Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!: and Other Palindromes

A palindrome is a word or phrase that is spelled the same way forwards or backwards, as in "Go hang a salami! I'm a lasagna hog!", which has to be one of the longest and most complicated palindromes in existence.

Mr. Agee has collected some fantastically fun and funny palindromes in this collection illustrated by the author. There is a picture of a lion on a sunny beach with a bottle of "lion oil" behind him. Winnie the Pooh is doing the hula hoop (it's "Pooh's hoop", of course!!). My personal favorite (and an exceptionally long palindrome) is of an inventor in a room full of switches, gadgets and wires. In the middle of the room sits a tiny box playing music. He exclaims, arms out, "I madam, I made a radio! So I dared! Am I mad, am I?!" Go ahead, spell it backwards...

In a world where good English skills are swiftly becoming a rarity and few folk seem interested in grammar or word games, Mr. Agee's book is a breath of fresh air. At times, the illustrations fit the palindromes so perfectly that you almost forget that these are special sentences that are quite difficult to create, and the read more like a comic strip.

Kudos to Mr. Agee for not only playing about with words to create Palindromes, but for publishing some for those struggling folk (like myself) who can't seem to come up with any of our own!! Readers may also want to check out his other book, "So Many Dynamos!"


upliftingly funny, great for when I'm in a funk   August 31, 1998
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

this book is found in one of my local libraries and it helps me to get out of my adult depressions. I'm especially enamored of the guy in the Chinese Restaurant who's asked by the waiter, "Wonton?" and his reply is "Not now!"