Agee, Jon Books

Retired Kid, The

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Cute 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The story is cute and both my children, ages 7and 9 enjoyed it.They could relate to the kid in the story who is tired of homework, chore etc. The child decides to retire and moves to a retiremnt home, but ultimately remembers the things that he enjoys and moves back home to enjoy his job of being a kid. My only issue with the book is that it does portray some negative stereotypes of elderly people. This includes listening to resident go on about hip replacement, drinking prune juice and sitting on false teeth. However, in the end an elderly resident helps him decide to go back home. The illustrations are really cute as well.

Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Jon Agee has done it again with taking a well known idea and turning it upside down. The main character, Brian, is tired of working so hard and decides to retire to the Happy Sunset Retirement Community in Florida. The fact that he's a kid does not stop him; who wants to chase after the school bus, do all that homework, babysit the younger sister, and take that enormous dog for a walk day in and day out, when the relaxing alternatives of retired life are but a plane ride away. Retirement agrees with Brian until he realizes that there were some aspects to his old job that he did find rather agreeable.

The Retired Kid is unique among other children's books about work and jobs with its focus on retirement. It can also teach children about opportunity cost: they may think twice about wanting to leave school and chores for a retirement community if it comes at the cost of prune juice smoothies, long documentaries on TV, weekly doctor's checkups, and conversations about hip replacements. This book gets top marks for its very funny illustrations and clever writing.

Editorial Review:

"It's been a wonderful eight years, but I need a break."

At the Happy Sunset Retirement Community, there's Ethel, Myrtle, Harvey, and Tex. And then there's Brian. The retired kid. He's here to escape school, homework, and daily chores.

But retired living has its challenges, especially when you're sixty years younger than everybody else!

Nothing

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

One of the most popular clichés in economics is "there's no such thing as a free lunch," with the implication that you cannot get something for nothing. Jon Agee's clever book turns this notion upside down when the richest lady in town walks into Otis's empty antiques shop at closing time and buys nothing for something. Amazed that this wealthy woman who has everything would pay $300 for nothing, the neighboring merchants quickly change their signs and their sales pitches - I have the finest in nothing! I sell nothing from China! - and the odd purchase sets off a buying craze. Nothing is ingenious in the way it parodies herd behavior in consumer shopping patterns at a level that young children will understand and enjoy.

Editorial Review:

Otis has an antique shop crammed to the gills with stuff. So he's delighted when someone comes in and buys it all. Next day, Suzie Gump arrives, the shop is empty, full of nothing, and Suzy loves it-and takes it all. Suzie has set a trend, and soon everybody is craving nothing-the stores are full of it. It's only when there's not even a towel for drying off after a bath that Suzie realizes she may have gone a bit too far. Funny and silly, this is another solid entry by Agee.

Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!: and Other Palindromes

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

stack cats 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Palindromes. Hard to write, fun to read, especially in the expert hands of Jon Agee.

A palindrome is a word or phrase that is spelled the same way forwards or backwards, as in "Go hang a salami! I'm a lasagna hog!", which has to be one of the longest and most complicated palindromes in existence.

Mr. Agee has collected some fantastically fun and funny palindromes in this collection illustrated by the author. There is a picture of a lion on a sunny beach with a bottle of "lion oil" behind him. Winnie the Pooh is doing the hula hoop (it's "Pooh's hoop", of course!!). My personal favorite (and an exceptionally long palindrome) is of an inventor in a room full of switches, gadgets and wires. In the middle of the room sits a tiny box playing music. He exclaims, arms out, "I madam, I made a radio! So I dared! Am I mad, am I?!" Go ahead, spell it backwards...

In a world where good English skills are swiftly becoming a rarity and few folk seem interested in grammar or word games, Mr. Agee's book is a breath of fresh air. At times, the illustrations fit the palindromes so perfectly that you almost forget that these are special sentences that are quite difficult to create, and the read more like a comic strip.

Kudos to Mr. Agee for not only playing about with words to create Palindromes, but for publishing some for those struggling folk (like myself) who can't seem to come up with any of our own!! Readers may also want to check out his other book, "So Many Dynamos!"

Editorial Review:

Word lovers of all ages will love a collection of more than sixty wild and delightful palindromes, such as ""Wonton? Not Now,"" each with its own illustration. Reprint. AB. K.

Terrific (New York Times Best Illustrated Books (Awards))

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Every grump has his day 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

From Oscar the Grouch to "Winnie-the-Pooh's" Eeyore, kids are well-acquainted with the nature of grumpy, grouchy, depressed people/animalia. Picture books, however, haven't properly plumbed this rich resource for all it's worth. Haven't, that is, until now. Enter, "Terrific" by Jon Agee. In it, the world's most inaccurate pessimist joins forces with a tropical critter and together the two work up an unlikely friendship. Prior to the publication of this title, Jon Agee's books had been either designer dreamboats of surrealistic fodder (as in "Z Goes Home") or they've been about the unlikely pairings of men and wild creatures (as in "Milo's Hat Trick"). "Terrific" falls squarely into the latter category.

