Technically, Its Not My Fault!: Concrete Poems

by John Grandits

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This graphically inventive sequence of concrete poems, printed in red and black on white, mimes an 11-year-old's sarcastic perspective. The protagonist, Robert, opens with a poem in black type that traces the diameter of a clock; six words in red ink, roundabout the number seven, indicate the start and conclusion ("I wake up in the morning...") of a school-to-homework-to-bed cycle. The narrator's wry attitude becomes more apparent in a footnoted letter that dutifully thanks an aunt for a hated gift. "I'm already planning when to wear my new sweater," Robert writes, and only readers catch his footnoted subtext ("the next time you come to visit. I just hope nobody sees me"). The interrelated statements evolve from ridiculous daydreams and everyday pastimes alike. In one spread, Robert imagines a typographical wrestling match between the words "octopus" and "boa constrictor"; in a skateboarding story, his angled and twisting words leap invisible curbs on the bare white page, while red letters shout, "Hey kid!... Get outta here!" Knowing audience members will appreciate the scatological wit of poems like "Bloodcurdling Screams," where spiraling bright-red text ("...Ow Ow Ow Hoo Hoo...") suggests what happens when a brother flushes a toilet during his sister's shower. Grandits (Pictures Tell Stories) weaves Robert's portrait in distorted letterforms, language mazes and comic first-person narration. A technically (and imaginatively) inspired typeface experiment. Ages 9-13.
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Starred Review. Gr 4-8–Grandits combines technical brilliance and goofy good humor to provide an accessible, fun-filled collection of poems, dramatically brought to life through a brilliant book design. The eye-catching title selection, an account of a science experiment gone astray, appears on the front cover and its messy aftermath, a squashed tomato, winds up on the back. Simple drawings, varied typefaces, unusual arrangements of text, and different colors are used to call attention to the words. Grandits crafts an 11-year-old protagonist, Robert, whose perspective throughout is authentically adolescent. He is both immature and intelligent, and delights in all things gross as can be seen in such offerings as "The Autobiography of Murray the Fart," "Spew Machine," and "Sick Day." "TyrannosaurBus Rex" features a predatory cartoon school bus munching its way along its route: "More children. More sacrifices./Yum." This book doesn't reach the masterful collaboration of Paul B. Janeczko and Chris Raschka's A Poke in the I (Candlewick, 2001), but most readers will still love it.–Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA
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From BookList, December 15, 2004, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Gr. 4-6. Grandits stretches the definition of concrete poetry in this collection, which uses inventive shapes and typefaces to hilarious effect. Each selection is loosely tied to Robert, a kid with ordinary concerns: homework is boring; he would like a new pet; he is crushed when he misses his lay-up in basketball. But Grandits finds wild humor in such things, and the resulting poems will make most kids howl with recognition. There's the pious thank-you letter to an aunt that comes with truthful footnotes: “In the history of sweaters, there has never been an uglier waste of yarn.” Then there's the arc of text describing Robert's rocket, constructed from his sister's algebra homework, which showers numbers and mathematical symbols as the explosion hits. “The Autobiography of Murray the Fart,” written in lines that flow from a soda can-shaped block to a thin line that turns into intestinelike loops, will, like the other selections in this winning, highly creative collection, convince readers that poetry can be loud, outrageous, gross fun.
GillianEngberg.
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