcases some of the tightest, smartest rhymes in The New Kid on the Block, a cheerful rundown of the festivities when an assortment of fruits and vegetables in the mood to celebrate convene to dance the night away in toast to the harvest's success. There are more coy puns in this poem than I have room to cite: "the Ginger seemed well-bred," "the Radishes grew hoarse", "the Grapes began to whine," "the Rhubarb got to fighting," "the Sage repeated maxims," and on and on with myriad punny delights. The Cherries' Garden Gala might be the most fun you'll have in this book. An Alley Cat with One Life Left circles back to more substantive stanzas, as an alley cat lists the unfortunate ways he's squandered his first eight lives. There's no leeway for a misstep now with only one life in reserve, but he isn't bitter about it. "I'm an alley cat with one life left, and glad that life is mine." The duration of his final life is by no means guaranteed, but the alley cat will appreciate it, take care of it, and live it up while his heart still beats. An Irritating Creature presents the ballad of a sketchy, unpleasant living thing that won't leave the narrator alone. He sends it farther away each time he ejects it from his home, desperate to be rid of the creature's unsavory companionship, but nothing does the trick. "It appears I can't evict it, though I truly wish I could, it's entirely too tenacious—I suspect it's here for good." Wow, does that ever describe some of the personal problems that plague us, issues we wish we could bring under control but instead seem to dictate to us. Not every irritating creature can be packed up and stowed on a rocket destined for deep space. In Today Is Very Boring, we have another poem recited by Jack Prelutsky during his appearance on Arthur, the ho-hum discourse of a boy who decries the dullness of his life even as once-in-a-lifetime occurrences humorously pop up all around him. If we're dead-set on writing our life off as drab and uninteresting, how are we going to change our mindset when excitement knocks on the door? It would be a pity not to realize how incredible the world around us every day is simply because we're conditioned to ignore its wonders, but we're all guilty of that to some degree. We can take a vital cue from Today Is Very Boring and apply it to our lives forthwith.
  
  "Oh, Teddy Bear, dear Teddy,
  though you're gone these many years,
  I recall with deep affection
  how I nibbled on your ears,
  I can hardly keep from smiling,
  and my heart beats fast and glows,
  when I think about the morning
  that I twisted off your nose.
  
  Teddy Bear, you didn't whimper,
  Teddy Bear, you didn't pout,
  when I reached in with my fingers
  and I tore your tummy out,
  and you didn't even mumble
  or emit the faintest cries,
  when I pulled your little paws off,
  when I bit your button eyes.
  
  Yes, you sat beside me calmly,
  and you didn't once protest,
  when I ripped apart the stuffing
  that was packed inside your chest,
  and you didn't seem to notice
  when I yanked out all your hair—
  it's been ages since I've seen you,
  but I miss you, Teddy Bear."
  
  —Oh, Teddy Bear, PP. 110-111
  
  Oh, Teddy Bear is, to me, the best poem in The New Kid on the Block, the main reason I have to round my two-and-a-half star rating up, if not consider giving this book the full three stars. The sentiments of Oh, Teddy Bear are so simple, even comically framed, but they tug at the heartstrings like nothing else in this collection. When I think back to The New Kid on the Block, Oh, Teddy Bear is the poem I'll remember and get tears in my eyes at the thought of. Ballad of a Boneless Chicken relates the experiences of a chicken born without a skeleton, a chicken who wishes she could get important things done in life, but lacks the internal calcified system to do anything about it. "I have feathers fine and fluffy, I have lovely little wings, but I lack the superstructure to support these splendid things." How many times have we felt like the boneless chicken, filled with grand dreams of conquest and accomplishment but without the self-discipline or courage to make the sacrifices necessary to fulfill those dreams? I can't imagine a more helpless feeling than crawling around for a lifetime as a boneless chicken, unable to pursue any worthy goal to completion because one can't control one's impulses. My Sister Is a Sissy herds the anthology from veiled philosophical musing back to pure fun, with the third Jack Prelutsky poem included in his Arthur episode. It wasn't animated Jack Prelutsky who read this one, but Arthur the Aardvark, himself, opening the show with this silly soliloquy about a boy whose sister is creeped out by practically everything under the sun. It must have been rewarding for one legacy children's author (Prelutsky) to have his work recited by the most famous character of another (Marc Brown) on television.
  
  Jack Prelutsky isn't Shel Silverstein, but he's not too far behind. What I love about The New Kid on the Block is the feeling that the zany people populating its poems could all live on the same city block, leading their comedically satisfying lives mostly behind closed doors so they aren't aware of the richness of humor in every house they pass by so close to home. That infuses the book with a subtle warmth, and I appreciate it. Artist James Stevenson's résumé can't compete with the manifold triumphs of Arnold Lobel's writing and illustrating career, but Stevenson is up to the task of doing Jack Prelutsky's poetry justice in this book, just as Lobel did in his own lauded collaborations with Mr. Prelutsky. I do adore The New Kid on the Block, and recommend it for readers ready to be introduced to the pleasures of Prelutsky poetry. You don't want to miss this one.
• 
  Natalie

  I'll be honest, I did not love this book. When I was younger my mom had all these poetry books and I would sit and read Shel Silverstein over and over again. Whenever I tried to read Prelutsky, I just couldn't get into him.
  
