Review: Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen

Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen.

Charlesbridge Publishing
Publication Date: July 2012
List Price: $16.95
ISBN-13: 9781580892605

Review: Death, remembrance, and laughter are three words that describe Last Laughs written by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen. Last Laughs is about animals that remember other animals and how they died. After that, they laugh about it.

Here's an example: ÒWin some. Lose some. Venison.Ó From the deer's point of view 'win some' means that the deer avoided the shots from a hunter, and 'lose some' means that sometimes the hunter hits the deer. Venison is deer meat.

There are aspects I like and do not like of this book. What I like is that the epitaphs are funny and they rhyme. The part that I did not like is the main idea because it's all about animals that have died. I like animals, so reading about them dying is sickening to me. If it were up to me, I would recommend this book to 4th graders and up because the vocabulary is hard. I honestly think that 3rd graders would not like to read about dead animals. Last Laughs is not one of my favorite books because I like animals. Some people could find Last Laughs humorous, but I did not. I don't think animal lovers should read Last Laughs.

Review written by Dalton (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Charlesbridge Press for providing a copy of Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs for this review.

Have you read Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs? How would you rate it?