WORLD RAT DAY by J. Patrick Lewis

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Lewis, J. Patrick. 2013. World Rat Day: Poems about real holidays you’ve never heard of. Ill. by Anna Raff. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN 9780763654023

The poems crafted by J. Patrick Lewis in World Rat Day are a silly celebration of actual holidays that sound too good to be true. For every month from January to December, Lewis has compiled a list of crazy reasons to have a party. Young children will be astonished to learn that such off the wall days do exist. Lewis offers odes to completely obscure events such as National Hippo Day, Worm Day, Bat Appreciation Day, and International Cephalopod Awareness Day.

Not only is the author asking children to mark their calendars, he may also be asking them to suspend their disbelief. Whether the holidays are truth or fiction, the poems themselves come across as nonsensical and forced. The writing is surprisingly dubious and erratic for a poet of such high caliber. The author displays laziness in poems such as “If the skunk did not exist,/ Then the skunk would not be mist”. One wonders how the single sentence “No one will ever forget Ewe.” could be considered poetic. Among the mishmash of styles, one standout is the poem created for Pink Flamingo Day which is drawn in the outline of a flamingo. Perhaps the best form of poetry is aptly presented on Limerick Day, where Lewis writes not one but five little limericks to commemorate this day dedicated to the fun familiar rhyme scheme. “The Hip”, a clever offering, goes like this: “A centipede said on vacation,/ “Don’t bug me—I’m into gyration./ And when I go on trips/ I’m so hip that my hips/ Hula hundreds of times in rotation.”” Anna Raff’s cute illustrations may be the one redeeming quality in this well intentioned collection. Publishers Weekly contends, “Raff's loose washes with ink details exude personality.” Otherwise, these very short non-fiction poems with no back matter will do little to pique children’s interest in poetry.

J. Patrick Lewis is the current U.S. Children's Poet Laureate named by the Poetry Foundation. 

Possible extension activities for this work could include an author study in the month of May in honor of Lewis’ birth. Children can be presented with other works of his including If You Were A Chocolate Mustache and Countdown to Summer: A Poem for Every Day of the School Year. The latter collection in conjunction with the reviewed title can also serve as an introduction to the concepts of calendars, months, or seasons. 

Books in Print. TWU Library. Accessed October 6, 2013 http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2125