What's the Weather Inside?
March 10, 2009
Margaret K. McElderry • lllustrations by Barry Blitt
ISBN-10: 1-4169-0092-6 • ISBN-13: 978-1416900924

Reading level for this book:
Ages 9-12

What's the Weather Inside?Gophers Wearing Loafers

Gophers wearing loafers--
that would be a silly sight.
Or a reindeer wearing rain gear
on a dark and stormy night.
Tomcats wearing top hats
to a fancy ballroom dance.
Or a coo-coo in a tu-tu
sporting flowered underpants.
A turkey gone bezeerky
while she wears a frilly dress.
Oh, if animals wore clothing,
My, this world would be a mess.
But it could be a whole lot worse,
why, some would say a sin,
if people DIDN’T wear their clothes
and ran around in skin!

 

Alligator Purse

"Oh dahling, don't you love my purse,
It's genuine alligator."
She said that just this morning
but then a little later
she reached inside her handbag
and it ate her.

 

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What's the Weather Inside?I am pleased to announce a new collection of 100 outrageously silly yet sometimes philosophic poems for children. I hesitate to say this book is in the style of Shel Silverstein, because Shel’s genius isn’t easily imitated, and I don’t aim to try. However, I have been a fan of Shel’s work since I rode a bike with a banana seat and sported a Dorothy Hamill haircut. In this tome I tackle such themes as a father’s tattoo, yellow snow, Onomatopoeia, and science fairs.

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• "…Wilson delivers is plenty of kid-pleasing humor. Blitt's energetic drawings explode off the page, sometimes false to the letter of the poems but always true to their spirit, contributing a rich and inventive partnership between text and art and adding to the considerable fun of this lively collection."

– Claudia Mills, Ph.D., Children's Literature for What's the Weather Inside?

• "All in all, a great choice for read-alouds or individual enjoyment."

– Lauralyn Persson, School Library Journal

• "Early on, Wilson (Bear Snores On) throws down the gauntlet in her wide-ranging book of humorous, often edgy poetry, Silversteinian in its format and sensibility."

– Publisher's Weekly for What's the Weather Inside?

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