Amazon.com

The Random House Book of Poetry for Children was recognized upon itspublication in 1983 as an invaluable collection--a modern classic--and it has not since beensurpassed. Five hundred poems, selected by poet and anthologist Jack Prelutsky, are divided intobroad subject areas such as nature, seasons, living things, children, and home. The poems of Emily Dickinson, Robert LouisStevenson, RobertFrost, LangstonHughes, NikkiGiovanni, and Gwendolyn Brooks populate the book's pages, while Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, and Shel Silverstein ensure thatthe collection delights even the most reluctant readers of rhyme. Playground chants, anonymousrhymes, scary poems, silly verse, and even some sad strains are carefully indexed by title, author,first line, and subject. With illustrations of cheerful, round-faced children and animals on everypage, Arnold Lobel (a Caldecott medalist and creator of the Frog and Toad series) unifies thediverse poems to form a satisfying whole; Lobel can draw anything and make it funny--orpoignant, if he chooses. This collection, one of the most varied and complete around, will carryany budding poetry lover through childhood and beyond. (Ages 5 to 11.) ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Remembered Forever
I taught myself how to read with this book. I remembered it all my life and bought it for my neice when she was learning to read. I am buying one for my cousin's baby and my friend's baby, and every little child I know. And I'm getting another copy for myself. Every child, boy or girl, should at least have this book of poetry if they can have no other.

After all these years...
I'll be 26 this year, but I'm still able to recite some poems in their entirety... and I haven't seen a copy of the book since I was in the fourth grade. I'm amazed to see that it is still in print and I can't wait to add it to my library again after losing it 16 years ago. This is an excellent gift for any child who enjoys reading and/or poetry.

The Best Book Ever
You should buy the book The Random Book of Poetry for Children because it has funny poems, sad poems, and happy poems. All together it has 572 poems. It can be for children and adults. Also it is my favorite poem book. I think you should buy it. Thank You

*LOVE* this book
Wonderful, just wonderful, this collection of children's poetry sparkles and adds life and verve to any classroom. From the opening stanza of "The Boy What Done A Poo" and the haunting reworking of Goldstein's "Ahhh, I'm telling Miss of you" this anthology will thrill children of all ages, and grown ups too!
(I must point out, however, that the inclusion of controversial poet Sean Hickey's "Bang Bang You're Dead 50 Bullets In Your Head" might cause younger readers some concern).

a real treasure
this book is both wonderful and entertaining. A great book to read to a child and it will bring laughter to you both. Funny adventurous and beautifully illustrated. Introduce your little one to poetry with this great selection. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent prose but illustrations make this book
There is something in Kyle Stone's style that takes one aback at first. It is like looking at a picture you might've drawn once, when you were a child, or dreamed about drawing anyway, before you put your crayon to the paper and finished yet another square house with smoke coming from the chimney.
Stone's illustrations are like that; they come directly, seemingly unvarnished, from the mind of a child, and like the best of childhood they are wild and not altogether safe and just a little bit magical. The fact that Stone could find that place within himself and recover these images is a worthy feat. That he could then execute on these images with such perfect technique is remarkable. There is mastery here; not perhaps fully realized, but certainly in development.
J. Patrick Lewis must be delighted. With Stone's illustrations his words take on a depth and resonance he could hardly have imagined possible.
But in the end it comes down to the children, and after all a child will know instantly if you've got it right. If the children of my acquaintance are any indication, this is a special book. My highest recommendation.

Must-have for your classroom!
With regard to Please Bury Me in the Library, the consensus among the teachers here at the Oasis is: This is one of our top ten all-time-favorite books. After reading it, each of us immediately went to the bookstore to buy a copy for her or his classroom.

What is so wonderful, you ask? Everything! The poems are gems, full of witty word-play and humor and an occasional serious moment.

As you might imagine from the title, the poems are about books and reading and words. In "The Big-Word Girl" we meet Elaine who "could not unglue her eyes/ From Webster's Dictionary" (even though she is sits at a horror show-Godzilla Meets Tooth Fairy-with a green monster at her side).

In "Flea-ting Fame" we meet Otto the flea, a "fly-by-night," who is writing by firefly light his "Ottobiography."

