Mom and Dad Are Palindromes

by Mark Shulman, Adam McCauley (Illustrator)

Bob has a problem. He's a palindrome. In fact, once he learns what a palindrome is, he starts finding palindromes his little sis, Nan; his pup, Otto; even his Mom and Dad! It's making Bobfeel like a kook. Is there no escape? Mark Shulman and Adam McCauley have joined forces to create a wonderfully visual, ridiculously clever book of wordplay. Join the hilarity. . . do your civic deed, don't let your pupils slip up, and find the over 101 palindromes hiding in the words and pictures of this zany book.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Humor, 2nd Grade, 1st Grade, Language, Nonfiction

36 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2006

Reviews

[Lisa Vegan]

This is a really fine concept book about palindromes. The story is very amusing, and there are multiple palindromes on every page, including phrases as well as words. If I hadn’t known the subject matter was palindromes, I’d have missed many of the ones that are phrases.

The last page is very, very funny.

I did find it sort of weird that Bob felt the extreme need to get away from palindromes, but I suspect most kids will find that part of the fun.

I can’t say I enjoyed the illustration style, but the pictures fit the story very well, and I assume that most kids will enjoy them.

I highly recommend this book for children to teach what palindromes are and also for kids who already have that knowledge and who will be amused by this story, and will enjoy noticing all the palindromes in it.

ETA: Oh, and even the book’s dedications and author’s and illustrator’s bios are related tie ins and also very funny.

[Amy Seto]

Bob’s life is going along just fine until one day his teacher, Miss Sim, teaches the class about palindromes. That’s when Bob realizes with alarm that he is a palindrome! And what’s worse, he's completely surrounded by palindromes: his kayak, his race car, his pup. To top it all off, he realizes that mom and dad are palindromes, as well as the names of his sisters, Anna and Nan! Bob tries to run away, but no matter what he does or where he goes, those pesky palindromes follow him. Finally, Bob finds a solution to his problem. He’ll go by his full name, instead of just Bob. He should be safe, right? Oh wait, his full name is Robert Trebor!

Featuring over 101 palindromes in the text and illustrations, this book is a great read aloud kids in upper elementary school (grade 2 and up). Palindromes in the narrative are printed in bold fonts, but keep your eyes open for the palindromes hidden in the illustrations, such as the titles of the books in Bob’s living room, posters on city walls, and names of companies and stores. Using mixed media techniques, McCauley creates a bustling urban environment that surrounds Bob in bold primary blues, yellows, and reds. The illustrations alternate between full page illustrations and isolated illustrations, which provides visual variety and pacing. You may recognize McCauley’s illustration style from the covers and spot illustrations in The Time Warp Trio.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...

[Dolly]

This is an entertaining book about palindromes. Our girls have learned about palindromes in school and we've had fun coming up with a few on our own, but we'd never seen so many in one book before. It's a fun tale and we really enjoyed searching each page to see if we could find them all (our favorites were the book titles.)

The illustrations are colorful and wild and reminded us of Adam McCauley's work on the Time Warp Trio series. Overall, it was a fun book to read aloud and educational, too!

[Heidi-Marie]

I never realized how many palindromes I use on a regular basis. I remember being quite interested when I first learned of them, and always knew of the typical one: race car. But this book had so many. And I found myself like the boy frantically going from page to page. Of course, I was doing it in trying to find all of the ones on each page. His panic was actually a bit humorous to watch. A fun one for an older child to go through so they can find the palindromes for themselves. I don't know how well this would work as a storytime, even in a small group. And I think some of humor might get lost. But it's a fun book to read.

[Sandy]

My maiden name was a palindrome. So, palindrome was a language arts concept that I, like Bob, had a personal connection to. My son is just starting to learn to read. He loves reading and books but reading on his own is not his favorite. The illustrations in this book are great for his age and I love that the book creates interest in the way that words are constructed to give him a different reason to appreciate words. We had a lot of fun reading it.

[Elizabeth Crisfield]

Two 7-year old math boys liked it. One is reading on his own a little, the other not yet, both enjoyed the mathematical puzzle of watching the letter patterns repeat in reverse. Good hook for reluctant readers.

