Oddhopper Opera: A Bug's Garden of Verses

by Kurt Cyrus

Put an ear to the ground for the clicking, popping, snapping music of this garden grown wild. In verse as witty as it is buggy, Kurt Cyrus conducts a chirruping chorus of voices great and small. From a stinkbug trying (and failing) to hide itself to a cicada's struggle to escape its own skin to an ant's marathon dinner march and a frog's identity crisis, here is a garden teeming with down-to-earth fun for readers of every species--no matter how many legs they have!

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens, Nature, Science

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Dolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our girls love insects and other creepy crawly critters, so I figured this would be a good book for them. It is fantastic! The poems are funny, witty and teach about the critters in a very subtle way. The illustrations are fantastic and we would spend minutes on each page, pointing out the various creatures and laughing at their antics. Taking place in the remains of a garden, with leftover produce rotting as the Fall turns cold, each page is a separate look into the microcosm of life that exists there. There are themes that tie them together and characters appear again and again, showing the interconnectedness of this ecosystem. It's a wonderful tale, helping to show the cycle of life and death and dispelling the icky-ness of the subject. It makes this rotting, bug-filled scene an enchanting world, one that we would want to visit again and again. We really enjoyed this book!

[Jackie Law · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book when it was published in 2001, and my child was 5 and we both thoroughly enjoyed the playful cadence, wonderful illustrations, and extra tiny words of the ants' conversation. I love that there are so many tiny details as well as an overarching pattern of inevitable decay and the joy and angst from the bugs point of view. Not only a very poetic opera, but also a much more accurate account of garden verses :) ❤️

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big, colorful illustrations of insects (and a snake and a frog) interacting in a natural ecosystem are paired with witty rhyming verses with shifting points of view. Entertaining for kids and adults alike.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

So wonderfully silly. My 5 year old and myself giggled through the entire thing. The wording and rhyming is clever. Well written and quite lovely.

[wildct2003 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great pictures, fun text

[Scarlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happened upon this while thrifting and can’t believe my luck! This book is brilliant! Short little poems that have amazing cadence and wit. Memorization worthy.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who knew so much is going on in the backyard garden? This invites close reading as the reader gets a very up close look at creatures among the rotting leftovers.
The voice changes, sometimes talking at the creatures, sometimes the creatures are talking. This could be tough for younger readers to follow. Although each page focuses on a different creature, there are no headings, giving the impression that we are reading through the book, rather than being able to read a poem here and there.
Some of the soft illustrations show blue sky and bright, sunlit flowers, at the end we're given a feeling of rainy, foggy days at the end of the book.
It does give lots of information about the ecosystem, including the food cycle and decomposition. Would be a great intro to such science units, it would be especially fun to read aloud these rhyming verses with expression!
"Winter isn't over yet, wait for spring" but at the end it says, "Autumn rain will rot 'em all" making me wonder which season the author is trying to convey.

[Janet Squires · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delicate flowers and tasty veggies aren't the focus of this poetry collection. No, it's the weird and wonderful garden critters - from beetles to snakes - that scurry and slither through these pages in meticulous illustrations and poetic lines. This is an invitation to read a portion and encourage children to try and guess the subject: "Sliding softly, here and gone,/ A belly with a head stuck on."

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of poems describes insects in a garden throughout the seasons. Children will enjoy the gross elements of the bugs in the poems. They will also laugh at the antics of the snail race and the ants as they crawl across the pages. The words of the poems are integrated into the lush illustrations creating a sense of movement as you follow the words through the vegetation.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the ants' comments(poem) moving from page to page, bumping heads. Boink!

The book as a whole was a bit confusing to follow. Some poem/stories follow from page to page, but sometimes get lost.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun for kids and adults, especially at this time of year when the creepies are beginning to crawl.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

great poetry for boys who like icky garden bugs!

[Greta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!

[Jim Sibigtroth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rhyming story of creepy crawly worms and bugs from the time they start to wake in spring until they hide away in the fall. Excellent illustrations. I read this aloud to 1st graders

[Saunders Awards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vivid, detailed, informative illustrations accompany humorous, well-written poems that tell interconnected short tales along a journey through a garden. Fun for kids 3+.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great funny kids poetry book about insects in the garden loved the side note ant talk that happened on some of the pictures

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this a good and informative book about bugs. my 3 kids enjoyed this book a lot. it was a little long to read out loud though. I would recommend this book to others.