  When someone donated this book to my class, I thought I might as well give it another go. I didn't mind it at the beginning but then every poem started to sound exactly the same.
  
  Basically, make a silly, alliterate name for a character that does a bunch of weird crap and end on a *gasp.* It got old pretty fast. I don't know, maybe kids will really love it, but I never did as a kid so I don't hold out much hope.
  
  There was one brilliant, 5-star poem in the book that filled me with glee. If his other poems had been this thoroughly clever I would've enjoyed the book much more.
  
  An Unassuming Owl
  
  An unassuming owl,
  having little else to do,
  remarked within the darkness
  a discreet and subtle whoooooooo
  
  A self-important owl,
  puffed and pompous in the gloom,
  responded with an overblown
  and condescending
  whoooooooooooooooooooooooooom!
  
  
• 
  Morgan Patton

  "The New Kid on the Block" features more than 100 poems. Prelutsky really uses his imagination writing about things we've thought about and things we'd never even imagined. The poems open readers up to the world and minds of children. Poems about greedy grannies, exploding Bloders, and hypothetical situations such as having your nose unfortunately situated between your toes are guaranteed to have you chuckling. It's full of surprises and the sketches are quick and easy, but still shows the true life of a kid. Children ranging from ages 6-9 would love to get their hands on this one.
• 
  Jaclyn Nix

  This collection of poems is ideal for elementary students and contains poems they can relate to. Before reading this book, I had used one of the poems in this book in a comprehension lesson. I was thrilled to find many more poems in this book I can use in my instruction. The collection includes poems with rich vocabulary, promote visualization, support figurative language, and will make students laugh.
• 
  Samantha

  One poem in this book is called Carpenter rages and its about how Carpenter ants are eating all the Carpenters supplies he needs.
  
  I thought this book was okay there was some good poems and then there were poems that I thought were pretty bad.
  
  I would recommend this book it was pretty good. It had some funny poems and it also had boring poems.
  
• 
  Huawei

  Summary：This book has many different poems, and every poem is about the thing that people may never have thought about before. In page 10, there has a poem is called Clara Cleech. She is a poor and clumsy juggler, so she paly with fruits, bowl, brick… Does this world has anything that she cannot play with?
  Thought: I think this a good Children’s poem book. It has a lot of different poems, and these poems are about different things, also every poem has a picture follow with to help the readers can understand what going on is. For Clara Cleech, the kids can learn how to play with their self, and everything can change to be their toy, so they should not cost too much money on their toy. Also, pome is easier to remember, and the rhymes can make the kids to feel funny.
  Line: For Clara Cleech, a girl is throwing a ball, and there has an arc line to show the ball’s trajectory. To help the readers to know the ball is from the girl’s left hand to her right hand.
  Color: For this book, the pictures only have white and black two colors, but the artist use lighter or darker black to show the colors are different. The girl’s skirt is light black, and her hair is darker black.
  POV: For Clara Cleech, the POV is third person because the all subjects are “She” and “Clara Cleech”. For example, she juggled a stone…
  Character: For Clara Cleech, it only has one character, and she is Clara Cleech. Clara Cleech is the main character because the story is only happening on her.
  Type of poetry: Clara Cleech is a narrative because the whole poem is about Clara Cleech is playing with herself, and everything can be her toys. For example, Clara Cleech juggled a been...
  
• 
  Kelly

  The text begins with a poem about a new kid who moved on to the block, and then continues on with a variety of different poems. Each poem is about a new subject and each poem has its own illustration. The poems within the book cover topics easily understood and relatable for children within the elementary years. Subjects consist of wondering why your dad is so mad, wondering if oysters sneeze, having a terrible headache, and many more!
• 
  James

  A short, unique book that can be enjoyed by most ages. It is aims to be funny in most poems.
• 
  Cynthia Egbert

  This is my required reading for my children's literature class this week. I love poetry but I am just not a huge fan of children's poetry. It is so silly and occasionally dark enough to make me uncomfortable. That being said, I did enjoy the puns in The Cherries' Garden Gala and I though that A Microscopic Topic and Dora Diller were clever. Here is a taste:
  
  A Microscopic Topic
  
  I am a paramecium
  that cannot do a simple sum,
  and it's a rather well-known fact
  I'm quite able to subtract.
  
  If I'd an eye, I'd surely cry
  about the way I multiply,
  for though I've often tried and tried,
  I do it backward...and divide.
• 
  Anna Sommer

  The New Kid on the Block is a collection of poems by Jack Prelutsky. The poems are about many things, mostly made up and fantastical. They are silly poems about animals, or new bullies, or made up magical people. There doesn't seem to be any one particular factor that ties all of the books in, other than they're all silly and would be great to read to young students to introduce them to poetry and add some fun to the day. There's illustrations to go with each poem. The cover recreates the title poem with a big, obvious bully walking down the street and all the other kids in the neighborhood scared and hiding. I really love James Stevenson's drawings because of how simplistic they are. They are very cartoonish and work so well with the silly, kid-friendly nature of all of these poems. Like I said earlier, these would be perfect to introduce the genre of poetry, because they're so fun and a lot of them are relatable in bringing up just silly questions, like how you know an oyster is asleep? But these questions seem to me to be the kinds of funny questions kids actually think of! These would be fun to read to young grades, like K-2, but great for 3-5 to use as inspiration or as a genre study.
  
