The great thing about children’s doggerel is never having to say you’re sorry. You can be as gross as you like, end every poem with a groaner, and never worry about whether an appropriate message is being conveyed. But a whole collection of silly rhymes is still a hard thing to pull off – especially given that all such books are forever in the shadow of much-loved collections by the likes of Dennis Lee and Jack Prelutsky.

Tecumseh, Ontario’s Arnot McCallum, a former school board coordinator and a contributor to CBC Radio’s Crosstown, includes nearly two dozen poems in this, his first book. The poems are all written from a child’s point of view and spin goofy tales about camping, flat tires, and kindergarten, with a few semi-absurdist rhymes about exotic animals in non-exotic locales thrown in for good measure. The rhyming couplet is king here, which can get a little monotonous if the whole book is read in one sitting, but aside from a few moments where the metre slips (“But there’s one Hand Me Down / I refuse to share / I will not put on / My brother’s underwear!”), McCallum’s verse is strong and appropriately light. That the gift in “Santa’s Gift” turns out to be a “reindeer pooper scooper” pretty much sums up the book’s tone.

Toronto illustrator Charles Checketts’ accompanying images share the same silly spirit, but his faux-childlike style often borders on the merely ugly. The red-headed boy who appears in most of the spreads rarely changes his expression from a kind of tight-lipped rictus grin. The layout doesn’t help much, either. Illustrations often crowd the text, which is printed in a font resembling scratchy handwriting, and thus already at a disadvantage as far as clarity goes. A cleaner design would have made this a much more enjoyable book. After all, reading silly poems shouldn’t be hard work.