Most people would be thrilled to win an all-expenses-paid cruise to Bermuda. Eugene is not most people. His reaction? "Terrific. I'll probably get a really nasty sunburn". No sunburn is in Eugene's future, but a shipwreck does leave him stranded on a tiny desert island. Once there, he is befriended by Lenny the talking parrot. Lenny can't flee the island due to a bum wing, but he can draw a nifty diagram of the boat he and Eugene can build. Build it they do (with Eugene muttering, "Terrific. I'm going to permanently damage my lower back", all the while) and the two cast off. They are then struck sharply by a rescue ship and arrive in Bermuda. Eugene naturally assumes that Lenny is going to remain with the ship (which he once worked on) but the birdy surprises his new friend by making it perfectly clear that he's sticking by his side. And what does Eugene say without a hint of malice or sarcasm to tinge his words? "Terrific!".

Consistently throughout this book Eugene sarcastically predicts one calamity and then gets walloped by a completely different one. It's funny, but sometimes Agee's pictures are at odds with his story. If you just read this book without looking at it, you might get the idea that Eugene walks around with a permanent frown affixed to his face. On the contrary, our hero is at times morose, lonely, grudgingly pleased, and mildly hurt. Agee draws with a deft hand. Images are crisp, clear, and reduced to their most essential forms. It's enough to make you not wonder too hard where exactly Eugene got the tools to build his desert island boat. Hm.

It's hard not to root with Eugene every step of the way. His down-in-the-mouth approach to life is countermanded perfectly by Lenny. Lenny is, fortunately, not a permanently perky parrot or a bird with incessant platitudes. He's just a forthright guy who knows exactly how to utilize Eugene's strengths to get the two of them off the island. This is a lesson in cooperation without ever striking the reader as fake or saccharine.

"Terrific" seems to mark a new step in Agee's picture book career. This is a book that is far more character-based than his past efforts. The result is that it has won accolade upon accolade. The art is fabulous, the story droll, and the words pitch perfect. If you've a kid with a soft-spot for grump reformation (or, to simplify, if you have a kid) then "Terrific" is a no-brainer choice. Excellent preschool fare.

Editorial Review:

"Terrific," says Eugene, after winning an all-expenses-paid vacation in Bermuda. "I'll probably get a really nasty sunburn." Unfortunately, Eugene's luck is a lot worse than that. First, his cruise ship sinks, then he ends up stranded on a tiny island. But Eugene isn't alone. There's another castaway, a parrot with a busted wing, who tells him what there is to eat and drink and how to build a sailboat. Cranky Eugene pays attention, and now his luck begins to change.

The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Entertaining, novel story!! 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

When the Royal Palace hosts an art contest, all the great artists come out to submit their paintings, like Gaston du Stroganoff with his painting, "The King on his Throne". However, an unknown artist named Felix Closseau also enters the contest. Except where everyone else's paintings are huge and feature the king, Felix's painting is small, and is of a duck.

Considering how seriously the French take their art, you can imagine the uproar at this ridiculous painting. That is, until the duck QUACKS. Then, the duck merrily waddles OUT of the picture itself, and off on it's way. Felix wins first prize.

At first, everyone wants to own a Closseau, until disaster strikes wherever his works are hung. A painting called "The Sleeping Python" is held in high regard, until the Python wakes up one night!! Volcanoes fill rooms with smoke, waterfalls gush gallons onto the floor, Closseau himself is put into jail! That is, until one night when a thief breaks into the royal palace to steal the crown...

Jon Agee has written or illustrated over a dozen books, including books playing with language-books of oxymorons and palindromes, most noticeably. However, "The Incredible Painting..." ranks as one of my personal favorites because of it's original story and fun ending. It's story is fun, quick moving and easy to read (though beginning readers may have difficulty decoding some of the French-ish names). Closseau himself is quite a character, too: a short stooped man with beret and enormous graybeard that successfully hides his face (and most of the rest of him!). Very young children will love the fun absurdity of things coming out of the pictures, while older children will appreciate the havoc that a living painting can wreck! Fun and highly recommended!

Editorial Review:

An unknown painter becomes an overnight sensation when his paintings imitate life too well by quacking, crawling, and erupting all over Paris.

Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp?: and Other Oxymorons

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A funny, well-thought out book of amusing oxymorons. 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 16 people found this review helpful.

Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp? is a hilarious book. When I first opened it, it didn't look to funny. But as i got into it, I began laughing out loud at the ones like, "Poor Little Rich Girl," where the rich girl "hasn't had decent caviar in two days, please help. $50, $100, $200 donations. VISA and EMAX excepted." All in all, this a great book to read if you want some good laughs, and if you are looking for a book to stick your nose in. (I gaurantee that once you start, you won't put it down untill you have read the back cover)

Editorial Review:

Whether we are pretty ugly or terribly cute, weve all faced a minor catastrophe, made an original copy, or taken a calculated risk. And there are those of us who have turned up missing (sometimes accidentally on purpose).Good grief! These are oxymorons, common expressions made up of two completely contradictory words or elements.Jon Agee follows up his critically acclaimed palindrome books with a collection of over fifty of these strangely familiar phrases, each accompanied by a seriously hilarious illustration. Children and adults alike will be awfully amused by this small masterpiecedestined to be an instant classic

Milo's Hat Trick

Jon Agee

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Animals -> Bears -> Fiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Milo the magician is a mess. Not only does he botch his card tricks and tangle his rope tricks, but he can't even manage the old standby: pulling a rabbit from a hat. Spurred on by his manager's fury, Milo heads out of the city to find himself a rabbit. Dangling a carrot over his top hat, our magnificent magician captures... a bear. Here is where his luck turns. As it happens, this particular bear is adept at jumping into hats: "You just pretend your bones are made of rubber," he says. "It's a secret I learned from a rabbit." Returning to the city, (after a brief mix-up on the subway), the two quickly become a smash sensation. But after popping in and out of 762 hats, the bear is positively pooped. Can Milo carry on without his rubber-boned buddy?

Jon Agee illustrates his eccentric story with strange yet wonderful illustrations of blank-eyed, big-nosed, redheaded Milo in too-short trousers, and the cavalier, hat-hopping bear. Perfect comedic timing and a nutty plot ensure that readers of all ages will adore this tale of a misfit's triumph. (Ages 3 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

Elvis Lives!: and Other Anagrams (Sunburst Book)

Jon Agee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Funny, clever 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Agee rearranges the letters in these words and phrases with funny results. For example:

elvis = lives

nudist colony = no untidy clothes

alien forms = life on mars

committees = cost me time

eleven plus two = twelve plus one

In writing they are clever, but with his illustrations they are hilarious.

Editorial Review:

Jon Agee presents another installment of witty wordplay with Elvis Lives!, a book of over sixty anagrams (words or phrases rearranged to form new words or phrases), each hilariously illustrated by the author.

An IRA-CBC Children's Choice
A Parents' Choice Recommended Book

Smart Feller Fart Smeller: And Other Spoonerisms: Smart Feller Fart Smeller and Other Spoonerisms

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not His Best 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is an OK book, but the stated reading/interest level is from the Twilight Zone. The very young may find some of the pictures funny, but can't possibly appreciate the writer's talent or the humor of many of these spoonerisms. I am a big fan of Jon Agee, but this book doesn't compare to his best. Those looking for fart humor will be disappointed. There's only one fart spoonerism in the book.

spudman

Kids will find many of the wordplay results hilarious 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Black and white drawings throughout accompany a zany collection of 'spoonerisms' - words that happen by accident when talking too fast. Kids will find many of the wordplay results hilarious - and familiar - and will also find the riddle format intriguing and fun: a fine language challenge.

Editorial Review:

Everybody says spoonerisms. They happen by accident when you’re talking or thinking too fast and you flip-flop the initial sounds of words. Like when you mean to say HANDLE WITH CARE, but it comes out CANDLE WITH HAIR. Or when A WELL-OILED BICYCLE comes out A WELL-BOILED ICICLE, or THANKS FOR DOING THE CHORES turns into THANKS FOR CHEWING THE DOORS. Wordplay master Jon Agee takes some of the more comical examples of these verbal mix-ups and pairs them with his equally hilarious pictures. It’s a combination that will tickle your BUNNY PHONE.

Mean Margaret (Laura Geringer Books)

Tor Seidler

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Animals -> Mice, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs & Squirrels -> Fiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Whimsical 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a charming story about a nit-picky woodchuck named Fred who has his life turned upside down; first by his marriage to Phoebe, and right on top of that by the appearance of a lost human baby on his doorstep. The baby, who Phoebe names Margaret, is not only your typical demanding toddler, but her family life has resulted in her developing an especially unpleasant personality. Margaret's presence forces Fred to adapt to change and circumstances he once would never have accepted. Her absence likewise inspires her human family to make some changes of their own. Even Margaret herself is changed by the experience. The friendship and generosity of Squirrel, Skunk, and Snake (however unwillingly on Snake's part) was appealing as I had never imagined a friendship between the species, or pictured a snake as a cherished friend.

Editorial Review:

Question: What do a pair of newlywed woodchucks, a squirrel, a testy snake, a skunk, and a couple of bats have in common with a family of pudgy human beings named Hubble?

Answer: Their lives are all turned topsy-turvy by a tyrannical three-year-old named Margaret.

Question: Will Mean Margaret ever realize that there's more to life than being nasty to everybody?

Answer: Read this touching comedy and find out.

Praise for The Wainscott Weasel
An ALA Notable Children's Book

`It's just possible that not since a spider named Charlotte saved a pig named Wilbur has there been a more tender tale of interspecies love and devotion.' 'The New York Times Book Review

`This well-realized fantasy has everything a reader could want: adventure, humor, and style.' 'Starred/ALA Booklist