Once upon a tomb : gravely humorous verses

Clever puns and elaborately detailed, surreal artwork illuminate a collection of comically grim verses that can't help but tickle the funny bone.

Reader, if I had more time
I'd say au revoir in rhyme,
Sayonara, ciao in verse --
But I have to catch a hearse.

Peek inside Once Upon a Tomb and find twenty-two poems, each of which tells, in hilarious verse, the story of an untimely demise -- from a school principal to a bully, a food critic to a cafeteria lady, an underwear salesman to a soccer player. Complemented by Simon Bartram's deadpan illustrations, J. Patrick Lewis's cryptic tour of headstones and epitaphs is silly, spooky -- and far from grave.

Author Notes

J. Patrick Lewis was born on May 5, 1942. He is a poet and prose writer who is known for his children's poems. He worked as a professor of economics before devoting himself full-time to writing in 1998. He is the author of 90 children's books including: BoshBlobberBosh, Please Bury Me in the Library, A Hippopotamusn't, First Dog, Spot the Plot, The House, and The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry. In 2014, his title Voices from the March on Washington, made the Hot Civil Rights Titles List.

He has received many awards from the American Library Association, The Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the Claudia Lewis Award from The Bank Street School and others. He also received the 2010-11 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Excellence in Children's Poetry Award. He was also named the third, U.S. Children's Poet Laureate for 2011-2013 by the Poetry Foundation in Chicago.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3-5-Lewis is back, this time with a quirky collection of humorous epitaphs. He honors departed farmers, food critics, lighthouse keepers, and many others. Some of the best are also the shortest, like the one for an underwear salesman, "Our grief/Was brief." The longer verses sometimes reach the point of pure silliness, but all are delightfully irreverent. The font and type suggest engravings on a headstone and support the mood of the book. Bartram's surrealistic acrylic illustrations heighten the humor and, in some cases, clarify the meaning of Lewis's ubiquitous puns. A great selection for a Halloween read-aloud or reluctant poetry readers.-Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

Lewis's (Please Bury Me in the Library) 22 morbidly funny elegies pair perfectly with Bartram's (Man on the Moon) hilarious acrylics. Each poem skewers a particular profession, from the fed-up food critic ("Bury me with/ Pizza, please") to the cafeteria lady ("Here lie the bones of Mabel Grady,/ Extremely thoughtful school-lunch lady./ She never served a Jell-O mold/ If it was more than six weeks old"). Several of the poems are deliciously brief (for Fortune Teller: "Here lies"). Meticulously rendered, Bertram's paintings toy with traditional icons of death. The fortune teller gazes glumly at a tiny Grim Reaper in her crystal ball, while the actual unwelcome visitor himself looms behind the clairvoyant. "Underwear Salesman" achieves utter synchronicity between text ("Our grief/ Was brief") and art, as the bereaved family, sporting slips, black ties and briefs, surround a framed head shot of the smiling dearly departed. A couple of poems lack the instantly accessible images that make the others such winners, but overall these are a total scream. Ages 6-10. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Publisher's Weekly Review