Although this is a picture book, it offers something for word lovers of all ages. In "Three Haiku," for example, we read:

Epitaph for a
Devoted Lifelong Reader-
Thank you for the plot

and

Late at night, reading
Frankenstein . . . and suddenly
a pain in the neck.

Kyle M. Stone was the perfect choice as illustrator. The acrylic paintings and mixed media illustrations are as clever and beguiling as the poems they accompany. "What if Books Had Different Names," for example, sits next to a painting of an endearing thin bodied, lobster-bibbed lamb waiting to tuck into a plate of green eggs and spam.

Classroom Uses: Suitable for read-alouds, independent reading, and even middle school classrooms. You may access a teacher's guide from the publisher here.

We took the book into an eighth-grade language arts classroom where it was extremely popular. The students were especially enamored with the illustrations. After reading the poem "Necessary Gardens" (an acrostic spelling out the word "Language'), we had the students write an acrostic about their favorite person, place, or thing and then illustrate their poem.

Highly recommended. Suitable for district-wide purchase.
... Read more

Book Description

Life is a tangle of
twisting paths.
Some short.
Some long.
There are dead ends.
And there are choices.
And wrong turns,
and detours,
and yield signs,
and instruction booklets,
and star maps,
and happiness,
and loneliness.
And friends.
And sisters.
And love.
And poetry.

Life is a maze.
You are a maze.
Amazed.
And amazing.

Reviews (1)

Richie's Picks: A Maze Me
"Ringing


A baby, I stood in my crib to hear
the dingy-ding of a vegetable truck approaching.

When I was bigger, my mom took me out
to the street
to meet the man who rang the bell and
he tossed me
a tangerine...

...the first thing I ever caught.I thought
he was
a magic man.

My mom said there used to be milk trucks too.
She said,
Look hard, he'll be gone soon.And she was right.
He disappeared.

Now when I hear an ice-cream truck chiming
its bells, I fly.
Even if I'm not hungry--just to watch it pass.

Mailmen with their chime of dogs barking
up and down the street are magic too.

They are all bringers.

I want to be a bringer.

I want to drive a truck full of eggplants down
the smallest street.

I want to be someone making music
with my coming."

And so she is. And so she does.
A great joy that accompanies a new book of poems by Naomi Shihab Nye is the expectation that she will begin reappearing at national conferences and conventions, reading aloud from her latest collection. The good feeling I've taken away with me from her past workshops is about as close as I get to church these days.

A MAZE ME contains seventy-two of Naomi's latest poems. Younger teens will find these pieces easy to read and relate to. Hopefully, many will be intrigued and inspired by Naomi's ability to create poetry from such sources as a car manual, a newspaper article, a taco sign, "the hair on the head of the girl in front of me in school," Julia Child's patting potatoes, or a vapor trail "X" that a pair of planes have inadvertently left in the sky.

Being a book of "Poems for Girls" there are also the requisite handful of "longing" poems:

"High Hopes


It wasn't that they were so
high, exactly,
they were more
low-down,
close-to-the-ground,
I could rub them
the way you touch a cat
that rubs against your ankles
even if he isn't yours.

So yes I feel lonely without them.
Now that I know the truth,
that I only dreamed someone liked me,
the cat has curled up in a bed of leaves
against the house and I still have to do
everything I had to do before
without a secret hum
inside."

Despite being a guy, I really enjoyed the images and memories conjured up by these poems. Whether reading "Visiting My Old Kindergarten Teacher, Last Day of School," "Turtle" (about the persistent creature that had walked for twenty years), or "Across the Aisle" (about the little girl who coughed "every 30 seconds for seven whole hours" on a transatlantic flight), I've repeatedly interrupted Rosemary's reading on the couch and Shari's grading papers at the kitchen table in order to have an audience with whom to share the poems aloud.
"Big Head, Big Face
(what my brother said to me)


If your head had been smaller
maybe you woulda had less thoughts in it,
maybe you wouldn't have so many troubles.
This is just a guess but seems to me
like a little drawer only hold a few spoons
and you can always find the one you need
while a big drawer jammed with tongs
strings corks junky stuff receipts birthday cards
you never gonna look at
scrambled and mixed so one day
you open that drawer
poke your hand in and big knife go
through your palm
you didn't even know a knife was IN there,
well, that's why I think
it might not be so bad to have a little head
with just a few thoughts few memories few hopes
maybe if only one little one came true
that be enough for you."

