The title, which is also the first line, sets the playful tone. Delightfully antiauthoritarian and antiestablishment, Prelutsky is the unexcelled master of word-playing nonsense. His laugh-aloud poems are rude, disrespectful, annoying and perceptive. In a word, marvelous.

Childish readers, however, will read, laugh, and pay him the ultimate compliment. They will memorize and repeat them with pickle relish.