Oddhopper Opera: A Bug's Garden of Verses

by Kurt Cyrus

Book Overview

Put an ear to the ground for the clicking, popping, snapping music of this garden grown wild. In verse as witty as it is buggy, Kurt Cyrus conducts a chirruping chorus of voices great and small. From... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0152058559
• ISBN13: 9780152058555
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 8.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 6 to 9 years
• Grade Range: Grades 1 to 4

Customer Reviews

Wonderful rhymes, wonderful illustrations that will bug you

"Wow! Mommy, it's a snake!" I heard those very words as a little one-year-old boy sat enthralled, flipping through pages of stunning pictures of lively bugs and of curving words crawling across the pages of Oddhopper Opera: A Bug's Garden of Verses. Oddhopper Opera is a combination of rhyming verses and colorful drawings of bugs and animals. The child gets an insider's look into a bug's race in an unattended garden. Filled with bugs of all shapes and sizes, this garden provides the backdrop for the story line, that of a race among the bugs to get to the finish line. Its incorporation of poetry into an otherwise "science"- seeming children's book will broaden the imagination of any child. Though there is a creative, wide range of vocabulary, it makes it a difficult independent read for a child (for example, "Once up on a garden rotten, Twice forlorn and half forgotten"). Oddhopper Opera doesn't shy away from the facts of life, apparent in some of these example lines "dung balls rolling - move `em out," "Feeling kind of bloated," "'Papa, O Papa Bug, what will we eat?' "`It's gummy, it's yummy, it's dung! What a treat!'" Regarding format, some of the words follow the twists and curves of the pictures, making it a challenge for a child of ages 5 to 10 to read independently, but a fun journey to read with, or to, a child. The intriguing mix of poetry, stunning pictures, bugs and action-filled pages will keep children's attention and increase curiosity about what's going on in their own backyards. Armchair Interviews says: If bugs bug you, or you love bugs, this book will bring you down to their level of living.

You'll never look at a garden the same way again !

Oddhoppers Opera is a wonderful book on so many levels. Kurt Cyrus takes you into a garden on a cold, wet, winters day and you follow through the story as the plants, bugs, snails and snakes come alive with his discriptive poems. The illustrations are deatailed and colorful(without seeming unatural), and the text on many of the pages become part of the garden itself as the words bend, twist and tunnel through the pages. Many of the pages seem like a search and find book because with each reading we find details we overlooked before. I try to buy books that springboard my children into other areas of learning and this book is perfect for science and poetry (two subjects not ususally used together), but it is also just as enjoyable to use as a preschoolers "let's cuddle up a read a story" book. P.S. We just recieved Hotel Deep: Light Verse From Dark Water and it is another 5 for Kurt Cyrus!

onomonopia

That is what the words remind me of when I read this to my son. Incredibly descriptive, I can smell the fall garden as the vegetables slowly rot away and the (unseen to the human eye) insect life carries out there fall toil. My 4 year old sons' favorite is (of course) the dung beetles while my wife and I admire Cyrus' artistic and lyrical style. We are anxiously awaiting his next book "Hotel Deep" and and admire his artwork on "Buddy Holly" as well as "The Bones of Fred McFee" a seasonal story that is appropriate for Halloween.

Enter the Garden, If You Dare.....

"Once upon a garden rotten,/Twice forlorn and half forgotten..." So begins Kurt Cyrus' marvelous collection of "a bug's garden of verses." As winter ends and spring blooms, all the creatures begin to wake up and come to the surface. Join aphids, bees, crickets, dung beetles, earwigs, and fleas, grubs, katydids, snakes, snails, frogs, stinkbugs, and many other creepy, crawly, slimy friends as they eat, work, and play. The seasons change and spring turns to summer, and then summer turns to autumn, when "Drip-drip-wet and muddy./Party's over, everybody." Mr Cyrus' exuberant and entertaining text is full of energy and motion, and wonderfully enhanced by his bold, vibrant and engaging artwork. These illustrations are a real feast for the eyes, and youngsters will enjoy poring over the pictures, and always finding something new and humorous each time they open the book. Perfect for little entomologists aged 6-10, Oddhopper Opera is a very creative and innovative look at the garden, and all who live there.

Delightful ANT-ics!

If you love children's poetry, or bugs, or snails, or frogs, or gardens, or humor, or fabulous art, you will enjoy this book. :-) Cyrus is not only a talented illustrator, but this book proves he is also a gifted writer. Here is part of the beginning:Once upon a garden rotten, Twice forlorn and half forgotten...Drip--drip--cold and wet. Winter isn't over yet.Drip--drip--soaking, sopping, Always dripping, never stopping.This is just beginning of the many rhythmic, funny, surprises crawling inside. A must see-- A must read-- A must own! Enjoy!