[Justin Langlois]

Robert Trebor is a little freaked out when he discovers his mom and dad are both...wait for it...palindromes! It only gets worse from there when he realizes that these palindrome things are everywhere. I may have reacted the same to be honest.

[Sara Robertson]

This was a book I had to read when I saw the title. The story itself is a bit contrived but it is a good introduction to palindromes and spotting them through the story is fun. Have yet to test it on my 4yo. Think it might be a little over his head.

[Karen]

This is a fun way to introduce palindromes to young learners. I shared this book with the kids who stay late at my after-school program (ages 5-8). They really enjoyed the illustrations and trying to find all the palindromes.

[skcocnaH]

3.5– originally I was going to give this one less stars, but I appreciated the realization he came to the end about swapping words out, and also the hilarity of Bob’s last name and the conclusion the book came to.

[Villain E]

I wanted to like this, but it missed the mark. Bob is introduced to the concept of palindromes and then freaks out when he starts seeing them everywhere. I would have preferred a positive reaction. Contains over 100 palindromes.

[Kimberly]

Zany, silly fun. Keep an eye out for all of the palindromes in the illustrations!

[Aslinn]

Cute.

[Lorraine]

Super cute. All the background text like store names and street signs are also palindromes.

[Elizabeth]

3.5

[Amy]

A fun enough book for cementing the notion of a palindrome. It was clever how many palindrome words he wove into the story. We had no idea why palindromes were so scary to him and a lot of the word usage was unfamiliar to my daughter (age 9) so I had to explain a lot (further chopping up an already choppy narrative)so it wasn't a great read aloud. I bet she'll pick it up and cipher out more of the palindromes before we return this to the library though and so it succeeds in that way!

[Chantel]

Bob is very upset when he discovers that he, his mom and dad, his sister Anna and even his pup Otto are palindromes! All of a sudden, his whole world has turned upside down! Wow! What will Bob do? This is a very clever book with colorful, "fast-moving" illustrations. It even has a surprise ending!

[Amanda]

What a fun book! I thought this would be too hard to understand for my 4 yr old, but he seemed to enjoy it and wanted it reread as soon as we finished the first time. For an older child, maybe even one who was learning about palindromes, this one has so many examples that it would be a great learning tool. The illustrations are nice too.

[Lindsey]

A very clever book. The story line is a bit weak, but the play on words more than makes up for it. I found it very amusing. It would be fun to read with Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse.

[Callie Risse]

Once Bob learns that his name is a palindrome, he begins to notice palindromes everywhere. Bob does NOT like palindromes. He learns that there are different words for everything. Mom can be mother. Sis can be sister. And he, Bob, can be Robert. I would use this book to teach my students about palindromes, as it contains many great examples.

[Holly]

This book is a hoot! Poor Bob is made an example of a palindrome to his school class, and once he knows what palindromes are, he starts noticing them everywhere! (mom, dad, sister anne). It's a fun one!

[Abe Underhill]

I enjoyed sharing this book with my son who has recently started playing with the concept of symmetry. It was neat to see him recognize the way palindromes work. I liked the page design and bonus palindromes in the background.

[Kevin Evans]

This is about a boy named Bob who learns that his name is a palindrome, and he doesn't like that. He starts to see and hear palindromes everywhere! This book can be used for a lesson about unique words that are palindromes, such as 'race car' and 'mom' and 'dad'.

[Joe]

Again, this is for a younger audience, but it's still a decent starting point for beginners. For more advanced palindrome use, you'll need something more. I suggest David Lubar's Punished! for junior high kids.

[Alesha Harris]

This is a great book to help children build vocabulary and their spelling. This book teaches about palindromes. Also, its unique because BOB realizes his own names is a palindrome. I think this is a fun and exciting book to reead to children to allow them to see the uniqueness about palimdromes.

[Ansley]

One of my favorite children's books.

[Paige]

It looked better than it turned out to be...

[Gilg]

We've checked this one out from the library a couple of times. Funny story, and filled with palindromes

[Zonia]

A fun book where BOB finds that his world is filled with palindromes. Fun illustrations help us see palindromes everywhere.

[Nwarthman]

Cute story about all of the words that are palindromes. Students can come up with thier own palindromes as a follow up activity