Luckily for us, Naomi Shihab Nye has carefully sifted through that drawer to provide an entertaining assortment of poetic images, thoughts, stories, and yoga poses. ... Read more

Book Description

Maybe you've heard before that poetry is magic, and it made you roll your eyes, but I believe it's true. Poetry matters. At the most important moments, when everyone else is silent, poetry rises to speak.

I wrote this book to help you write poems and to give practical ideas for making your poems sound the way you want them to sound. We're not going to smash poems up into the tiniest pieces. This book is about writing poetry, not analyzing it. I want this book to help you have more wonderful. moments in the poetry you write. I want you to feel the power of poetry. it's my hope that through this book you will discover lots of ways to make your poems shine, sing, soar...

Reviews (2)

This is a Great Book for learning how to write poetry!
Hi, I really enjoyed reading Ralph Fletcher's book "Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the inside out." He gives lots of good examples. He has interviews with two other poets in the book for ideas on poetry. He makes poetry interesting and fun to learn! I also enjoyed his poetry!

Well Done
If you feel like you are a real poet within, this book will help you get it out. One word of caution, everyone thinks he or she is a poet. Yes, everyone is a bad poet and every once in a great while a great poet will emerge. ... Read more

Book Description

Enjoy the classic, complete collection of Cicely Mary Barker's original Flower Fairies books in this brand-new edition. This collector's favorite has been redesigned and now features a lavish, eye-catching jacket with silver foil. The interior still includes all of the well-loved illustrations and poems from Barker's eight original books, as well as a selection of fairy rhymes. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

The Most Wonderful book of Fairires I have ever found.
Now I'm an adult who ran across the book just a little while ago. I have always loved fairies, but was not really into the horrid interpretations of modern day artiest. This book is so amazing it's unreal! The artwork is so beautiful and delicate. She painted them as beautiful wide-eyed children and adolescents, with absolutely amazing accuracy on the accompanying flowers. The poems for each flower fairy describes the chararistics of the flower with such grace it sends chills up my spine. A WONDERFUL book for parents to read to their children, as well as a great book for adults who want to stay children at heart. I can not express enough the beauty and gentleness of her artwork enough! The book here contains all 8 of the Flower Fairies books as well as story of The Fairy Necklaces and the poems she illustrated for Old Rimes for All Times. You will not be disapointed.

Finally! Childhood Completion
First of all, I am thrilled these books and drawings are still available. My sister and I recieved three of the books as gifts when were children and have fought over possession of them ever since. Thank goodness my sister managed to keep the three we had all these years (I am 35 now). I always thought they were just gorgeous little books someone had stumbled upon and we'd never be able to complete our set. I remember staring at the rich and vibrant colors and the charming little fairies for hours as a child. Upon a recent viewing of the books you could even see where I had dog-eared my favorite drawings and poems. I still can't effectively put into words what drew me so deeply to these books, but I can say that even as an adult, they hold every bit as much charm.
God bless the internet as I was able to finally track down the rest of the books. I am also thrilled that all the books are now available in one volume so that my sister and I no longer have to fight over rights to these precious volumes. I have even bought the remaining volumes for her children so that "our" collection will be complete and continue to mesmerize my niece and nephew as they did their mother and auntie sooooo many years ago!

Cropped and missing fairies
There are 6 fairies that never made it into the book: Cat's Ear, Convolvulus, Goose Grass, Scentless Mayweed, Sorrell, and Wild Thyme. Also, some of the images are cropped out of context, grossly enlarged, etc. Nice collection, but if you want pictures to sit and pore over, get the little reproductions of the books.

Good Pictures
Since I can remember I have loved th faerie series and this book is what I wanted most for my birthday. The pictures kept me (and still do) occupide for hours with friends and alone. Me and my friends play a game with it where we open a page and point to the faeries nameing what we think each one is. Here is an examble of what we call the faeries, cute, pretty, and fun. If you have a daughter or if you like faeries, order this book.

