Stardines Swim High Across the Sky: and Other Poems

Beloved and bestselling poet Jack Prelutsky and New York Times Best Illustrated artist Carin Berger team up to create a new collection of silly, strange, and sensational animal poems! Told through couplets and visually arresting shadow boxes, dioramas, and cut-paper collage, Stardines Swim High Across the Sky evokes both natural history museums and wild and silly fantasy. "The zoology may be suspect, but the laughs are guaranteed."—Publishers Weekly

Sixteen extraordinary imagined creatures inhabit the pages of this unique, inspired, humorous picture book ideal for sharing together, and for reading again and again. Jack Prelutsky reinvents many familiar and beloved animals by combining inanimate objects with them (so, for example, a pair of pants and an anteater become a panteater). Carin Berger's illustrations are showstoppers. Her shadow boxes and dioramas utilize vintage type, ephemera, and such elements as ribbon, cards, buttons, and wood and bring the animals to life. Read it aloud, read it together: this is a catalog of effervescent silliness and will undoubtedly inspire young poets and artists alike. "The total effect is both whimsical and fascinating, with rich language in the poems and unexpected objects in the pictures to return to over and over again.'—The Horn Book

The poet, author, and indomitable naturalist Jack Prelutsky, having returned safely from far-flung places with an extensive collection of unique creatures that are a blending of the animate and inanimate, has worked in close collaboration with the fine artist Carin Berger, who herself conducted considerable field operations in preparing Mr. Prelutsky's specimens for exhibition and publication. While many creatures (two dozen species in all) were discovered and recorded and their precise qualities examined, we are presenting sixteen here for the first time and for the enjoyment and education of the general public.

Praise for Scranimals: “Hilarious, inventive.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Prelutsky tweaks language with his characteristic glee, wedging in plenty of humor.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Praise for Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems: “This is definitely a ‘do not miss’ poetry pick.” - School Library Journal (starred review)

“Young readers will behold a wonderful, fantasically silly book.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Pretty brilliant.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Spectacular [and] witty. . . . Has the feel of a vintage science project by the weirdest (and most imaginative) kid in class. The zoology may be suspect, but the laughs are guaranteed.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)