Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
I got to have lunch with Lerner editors Carol Hinz and Shaina Olmanson last week (rescheduled after I went to the wrong restaurant on our first attempt!). Here we are, all together at last!

Shaina Olmanson, Laura Purdie Salas, and Carol Hinz
After lunch, Carol gave me a copy of EEK, YOU REEK! POEMS ABOUT ANIMALS THAT STINK, STANK, STUNK, by Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple (Millbrook Press, illus by Eugenia Nobati). What a fun book! Funny poems filled with facts; charming, mischievous art; and great backmatter, including an extensive glossary of stinky words. Ha! Here’s one of my favorite poems in the book:
Ox Appeal
He doesn’t worry
what you think
about his manly
oxen stink.
He doesn’t worry
how you feel
about his stanky
ox appeal.
The one he’s trying
to impress,
with fine fur coat
and grand largess,
is Madame Ox, who–
I confess–
loves his musky
oxen-ness.
–by Heidi Stemple, from Eek, You Reek! All rights reserved.
Seriously. Double points for using the work “stanky” so perfectly.
And for lots more wonderful poetry, don’t miss the Poetry Friday Roundup with the amazing Jama Rattigan!
This looks so fun!
I love it. I think that book belongs in my classroom. Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Thanks for my morning laugh today.
How awesome is that? Positively Stink-Stink-Stunk-Stupendous! 😉
Thanks for sharing a sample poem from Jane and Heidi’s book — fabulous! And I agree, she used “stanky” masterfully. 🙂
Heidi shared this book with us this summer at the Highlights workshop- such a fun book/poem!
Oh geez, showing up at the wrong place for lunch sounds like something I would do (and I figured you were too organized for that!) Must take a look at this stinky book!
Ha! Madam Ox must have some stories! lol
HA! I think this book would be a WINNER in my my classroom (full of stinky fifth graders, I might add…)!!
Oh my, this book looks like fun!
This looks so fun. I’m looking forward to reading the entire collection. Thanks, Laura.
This poem is so much fun to read.