Fabulous illustrations
I found a couple of these illustrations framed in a everything shop and I decided that i had to have the book. the poetry isn't fabulous but the pictures and beautiful and wonderful to draw. It really does have some of the most fabulous artwork i have seen in years. i truly loved it and think everyone should buy it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

A perfect springtime accompaniment to actual bugs, Insectlopedia swarms, buzzes, and slithers with poetry and paint. Douglas Florian, creator of the award-winning Beast Feast, On the Wing, and In the Swim, has succeeded again, this time with a delightful infestation of 21 spider and insect poems and paintings, awash in watercolor and collage on primed brown paper bags.

Well-loved for his clever wordplay (complete with endearingly shameless visual and verbal puns), Florian manages to seamlessly blend science with pure whimsy. Take "The Praying Mantis," for example: "Upon a twig/I sit and pray/For something big/To wend my way;/A caterpillar,/Moth,/or bee--/I swallow them/Religiously." His rhythmic chant "The Weevils" begins, "We are weevils./We are evil./We've aggrieved/Since time primeval." Add a few inchworms, moths, and whirligig beetles, and you have the blisteringly funny, stingingly clever Insectlopedia, the perfect book for emerging entomologists and budding poets alike. (All ages) ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Great fun, even for kids who aren't "insect lovers"
This is a book of poems about insects. The poems are great; their content is funny and rhythmic. Through the poems we learn about the various insects. Some have very creative text formatting such as the inchworm; the text is shaped like a humped-up inchworm. The illustrations are very creative collages that are unique compared to most other children's books.

I began reading this when my first son was 2 years old and he loved the poems then and he loves them now. Neither of my children are otherwise very interested in reading about insects but this book captures their interest and they laugh hysterically at some of these poems. After reading these they have found some of the more unusual insects such as the walking stick outdoors and called it to my attention. We've owned the book for 3 years, every once in a while my now-5 year old will find it and get excitedly proclaim "we haven't read this in a long time" and begs me to read it again (and again and again).

Some of the insects featured are the inchworm, tick, walking stick, praying mantis, monarch butterfly, daddy long legs spider and army ants.

The poems are so much fun I don't mind reading the entire book two or three times in a row. A fun book to read to young children. This is good reading for just plain fun or to introduce poetry or to enhance learning about insects and nature.

It's great! (Ethan 5) It's Wonderful (Alissa 6)
We just love reading Insectlopedia! My 6 year old daughter andmy 5 year old son both think it is a great read. Ethan & Alissalike the poem about the Whirligig Beetles the best.

Excellent Book Filled with Info!
I read this book while sitting in the Dr.'s office this week. It was not only fun to read, but educational as well. At 27 I learned some interesting things about insects! And the illustrations are outstanding, especially for adults who can look further into the artwork.

enchanting poems not only for children
Florian created a wonderful book of poems that captured the youthful joy and echantment of the insect world. Each poem is unique and the accompanying illustrations are whimsical and fun. Both parents and children will love this book.

A pure delight!
As a children's author myself, I look at a LOT of picture books each year. INSECTLOPEDIA was one I simply had to have. The poems and art are equally witty, and it seems to me the perfect gift book, to be enjoyed and appreciated by children (and adults) of all ages. Every time I show it to someone, we find something new to delight us in the art work. A wonderful book! ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Life Doesn't Frighten Me
This is a wonderful book, both beautifully written and powerfully illustrated. I am a 3rd grade teacher, but I love this book mainly as a unique graduation gift for previous students of mine who are graduating from high school and remember me with graduation announcements. I love the combination of a gift that is both a primary book from their teacher, coupled with the larger message of the poem for the recipient who is soon embarking upon confronting life on his or her own! A very special and meaningful gift!

Excellent book
I thought this book was excellent. It's a great poem for inspiration, as it is a reminder that we all have courage. Maya repeats the line, "Life doesn't frighten me at all", getting her message across. This is a wonderful story for children, as well as adults.

