As: A Surfeit of Similes

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

It would be a grievous insult to the efforts of Juster ( The Phantom Tollbooth ) and Small ( Imogene's Antlers ) if this book were passed over by those who can't get past the grim black jacket or who categorically dismiss black-and-white illustrations before they notice each picture's hilarious content. Readers will love the rollicking batch of playful similes: ``As patient as lizards / As heavy as lead/As slow as the ketchup / As safe as your bed.'' Small's contribution is immense; for in ``As different as noses / As fickle as luck,'' such notable schnozzes as those of W. C. Fields and Pinocchio gather around a ``Wheel of Fortune.'' Children will relate to many of the similes in their first encounters with the book, and can grow into the ones they don't immediately understand. And if readers finish the book without comprehending exactly what similes are, a funny lesson brackets the verse. All ages. (Mar.)

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-- Who better to reveal the hidden characters of a collection of odd and familiar things than a wordsmith as talented and ingenious as Norton Juster, author of The Phantom Tollbooth (Random, 1961), Otter Nonsense (Philomel, 1982; o.p.), and other exercises in the verbally antic. He does this by offering readers a collection of some 200 funny, familiar, quirky, comic, and occasionally mysterious (``as far as Duluth''?) similies. Their presentation in singsong verse which begs to be read aloud moves the book briskly along, and Small's ingenious illustrations introduce a welcome element of the narrative which forestalls too-early simile satiety. How many similies actually comprise a surfeit is a matter of individual taste, but most readers will find Juster's allocation to be as right as a trivet and his collection, as clever as paint! --Michael Cart, Beverly Hills Public Library