The Swamps of Sleethe: Poems From Beyond the Solar System

By Jack Prelutsky

Book Overview

Jack Prelutsky's exploration of outer space is not for the faint of heart. No friendly little E.T.-type aliens await your arrival. There are many imaginative ways to perish in these darkly comedic... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375846743
• ISBN13: 9780375846748
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.3" x 7.4"
• Age Range: 6 to 9 years
• Grade Range: Grades 1 to 4

Customer Reviews

Jack Prelutsky Does It Again!

This is the perfect book for the space enthusiast, but what is even cooler, this book will pull in the child who has never really thought about space before! the poems are hilarious, and the illustrations, Mr. Pickering, are out-of-this world! (I know; bad pun) I am always looking for a way to entice the child who turns up his nose at poetry to "just try it"; this book will help IMMENSELY!

Boldly Going Where no Kid Would Ever Want to Go

Jack Prelutsky has written ten anthologies of poetry--more than forty being "kid-friendly." Long considered the "unofficial poet laureate of schoolkids," in 2006, he was officially named the nation's first Children's Poet Laureate. In this collection, which Prelutsky attributes to his love of Star Trek, he takes you on a wild ride around an imaginary universe, showing you what the many different planets could be like. While essentially all of them seem to have some creature or some attribute that will kill you--begging the question of why anyone would ever want to visit outer space--he, nevertheless, reveals to the young reader the wide variety of alien life that could be out there. Richly and colorfully illustrated by Jimmy Pickering, it's a great book to read to kids, with Prelutsky's large vocabulary and heavy dose of multi-syllable words, which will have parents reaching for the dictionary to give exact definitions. But, with the bizarre and colorful aliens, kids will be thoroughly entertained, along with a game where some planet's names are anagrams to be solved (answers are in the back of the book). The Swamps of Sleethe is a fun book to teach kids many new words and perhaps to start them on the first step to an obsession with science fiction. Reviewed by Alex C. Telander

A vivid collection of dark, funny verses about the universe

Jack Prelutsky's THE SWAMPS OF SLEETHE; POEMS FROM BEYOND THE SOLAR SYSTEM provides a vivid collection of dark, funny verses about the universe. Imagine you're on a spaceship traveling beyond the solar system: what is found there appears in fun verses.