What do you think?
Rate this book
So Many Dynamos! and Other Palindromes
Book by Agee, Jon
Library Binding
First published October 31, 1994
47 people want to read
About the author
Jon Agee
53 books162 followersI grew up in Nyack, New York, just up the street from the Hudson River. In our house, there was always an art project going on.
My early drawings were very animated: a lot of stuff zipping around, airplanes, racing cars, football players. No surprise my first published drawing was a pack of rats running along a highway (The Rat Race). I did that for the New York Times Op Ed page when I was still in high school.
I went to college at The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City. I studied painting, sculpture and filmmaking, but what I loved doing most—in my spare time—was drawing cartoons and comic strips.
When I graduated, I hauled my pile of doodles into the offices of a bunch of editors, with the wild notion that somebody might publish them. When that failed, I wrote a story for kids to go with my pictures (If Snow Falls). It was two sentences long (which counts, by the way). Frances Foster, a wonderful editor at Random House, saw something in that book and signed me up.
The next book, Ellsworth, was about a dog who teaches economics at a university. When he gets home, he throws off his clothes and acts like a dog, which is fine, until some fellow teachers discover this and he loses his job. Somebody told me that Ellsworth was a story about "being yourself." I never realized it had a moral.
I moved to another publisher with Ludlow Laughs, the story of a grumpy guy who laughs in his sleep. This book was doing very poorly until the comedienne Phyliss Diller read it on PBS's Reading Rainbow. It stayed in print for over twenty years.
My fourth book, The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau, was a hit. One of the first people to see it and give it the thumb's up—literally, hot off the press—was Maurice Sendak. We bumped into each other at the printers. It was a lucky first meeting, and happily not our last.
That was all a long time ago. Since then I've written many other picture books, illustrated a few by other authors, and created a series of offbeat wordplay books, beginning with the book of palindromes, Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!
I visit schools across the country and sometimes around the globe. I live with my wife, Audrey, in San Francisco.
My early drawings were very animated: a lot of stuff zipping around, airplanes, racing cars, football players. No surprise my first published drawing was a pack of rats running along a highway (The Rat Race). I did that for the New York Times Op Ed page when I was still in high school.
I went to college at The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City. I studied painting, sculpture and filmmaking, but what I loved doing most—in my spare time—was drawing cartoons and comic strips.
When I graduated, I hauled my pile of doodles into the offices of a bunch of editors, with the wild notion that somebody might publish them. When that failed, I wrote a story for kids to go with my pictures (If Snow Falls). It was two sentences long (which counts, by the way). Frances Foster, a wonderful editor at Random House, saw something in that book and signed me up.
The next book, Ellsworth, was about a dog who teaches economics at a university. When he gets home, he throws off his clothes and acts like a dog, which is fine, until some fellow teachers discover this and he loses his job. Somebody told me that Ellsworth was a story about "being yourself." I never realized it had a moral.
I moved to another publisher with Ludlow Laughs, the story of a grumpy guy who laughs in his sleep. This book was doing very poorly until the comedienne Phyliss Diller read it on PBS's Reading Rainbow. It stayed in print for over twenty years.
My fourth book, The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau, was a hit. One of the first people to see it and give it the thumb's up—literally, hot off the press—was Maurice Sendak. We bumped into each other at the printers. It was a lucky first meeting, and happily not our last.
That was all a long time ago. Since then I've written many other picture books, illustrated a few by other authors, and created a series of offbeat wordplay books, beginning with the book of palindromes, Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!
I visit schools across the country and sometimes around the globe. I live with my wife, Audrey, in San Francisco.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 8, 2023
A fun book - A Santa at NASA - Too far afoot - Dr. Awkward - Jon Agee has come up with some very original and silly palindromes that are very addictive - found myself trying to think of some - but it is harder than I thought. Great book for both adults and children alike that will bring lots of smiles!
December 11, 2018
I love language. Admittedly, however, palindromes have always stumped me. I am just not good at coming up with them, yet I am fascinated to read them. This book is replete with with some interesting ones. Most were new to me.
The book is presented much like my classroom idiom project: the palindrome is stated and then an image that puts the palindrome in context is displayed. That is helpful.
Remarkable Melba Kramer is much better seen when an old lady is in the boxing ring against a real boxer. Surely, she is remarkable. ;)
Good stuff here.
****
Read this with my class today. I must say, they were quite enthusiastic. They gathered in close so they could read them backwards. They had a great time reading these. Good times!
The book is presented much like my classroom idiom project: the palindrome is stated and then an image that puts the palindrome in context is displayed. That is helpful.
Remarkable Melba Kramer is much better seen when an old lady is in the boxing ring against a real boxer. Surely, she is remarkable. ;)
Good stuff here.
****
Read this with my class today. I must say, they were quite enthusiastic. They gathered in close so they could read them backwards. They had a great time reading these. Good times!
June 12, 2019
Wonderfully fun and clever. Word lovers of any age will get a laugh.
February 4, 2021
This is a load of fun! I am amazed at the ability of Agee to come up with so many, sometimes quite long palindrome sentences.
Why only three stars? Because his first book, Go Hang a Salami, I'm a Lasagna Hog!, is better and makes this one pale by comparison.
Tonight I will contemplate sewer ewes.
Why only three stars? Because his first book, Go Hang a Salami, I'm a Lasagna Hog!, is better and makes this one pale by comparison.
Tonight I will contemplate sewer ewes.
June 19, 2018
Why isn't 'Palindrome' spelled the same way backward as forward?
Very funny. I have to take my time reading these because I tend to read each and every one backward to verify that's it's spelled the same the other way. Weird...I know.
Very funny. I have to take my time reading these because I tend to read each and every one backward to verify that's it's spelled the same the other way. Weird...I know.
January 5, 2019
Palindromes are so much fun! The papaya one had me laughing out loud.
January 10, 2019
I love palindromes so much. The knight one about slaying casinos made me laugh out loud. So much fun.
September 12, 2019
Delightful illustrations and palindromes. Enjoyable for both adults and children. I received this book as a gift.
August 28, 2021
Hilarious collection of Palindromes with equally hilarious illustrations. Our family favorite, Emu Fume.
October 10, 2021
Pleasantly amusing. Jon Agee is the Shel Silverstein of palindromes.
March 25, 2022
Imaginative and fun quirks of the English language with interesting illustrations of each palindrome. Read it to my seven-year-old daughter who then took the book to study each page.
September 7, 2024
Very, very funny.
April 2, 2025
A bit of clever fun! The drawings are wonderful.
September 5, 2014
This is an entertaining collection of palindromes, some of which are quite long and humorous. The illustrations are cartoonish and complement the palindromes nicely.
Our girls loved reading these aloud and we will certainly look for more books like this at our local library.
Our girls loved reading these aloud and we will certainly look for more books like this at our local library.
July 19, 2013
I guess I don't enjoy palindromes as much as the next... I tried though!
February 24, 2016
palindromes!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews