The Blood Hungry Spleen...

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The Blood Hungry

Spleen

and Other Poems

About Our Parts

by Allan Wolf

illustrated by Greg Clarke

Candlewick Press, 2003

Ostensibly a children’s book for kids in the “12+” set, the emphasis should really be on the “+”. This book is a howl and the perfect gift for anyone struggling through med school, buried in stray facts, dense text and looming exams. Allan Wolf covers everything from the titular spleen to “Boy Parts” and “Girl Parts” with an admirable combination of scientific accuracy and poetic abandon. For example:

The Tongue

or Any Muscle This Ugly Has

Got to Have Good Taste

And now let me tell you, my friends, of the tongue.

The muscle that does almost all of the talking.

It’s in every mouth, narrow, wide, old and young.

Without it, our singing would sound more like squawking.

Your tongue is for chewing. For curling. For clicking.

It fits in your mouth like a bug in a rug.

Your tongue is for tasting and lollipop licking.

Buy hey, folks, let’s face it. It looks like a slug!

Greg Clarke’s sophisticated, sly illustrations are the perfect complement. His drawings of the boy “Without Bones” and “With Bones” for the poem “Boneless” will have you pouring a glass of milk and reaching for calcium supplements…

Not all the poems are equally successful, but I am always delighted to rediscover this book on my shelf.

- j.a.g.