If You Were a Chocolate Mustache

By J. Patrick Lewis and Matthew Cordell

In this tasty collection, J. Patrick Lewis displays the breadth and depth of his talent, giving readers of any and every sensibility something to make them laugh out loud. He stirs humor into an astonishing array of subjects—from animals to school to dragons to food. And he delivers them in a remarkable variety of forms, including riddles, limericks, nonsense rhymes, parodies, anagrams, story poems, haiku, and more. Baked in Lewis's brilliant imagination and sprinkled with Matthew Cordell's warm, witty drawings, the result is a collection to delight the taste buds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781629791791

J. Patrick Lewis

J. Patrick Lewis has published more than 85 children's picture/poetry books to date and is a former Children's Poet Laureate (2011–2013). He lives in Westerville, Ohio.

Reviews for If You Were a Chocolate Mustache

[davis22-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A collection of fine poems for children reminiscent of some Shel Silverstein work, with illustrations that seem to be throwbacks to the very popular Saturday morning cartoons featured by School House Rock, and the Electric Company. Baseball-o-grams is a catchy (ha) little number. This would be a good book to have around the classroom in that it can be read in segments, and does not rely on a linear narrative. Fun time reading!

[kimjd_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Grades 3 and up

J. Patrick Lewis's latest collection of poetry is a delight-- full of wordplay, riddles, and silliness. Abundant spot art by Matthew Cordell, reminiscent of Quentin Blake, nicely complements the nonsensical humor. Poems vary in length and style; for example, the poem titled "Rules for Tightrope Walking Between Tall Buildings" on page 41 reads

1. Whatever you do, don't laugh.
2. Avoid looking down at the traf-

A few other favorites: "Universagrams" (p. 56), composed entirely of anagrams; "The Universal Turtle Verse" (p. 121), a tribute to Shel Silverstein; "Elsewhere in the Universe" (p. 140), from which the title is drawn; and "I'm the Library Lady" (p. 144), which kids may not appreciate quite as much as all of the librarians out there!

An excellent collection to add wherever Lewis's poetry is in demand.