Beastly Verse
Beastly Verse
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Poems illustrated by JooHee Yoon
Selected for the New York Public Library's 2015 List of 100 Best Books for Reading & Sharing
Consisting of playful as well as powerfully memorable poems, Beastly Verse transports the reader into a richly worded world of tigers, hummingbirds, owls, elephants, pelicans, yaks, snails, and even telephones! A playful romp through verse, rhyme, and gorgeous images, this book carries children into the poetic realm in a way that is not only fun and inviting, but inspiring as well!
Representing poems from Anonymous, as well as some lesser well-known poets, this volume also includes poems from Lewis Carroll, William Blake, Robert Desnos, Hilaire Belloc, William Cowper, Christina Rossetti, and D.H. Lawrence. Both short and long, these poems can be read and reread, committed to memory and enjoyed all life long.
ISBN: 978-1-59270-166-7
9.5" (W) x 11" (H) • 48 pages • HC
Interest Level: 3-up
Lexile Level: NP
AWARDS AND REVIEWS
Selected for the New York Public Library's 2015 List of 100 Best Books for Reading & Sharing
A Bank Street Books Best Children's Book of the Year 2016 (Outstanding Merit)
A Booklist Editor's Choice for 2015
A Book Links Magazine Choice for the Top Classroom Picks for 2015
Selected for the Society of Illustrators 2015 Original Art Show
Featured in Green Source DFW December 2018 gift guide
★ "[...] A fierce and fresh bestiary." —STARRED REVIEW, Publishers Weekly
★ "The main attraction, of course, is Yoon's stunning, exuberant artwork, and poetry classes would be well served by this superior piece of bookmaking." —STARRED REVIEW, Booklist
"...this gorgeous compendium is so stimulating that it’s probably best read in the bright light of day." —Meghan Cox Gurdon, The Wall Street Journal
"Gleefully distinctive stylings, fluorescent colors, and beautiful bookmaking should make an eager new audience for these old poems." —Kirkus Reviews
"In Beastly Verse, her spectacular picture-book debut...illustrator and printmaker JooHee Yoon brings to vibrant life sixteen beloved poems about nonhuman creatures, real and imagined—masterworks as varied in sentiment and sensibility as Lewis Carroll’s playful ‘The Crocodile,’ D.H. Lawrence’s revolutionarily evolutionary homage to the hummingbird, Christina Rossetti’s celebration of butterfly metamorphosis, and William Blake’s bright-burning ode to the tiger." —Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
“JooHee Yoon’s ‘Beastly Verse’ is very much about its pictures. Three-color illustrations of critters fill up page after intense page, cheerily aggressive, goofy, beastly-friendly. Yoon’s poem selection is economical, intelligent, even hip.”
—Daisy Fried, The New York Times
"Beastly Verse is a mischievously beautiful work of art. This book of 16 poems is simultaneously gorgeous, thrilling, and very funny... This book should certainly be hailed and celebrated for its incredible design and artwork—as far as books of poetry go there's nothing I've found to rival this book. The use of colors and layout are nothing but perfect. The illustrations match, reflect, and elevate poems you didn't really think could be added to—and yet here it is." —The Picture Book Review
"This is a collection of animal poems...with gatefold surprises and Yoon's distinctive and stylized art, so vivid in its palette that the spreads pop off the page." —Julie Danielson, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
"The book is big and square and sturdy, with thick off-white paper contrasting with the embellishment Yoon pours onto each animal and scene via overlays of three primary colors. But as eye-catching as the pictures are, the artist knows to pay attention to the poems and reflect their moods." —The Horn Book
"The poems are cleverly selected for child appeal and yet many of them aren't specifically children's poetry, allowing children to stretch a bit and learn more about poetry and their own reactions to it... The illustrations here are the star and what will have children and adults alike picking up the volume." —Tasha Saecker, Waking Brain Cells
“The thought and craftsmanship involved is a visual wonder, adding depth and a mysterious sense of magic to her work. An enchanting read, and reread, for children and adults alike.”—Liam, @wordsandillustrations
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