Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word by Bob Raczka, illustrated by Nancy Doniger
Poetry combines with puzzles and playfulness in this book. Raczka takes the letters from one word and creates a poem that relates to that word. Interestingly, the letters are always shown in the order that they appear in the original word, which makes for a fun time unraveling the words in the poem. If you don’t want to puzzle or wonder if you got the poem right, you can always turn the page and see it written in a more traditional format.
Doniger’s illustrations are simple, modern and offer just the right amount of visual interest without detracting at all from the poems themselves. The color palette is limited to reds, blacks and grays that make for subtle and friendly support for the text.
Highly recommended, this book will encourage children to try this format for themselves and look at words in a playful way. Appropriate for ages 8-12.
Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.
So this book is write up my alley! Mr. Putney has a lot of animal friends, but you have to guess their names. The word play is a combination of illustrations and words with half of the joke coming from the text and half from the pictures. Some of the word play is easier than others, but all is amusing and some will have you laughing out loud. This book would be a stitch with a group of kids who enjoy reading and words. In fact, it would make a great basis of an art project or for a writing project to create their own puns. 
Waking Brain Cells 