Inside Our Fridge

Peter Schulenburg
Nightengale Press (2005)
ISBN 1933449020
Reviewed by Beverly Pechin for Reader Views (4/06)

“Inside Our Fridge” couldn't have been delivered to my door on a better day! It was rainy, dark, dreary and my sister's twins were coming over for the afternoon. While my own kids are grown up, my nephews are only seven and always looking for things to do at our house. This time, I was armed with some fun.

We sat together in the big chair and opened up “Inside Our Fridge.” Let me remind you, these are seven year old boys with attention spans of about three seconds flat. I had low expectations but high hopes as I put Mr. Schulenburg to the ultimate test. Opening the book we began reading the poems aloud. First was the titled poem, “Inside Our Fridge.” We giggled and laughed at the rhyming words explaining what we ALL have experienced... 'something'... in our fridge... and yikes we have NO clue what it is!!!!

We snuggled up with a bowl of strawberries and I kid you not, we never ended until every strawberry was eaten and every page well read. The poems were silly and fun and the kids loved the rhyming style. I don't care what anyone says... poetry should just RHYME! And these ones do! Not only are they so much fun to read and laugh at, but some of the illustrations added to the fun and laughter. Crazy pictures of Cedric Alphonzo Albania Snoop and his crazy house of cards hat, juggling loops with marbles on his shoes caused toothless laughter amongst us. Their favorite was “Just for Your Eyes”... a cryptic message just for them. We quickly one by one went to the bathroom to read our message in the mirror and vowed not to tell the next person what it said. As they snuck back to the chair to await the next round of poems they giggled and snickered. It was truly a priceless afternoon!

The craziest part was watching my teenage daughter sitting across from us giggling right along. She was enjoying the laughter and, I know, thinking back to the times when she was a little girl and mom used to read silly stories to her. Not only did the seven year olds enjoy it but the forty-two year old reading it enjoyed it and, amazingly, the fourteen year old too. Though I'm sure she would never admit it, she loved it as much as the younger kids did and giggled just as hard. This book would be a wonderful addition to any child's library and used often to sit, relax and spend some definite giggle time.

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