There Once Was a Man from the U.S. A.: 50 State Limericks

by Joshua Kraushar, Victoria Rose Weiss

The 50 states of limericks! There Once Was A Man From the U.S.A. is a book of limericks about each of the fifty states in alphabetical order. The book contains several illustrations from the talented Victoria Rose Weiss. Many of the limericks have very little connection with the states mentioned but some are directly related to several of the others. Although it may seem simplistic to use the same rhyme scheme, it turned out to be much harder than one would think. Try rhyming words with Massachusetts, (not that's something that you would normally do) and you might find it more difficult than you would imagine. If you are a teen or a geographically challenged adult who needs an easy way to remember the fifty states, this may be the book for you. This book may not be appropriate for young children and is not geography book but is designed to be funny and quirky.

72 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2013

Reviews

[Athena Nagel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids immediately dove right into this book. It is such a cute way to present each of the 50 states. There are some illustrations in the book but not in an overbearing way. Just enough to add to the limericks. It did become clear pretty quickly though that not all of them are appropriate for young children. So now I read the appropriate passages to them. 4 stars

[M.M. Hudson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Today I received the book There Once Was A Man From the USA to read and review.
Since it was a short book, I thought I would just go ahead and review it today as well.

I am a history buff by nature and thought this book would be interesting in that it was reviewing all 50 states in rhyme and tell a little about each one. After all, the author is a now retired high school social studies teacher and should know what he is talking about. Right? At least, that is what I thought.

The fact is, I was far from what I thought. In fact, this book was indeed about all 50 states but other than the name of the state, that is where it begins and ends. The author, Joshua Kraushar, introduced each state and then made up a limerick for each one. Most of the time the limerick has absolutely nothing to do with the state itself.

Disappointment number one!

To make matters worse, the very first state that was in the book had the 'character' killing someone. The book just went downhill from there.

Disappointment number two!

If this book was meant to be for children to remember states then Mr. Kraushar missed the mark. This book should not be read by young children at all as some of the wording and subject matter is very adult and could only be understood by an older student or adult. One could certainly not memorize states this way.

Disappointment number three!

In essence, I wasted the whole five minutes of my time it took me to read this book. Obviously, I do not recommend this book at all. I am generously giving this book 2 stars only because the limericks did rhyme.
~Naila Moon

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for my open and honest opinion. The review here is 100% my own.

[Stacie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book includes a collection of limericks about each of the fifty states. Dictionary.com states a limerick as
"a kind of humorous verse of five lines, in which the first, second, and fifth lines rhyme with each other, andthe third and fourth lines, which are shorter, form a rhymed couplet."

Some of the limericks directly relate to the state mentioned and others connect to each other. In reading, I found a number of them are kind of violent such as "finishing him off with a hammer" or "mauled by a dog". Others were more appropriate for the state such as Maryland's:

There once was a singer from Maryland
Who was part of a famous rock band
He loved to go crabbing
Till his foot took a stabbing
From a crustacean he stepped on in the sand. Page 28

While I appreciate the creativity and effort it must have taken to come up with a suitable limerick for each state, I would have to disagree that this should be considered a children's book or educational in any way. When I initially read about the book and agreed to review it, I planned to pass it on to my 4th Grade teacher friend. I know in 4th grade the kids learn about all the fifty states and I thought she might find this fun to read to them. After reading, I will not be passing it on to her as several of the limericks are not appropriate for that grade level or for children at all.

I am sure Mr. Kraushar, in his years of teaching high school Social Studies found much humor in writing this book, but perhaps he should share it with the high school students rather than the elementary ones.

This book was a disappointment and one I wouldn't recommend.

[Sally Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

There once was a man who use to be a teacher
He tried to write a new creature
There was no rhythm to his rhyme
This book was a waste of time
I hope its not a double feature.


All kidding aside, I requested the early review copy of this book because I thought it would be a fun way to teach my kids about the 50 different states. Much to my disappointment, this was not the case. Other than the names of the states in alphabetical order, this book has nothing to do with any of states themselves, with the exceptions of maybe Tennessee and Montana. It would have been one thing if the limericks were witty or funny, but since the author had a hard time rhyming the names of the different states with other words, the overall intended rhythm of all the poems was thrown off, making them really hard to read. On top of that, some of the limericks were vulgar and inappropriate for younger readers. The illustrations were decent, but there needed to be more of them; the blank pages were really distracting. I would not recommend this book to anyone. It is certainly is not educational or funny and, therefore, not worth the read.

Edit: On further examination I realized that this book has to be read with a New York accent to be funny try that and you mite like it better.

I received this book as an early review copy for my honest review and I have given it. The opinions expressed herein are my own.

[Momma Frugal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really excited to get this book as after I finished the review, I had planned on donating it to my children's school as I thought it would be a great learning resource. Especially since this was written by a former Social Studies teacher.


Unfortunately I will not be donating the book nor did I allow my oldest to read the book.


There are some inappropriate wording that maybe more suited to adults. This book needs to be retitled to the adult audience and not to children.


Here is the first two limericks in the book:


ALABAMA:


There once was a sorority girl from Alabama

Proud member of Phi Delta Gamma

Boyfriend Billy Bob

Was a fat, cheating slob

So she finished him off with a hammer


ALASKA:


There once was a man from Alaska

Whose marriage was a great disaster

"Do this and do that,

Treats me worse than a rat"

He mumbled while trying to blast her


This is not appropriate for children nor an educational/fun way for them to learn facts about each state.


I will not recommend this book at all. I really had more hopes for this book.


Thank you to the author for providing me with a complimentary copy. All views are my own and not influenced in anyway.

[Gayle Pace · Rating 2 out of 5]

REVIEW

When I heard about this book, I wanted to get it for my sister's grandson so he could learn about the 50 States in a fun way. That didn't happen. The limericks have nothing to do with the states. It was rather disappointing. There may have been one or two states that the limericks were somewhat about them. The limericks couldn't rhyme with the states making them a little difficult to read, especially for a child. I feel the language in some is very inappropriate for younger readers. I feel that if there was a picture for each state that would have added to the book. I don't think I would recommend this book, especially not for children. It's not funny nor educational. The book would have been more educational if the reader was learning perhaps the capitals of the states. I hate to give bad reviews but this one is one of them.

I would give this book 2 CHECK MARKS.

I was given a complimentary copy of THERE ONCE WAS A MAN FROM THE USA from the author Joshua Kraushar for my opinions. I received no compensation for this review.

[Deanna at The Book Lover's Attic · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the very first limerick I was hooked. Some of them are laugh out loud funny while not always appropriate for the younger reader. The others are simply entertaining. As most of them don't have direct connections to their state, I was a little concerned about them sticking with me. But the fact that they are funny and entertaining, led me to read them over and over again.

So, did this book help teach me about geography? Not sure. However I do think that the entertainment value of this book will help encourage young readers to take an interest in learning the 50 states.

[Sandra Stiles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I requested the early review copy believing it would be an excellent source for my students. I was a little disappointed in it. The rhyme scheme didn't always work. I would have really enjoyed it if the Limericks went with the some piece of history from the state. I was aware that many of them would not. However, I will use the book when we return to school and have my own students pick a state and write a limerick based on an interesting fact or person from the state.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. While the rhyming wasn’t perfect, it was still admirable, and the limericks were fun and sometimes quite accurate. The illustrations were beautiful and this makes a lovely children’s book.

See the full review on my website, Awesome Book Assessment.