Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Guess Again! Yetis

Guess Again! is a picture-book written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Adam Rex.

It gets mostly good reviews on Amazon, but for some readers, it's downright confoundicating! - especially to parents trying to help their young children grasp the fundamentals of logic, causality, and puzzle-solving. The object of the book is to guess what something is based on the clues in the illustration and in the rhyme. Try to use logic though and you will fail. There's always a twist. I personally think it's hilarious and any kid of mine will learn at an early age that logic only gets you so far. SILLINESS is a cardinal virtue. Absurdity is the one true path. Nothing is expected and all is as it should be. Three cheers for the nod and the wink.

This book was already great, but what takes it up six notches is the thoughtful inclusion of yetis. Observe the following pages and poem:

Their fleece is warm and woolly white.
And when you lie awake at night,
Count them and you'll fall asleep.
A guess? Why, yes! A flock of
Abominable snow monsters.


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By the way, I recommend everything that Mac Barnett and Adam Rex have ever done or will ever do.

Adam Rex is a yeti lover through and through, able to depict them in many different ways. He's been featured three times on this blog: Tiny Yeti, AbrahamSuperLincoln & Yeti, and the amazing Bigfoot-Yeti section of his own Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich picture-book. Read his True Meaning of Smekday chapter book, too. You will love the Boov.

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