Animals Anonymous

School Library Journal

Gr 8-10

The cover of this poetry collection looks like a student notebook, complete with pen drawings, price tags, and a warning: "Private Keep Out." Inside, on lined paper, are 41 illustrated poems about animals that bear a somewhat exaggerated resemblance to human adolescents. The first and last selections, from the perspective of the "Camouflaged Chameleon," frame the story. This "wallflower" hides beneath a chair when the Animals Anonymous therapist falls asleep, and then takes notes on the following sessions to use as blackmail, but by the end, decides to keep the critters' secrets. The verses personify the animals, blurring teen stereotypes together with species traits. The "Smart Ass" tells of a donkey held back a grade. In "Bee Biology" (full of hidden science facts), the queen bee rhapsodizes over her drones: "I tell each he'szzz my soul mate./Come on Boyszz!!!-Let's pollinate./(I'm no bee slut. It's just genetic.)" Other poems contain worldly messages like that of the "Laughless Giraffe" whose long neck enables it to see pollution and war. Still others seem to be included merely for slapstick effect, such as "Rabbit Habit," about a nose-picking rabbit. The illustrations, created using ballpoint pen and Adobe Photoshop, have that great notebook-doodle flair and enhance the text and overall book design. An additional purchase for teen poetry sections.-Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA

Kirkus Reviews

Teenagers are animals, this author/illustrator team cleverly indicate. This collection of poems alphabetically highlights the animal world from A to Z. Some of the sassy, smart-mouthed entries include "The Very Ugly Caterpillar," "Mighty MITE" and "Holy MOLEy." Just like teens themselves, the poems range from hilarious to self-aware to vulnerable; the wordplay, rhythms and dialect recall hip-hop music. The book itself is styled like a graffiti-covered spiral notebook that a high-school student with a penchant for temerity might carry, with intricate, multicolored ballpoint-pen caricatures of animals and notes scribbled every-which-way in the margins. Despite the appealing design, the content will likely appeal to only a small audience of astute poetry readers. To understand the parallels between teens and their animal counterparts requires a degree of wisdom and an ability to step away from the myopia of teenhood. Adults who work with and love teens for what they are will enjoy this volume, but the target teen audience might not appreciate it as much. (Poetry. 14 & up)