Zilot & Other Important Rhymes

“A zilot is an indoor fort,/ a home inside your home” begins actor Bob Odenkirk (Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama, for adults) in this playful children’s debut, a cooperative family effort illustrated by daughter Erin Odenkirk. Silliness abounds throughout the 70-plus disparate poems, each featuring digitally colored pen illustrations that radiate enthusiastic quirkiness with whimsical scenes of monsters and contraptions. Some works describe common childhood experiences, such as reacting to a new baby, heading to camp and returning home, and shopping at the 99-cent store. Others channel Shel Silverstein with stanzas that bask in their own ludicrousness. Many of the poems rhyme, and some delve into gross-out subjects including boogers and dog poop (the latter “in slimy pellets or fulsome logs”), but all employ fun wordplay and meter that beg to be read aloud, as in “Lollygagging”: “We’ll aim to aim aimlessly/ and traipse about spaciously/ and fart around graciously/ and fritter tenaciously.” Characters portrayed with pale skin throughout. Ages 6–up. Agent: Janine Kamouh and Erin Malone, WME. (Oct.)