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"When dragons choke,
They sneeze out smoke
And cough up sparks--
It's not a joke.

If flu affects
Your local dragon,
Be sure to drive
A fireproof wagon."

New Yorker cover artist Michael Roberts's Mumbo Jumbo is breathtaking, not only for its lavish cut-out art but also for the sublimely macabre verses. Roberts, who first wowed read... More

"When dragons choke,
They sneeze out smoke
And cough up sparks--
It's not a joke.

If flu affects
Your local dragon,
Be sure to drive
A fireproof wagon."

New Yorker cover artist Michael Roberts's Mumbo Jumbo is breathtaking, not only for its lavish cut-out art but also for the sublimely macabre verses. Roberts, who first wowed readers with his Jungle ABC, is back, this time to set some spines tingling with bats, yetis, imps, and bloody bones. Older readers will fall over laughing at the sly humor in rhymes about spiders' Web sites, cranky vampires, and a stressed knight too tired after saving damsels and slaying dragons all day to be "a disco diva or for Saturday knight fever." Children will giggle on a different level, felling a delicious chill at the thought of eyeball stew and ghosts playing hide and seek. Every reader will do a double take at Roberts's remarkable, wildly colorful illustrations. Repetitive themes--dozens of skulls leaning menacingly forward, frantically leaping frogs, wildly dancing imps--pack a memorable visual punch. Each letter of the alphabet--that's right, this is also an ABC book--inspires a witty verse and full-page illustration. The very smallest reader will delight in identifying the featured, ghost-guarded letter and matching it with its corresponding picture. (Ages 3 and older) --Emilie Coulter

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