Exploding Gravy: Poems to Make You Laugh

by X.J. Kennedy

Striking and amusing drawings add another dimension to a collection of ear-pleasing and smile-inducing poems about terrible baby-sitters, witches, pets, food, and more.

Genres: Poetry, Humor, Childrens

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers a fun collection of humorous, rhyming poems. The short poems are accompanied by black-and-white drawings that really capture the silliness of the poetry.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: A bit of a story...As every year, I am participating in the AtoZ Challenge. For the first time, this year I only have the X's left and I will have completed it so I decided to actively search out books. Since it's so close to year end I decided to go with a juvenile book. I browsed through the library and could not find a book on the shelves for an author whose last name started with 'X', so I went to the librarian for help and after much searching on the computer she finally alighted upon this title and I took it to save her from spending any more time searching for me. As you can see I fudged a little and my 'X' is for the first name.

This is a collection of Kennedy's "best" work, all previously published; some from his prior collections of poetry and others from published anthologies of children's poems. Divided into topical sections such as: "Eats", "Birds, Bees & Beasts" and "Peculiar Characters", these are all silly poems in the vein of Shel Silvertstein, Dennis Lee or Jack Prelutsky only Kennedy never really hits the mark and passes the smile stage into the giggling out loud nature of the other poets. Silly poetry is really the only poetry I truly appreciate so I say with some confidence that Kennedy's work just doesn't reach the bar of other authors of this genre. While I had a few smiles, mostly the poetry fell flat with me or just simply failed to amuse. The illustrations on the other hand add some much needed whimsy to this collection and may make some poems funnier than they really are if you concentrate on the accompanying illustration. Kennedy's other books have received good reviews, so your mileage may vary.

[Jon Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I sorted this book into the humor section, but honestly, I didn't find it very funny, or much fun. The author tries way too hard and things just don't work. I kept thinking of Shel Silverstein and how Exploding Gravy didn't measure up at all. Then I noticed to my horror that the author of Exploding Gravy actually won some big award for his poetry. I was flabbergasted. It really isn't that good.

[Brianna Mathes · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had some okay poems and some bad poems. Some of them I understood and some of them I was confused.

I thought this book was horrible.

I do not recommend this book. It was very dull and boring. Especially compared to the other poem book I read.

[Jh · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book promised both smiles and laughs. I received neither.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read "Invisible Cat" on page 69. It's about a snow leopard who coughs so hard this his spots come off and when it starts snowing, don't look for his because he won't be there. It was funny but not as funny as I expected, probably because I expected it to be really funny since the cover said "Poems to make you laugh." But I still enjoyed it.

[June · Rating 2 out of 5]

A CHOOSY WOLF, by X. J.
"Why won't you eat me, wolf?" I asked.

"It wouldn't be much fun to.
Besides, I'm into natural foods
That nothing has been done to."

A CHOOSY READER, by June X.
"Why don't you like me, reader?" Book asked.

"You tried too hard, Sweet Honey.
For verses one and two, I smiled at you.
By 86? Not funny."

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of fun/funny poems that are all accompanied by very funny and highly descriptive illustrations.

I read "Living on a Giant." I thought it was a cute, although somewhat gross poem about people who live on a giant (their home is in the ear, and they ice-skate on the eyeball, etc.).

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this book aloud to my students for the past three years and every year, I love it even more. It has so many nonsensical poems that are fun to read. There are many poems like "Sheep Shape" and "The Whales off Wales" that you just have to read out loud.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Mother's Nerves - This book looks like a great book to read for a good laugh. It could be used as motivation for students to behave so they can read one of these great poems at the end of the day.

[Nielson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poem: "Seahorse and SawHorse" pg. 64. A really fun poem! It is a tongue-twister as well as a poem. The whole book is a delightful collection of poems.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of humorous poetry for children and young adults. If you like Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky's poetry, you'll probably like this one!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silly food poems.

[Sandee Mariner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was very fun. I loved the ideas and the bright pictures.

[Ta'Mera]

I really like this book but you have to be very careful and watch out for his adult poetry.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: https://hiplibrariansbookblog.com/200...

[10-11 Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thuis book was filled with funny poems some were weird some boring, but I liked reading this poetry book. It was mostly fairytale but still I really liked it.

[Kaycee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious!! My favorite poem is "Mother and Father", "My father's name is Frankestein, he comes from Barbados ~ He fashioned me from twine, and instant mashed potatoes"

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute enough. A kid would really enjoy it. There is too much play on words though for a struggling reader to have fun with it.

[Juan Tello · Rating 2 out of 5]

it sucked