• 
  Ms. McCall

  The New Kid on the Block combines poems of one theme: a neighborhood, and delves so thoroughly into the theme that Prelutsky includes Bleezer’s Ice Cream Shop’s flavor list (all of which were hilariously disgusting to me as a child, especially when my mother would get her toungue tied by the alliterative rhymes- Checkerberry Cheddar Chew/ Chicken Cherry Honeydew (p.48)) My Mother Says I’m Sickening and An Alleycat with One Life Left. But that doesn’t keep Prelutsky from adding real character to the neighborhood, sprinkling it with monsters (Flimsy Fleek, The Song of the Gloopy Gloppers, Yubbazubbies). The illustrations are simple black sketches, but do just the job to illustrate Prelutsky’s playful personalities and settings. Even for a child that may not think highly of poetry, this collection is a true gem at getting a giggle out of even the pickiest of readers.
• 
  Jacki

  This book of poetry is written for Nursery/Primary readers.
  
  Jack Prelutsky's book has dozens and dozens of fun, silly poems and includes outline drawing artwork by James Stevenson. The length of the poems makes for an easy read.
  
  I liked the lighthearted nature of the poems and the silliness can be an asset, especially for children who don't like to sit and read. I think every child will recognize a little bit of themselves in at least one poem! The subjects vary, but there are lessons to be learned througout the book. All in all, the book is fun.
  
  This book is a great introduction to simple poetry for children.
• 
  Sheena

  This book shares a lot of great poetry for children in grades K-5. I really appreciate how each poem is unique and silly in their own way and really grasps the readers attention. This book could be a great read aloud to read everyday to students to introduce them to poetry. Often times poetry can be quite difficult to understand, but by using this book as a read aloud teachers could talk about the meaning of the poem and it can also be a fun activity at the end of the day to read silly poems.
• 
  Becky Loader

  The best poem here? The one where the new kid is set up to be a rough-and-tumble, always-in-your-face, fight-picking, over-whelming, bratty, mouthy, obnoxious.....girl.
• 
  Joey

  Classic! The CD-ROM from the back in the day buffet was even better.
• 
  Michael

  Often collections of poems have a central idea or point, and in “The New Kid on the Block” that is definitely the sense of childlike imagination and wonder. From descriptions of terrible monsters, to explaining why you shouldn’t have an alligator for a pet, everything just oozes childlike appreciation for the world. Very little develops over the course of the book, it doesn’t need to. That's not what those childlike feelings and nostalgic memories are about, that same consistency of feeling and topic is there the whole way through.
  
  Rhymes are used extensively throughout this collection of poems. Pretty much every poem in the book rhymes in a standard rhyme scheme, ABAB etc. rhymes alternate every line in almost every poem. Giving that same feeling. Often that much consistency is bland. But here, it's used to improve the work, and is used really tastefully. Another interesting thing about this collection of poems, is when it lists items. In some poems a rhyming list of items is given in a way that somehow creates vivid imagery, even from completely unrelated things. Honestly, I don’t quite understand why it works, but it does.
  
  Overall I really enjoyed this collection of poems. They were short and sweet. I think there is a place for art that expresses deep feelings, or that helps us empathize with people. But sometimes it’s important to be a little more lighthearted, and just reignite that joy for life. If you want to lift your shoulders a little higher, look no further than “The New Kid on the Block” We all need to feel like kids every once in a while. And what better way than an adventure through jellyfish stew to shipping the monster in your kitchen to the moon.
  
• 
  Nea

  The New Kid on the block is a poetry book for ages six to eight years old. The book as won ALA notable childrens book, Horn book Fanfare and Garden State children's book award.
  Summary: I'm focusing on the first poem introducing the new kid. Its about the new kid around town and how the experience is for all the other children there.
  
  Evaluation: The new kid seems to be a bully. I think the effectiveness relies mainly on the plot and the character of the poem. From the very start its a very tense environment. All the other kids pretty much say how the new kid is a bully. The new kid punches people, and is huge etc... I think the poem bring some laughter but not until the end of the poem. For the entirety of the poem "the new kid..." followed by an action is repeated. Its not until the end where its revealed that the new kid that picks on all the guys is indeed a girl. I think that's where the humor comes from but also awareness about bullies. You don't have to be a boy to be bigger or taller or more aggressive to the other students. I rated it five stars because it was nice and fun to see the twist at the end of it being a girl but in no way would I condone the behavior she displays to the other children. If I was using this book inside my classroom I would use in our poetry lesson but to also inform about bullies. This story would give you a laugh but in no way is bullying funny or fun to the other kids.