cover image Poems I Wrote When No One Was Looking

Poems I Wrote When No One Was Looking

Alan Katz, illus. by Edward Koren. S&S/McElderry, $17.99 (160p) ISBN 978-1-4169-3518-6

Accompanied by Koren's impish, characteristically furry caricatures, Katz's comedic poems take aim at familiar experiences like family squabbling and avoiding homework, while offering child-centric observations about the world. In one, the speaker laments a sibling's painful violin playing: "She screeches and she scratches,/ and I know she's really trying./ Not sure if this is Clair de Lune,/ or outside, a cat's dying." Kids will revel in the gently wicked jokes ("Do not click!/ And do not clunk!/ I'm onomatopoeiaing") and mild gross-out gags ("Dad has a big nose./ Mom has a big nose..../ Mom or Dad's nose?/ I wouldn't pick either") that run throughout the collection. Ages 7%E2%80%9310. (Oct.)