Poems about deadly made up planets

If there was ever a book aimed specifically at boys, this would be it. Not that I find it inconceivable for a girl to like this funny/gross book of space poetry, but it's clear who this book's intended audience is. The illustrations and tone of this book are both reminiscent of Tim Burton and the creepy factor is turned up to ten. I love the imagery of each fictional planet and the inclusion of anagrams are just plain fun. Fantastic for reluctant young readers who don't get grossed out easily! ( )

This book would appeal to reluctant boy readers. It's gross, dark, funny, and clever. It could be used to teach about varying environment and the effect they can have on their inhabitants.

The Swamps of Sleethe is a book of otherworldly poetry. Each poem describes an odd and somewhat frightening land in outer space. In each land, something spine-chilling or abnormal will happen to you if you dare enter, but my favorite has to be on Gazook, where “The cooks of Gazook Will reduce you to powder, And use you to flavor Their savory chowder.”
Prelutsky creates rhyme in this collection of creative poems using some invented language. All of the poems focus on eerie lands in outer space. The illustrations by Jimmy Pickering really add to the “creepy” factor. This is a great resource to teach rhyming and inventive language. Students could even create a space land of their own. ( )

This book was definitely different from others that I have read. It was a nice feature that it was the type of poetry that focused on rhyming but much of what was said was a bit confusing. Also, the language used was very advanced which is why I believe 6th graders might do better with this type of text. Some of the words found in this specific book were, "abhorrent, contemplate, malevolent, deceitful, treacherous..." and I believe this can throw-off the student if they are not accustomed to reading those type of words. This book is made up of "poems from beyond the solar system" and it did win the Poetry Foundation award (Children's Poet Laureate) for 2006-2008, but I didn't like it very much. I enjoyed the illustrations because they were vibrant, distorted at times, and colorful, but there was no actual plot and no, one character that the reader could focus on. I was not very engaged, apart from just looking at the pictures. ( )