Don't Burn Down the Birthday Cake

by Joe Wayman

Book by Wayman, Joe

Genres: Poetry

91 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1988

Reviews

[Lucas F]

This book was ok but poetry books are not my favorite type of books but there are some funny poems in it. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes some funny but some not so funny poems. If u like funny/not funny books. There is a poem called porches that is about someone's grandma that sits at her porch all day sitting and knitting and a boy thinks your supposed to sit under them.

[Mollie]

I could relate a lot to this book because the poems were realistic to everyday life. One of the poems that stood out to me was called, "Friendships." This poem was about how friendships may come and go and it is important to be happy they happened even if it didn't last. It reminded me of someone who I was best friends with growing up and then we grew apart when we went to college. Another poem I could relate to was called, "Perfect." This poem was about how some people may seem perfect on the outside, but there is always another side to them that most likely isn't perfect. I loved how all of the poems had an underlying message the poet wanted to get across to the reader.
This book had illustrations for each poem, but they were not detailed in anyway and had no color. However, I don't think this book needed bright, detailed illustrations because that would have taken away from the main purpose of the poems.
Definitely have this book in your classroom and see if your students can interpret the underlying message. This book would be great for older grades, because younger students won't understand the meaning of the poems.

[Kate]

I like poetry!