Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku

by: Paul B. Janeczko & J. Patrick Lewis; Illustrated by Tricia Tusa

Published by: Little, Brown and Company

Reviewed by Amy L. Loos

What a hoot! Our family loved this book! From the minute we read the title, Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku, until the very last senryu, our family was captivated.

Paul B. Janeczko and J. Patrick Lewis team up to present a collection of 23 senryus that are skillfully highlighted with Tricia Tusa's zany illustrations.

The book uses senryus, which are structurally similar to the haiku; 3 lined and 17 syllabled, but slightly different from their Japanese counterpart in that, senryus are not limited to the topic of nature like the haiku.

This freedom allows Janeczko and Lewis's poems to include mishaps with milk, the plight of pesky pests and the follies of family, such as this one that brought tons of laughter from my group:

Grandpa's underwea
Pulled up so hig
A chest of drawers

Or how about this gross but funny wordplay
O warm summer nigh
I awake to rude music
Cat coughing up hairball

Thanks to Paul B. Janeczko and J. Patrick Lewis, for teaming up to create a wonderfully lighthearted book that got our family laughing from page one and kept us giggling until the end.

Armchair Interviews says: Sounds like fun for kids of all ages