Nourish your child's intellect... cautiously
As an adult and a student, I was truly enchanted by this unique concatenation of Maya Angelou's spirited, optimistic poetry and Jean-Michel Basquiat's bold, explosive paintings. "Life" is less a story than an affirmation - the child narrator (whose gender is left to the imagination) lists a dozen or so items that could be causes for concern in young child's mind, but then conquers these fears with "They don't frighten me at all." Equally impressive are the brief, but detailed biographical sketches of both artists that closes the book.

My only reservation lies in the question "Who is this book really for?" While Basquiat's dynamic use of line and color and space make for fascinating pictures, and his style is consciously influenced by the artwork of Native Americans and small children, his habitual use of skeletal imagery and jagged, leering facial expressions might prove too intense for little ones. On the other hand, the beautiful simplicity of Angelou's poetry will probably fail to appeal to kids who are experienced enough to expect a certain level of plot in their reading.

My advice to parents is this: don't give this book to your kids - buy it for yourselves, and keep it someplace where it won't get all trashed up by dirty little hands. When you think they're ready, let your youngsters look at this book with you, so if the pictures should strike them the wrong way, you'll be there for them. Better not do this at bedtime until you're sure how they'll react - this could be the stuff nightmares are made of. But even if they love it, hang on to the book yourself, so that in a couple of years when your child loses interest (they may begin to see it as a "baby book"), you'll still have a beautiful coffee-table book of post-modernist art to share with your friends. And eventually, your kids might grow up into little intellectuals who can see what a delightful creation this book really is. It may not be perfect for anyone, but it certainly has something for everyone.

even 1st graders LOVE this book
I'm a first year, first grade teacher. And before I started teaching I had owned this book for about 6 years. I recently read it to my students and they loved it. One of my students wanted to read it on her own & even read Maya's bio in the back and took notes in her journal so she could read more of Maya's work. This is a great book for adults and children! Basquiat's artwork is very interesting [and childlike] and did not scare the children. Children are exposed to a very violent world on virtually a daily basis and this book helps them cope. p.s. I read this book when the Iraq war started.

But The Pictures In This Book Did
While life may not scare me, the pictures in this book did. Perhaps had I been familiar with Basquiat's work I would not have ordered the book in the first place. But I also thought the poem was a bit oversold by some of the other reviews I read. The poem itself is only a few lines long, while the book is more like 20 pages or so. Several more pages are taken up with bios of Angelou and Basquiat. Mainly, the pictures are ugly and seem to me to be completely unaccessible to a child. ... Read more

Book Description

He got into nails, of course,
because He'd always loved
hands --
hands were some of the best things
He'd ever done.

In God Went to Beauty School Cynthia Rylant imagines a God whose curiosities about the world He created inspire Him to go out and experience human things. But what would God do if He could live in a human world? Would He write a fan letter? Get a dog? Make spaghetti?

God Went to Beauty School celebrates the simple things in life while taking a long, hard look at what it means to be human. Rylant's soft, reflective, and often humorous verse glimpses everyday life through wide and wondering eyes and blends the familiar with the profoundly spiritual.

Reviews (7)

The holy and the profane
The first Cynthia Rylant book I ever read was the picture book, "When I Was Young In the Mountains". The story was not long or drawn out, and the words in the books were simple and pure. You might expect that in a picture book anyway, but there's a difference between saying what you want clearly and directly and simply being brief. Rylant never says any more nor less than she has to. It's a talent that has served her well in the past and made possible the succinct eloquence that is, "God Went to Beauty School".

I don't know if this book is profane or the holiest collection of poems I've ever read. I think maybe it's a little of both. Unabashedly Christian (with nods of the head to Buddhism) the book is a series sweet simple views of how God goes about His day. 23 poems in all, the book shows God getting a dog, ordering a couch from Pottery Barn, seeing a movie, and so on. These are small vignettes that take a what-if stance and enjoy what they conjure up. The great danger of the book, I suppose, was that it might fall into that old, "What If God Was One of Us", trap. Some could argue that this book is unnecessary if you believe that Jesus was already God. Rylant anticipates this point in the final longest poem, "God Died".

The book is simultaneously funny and touching. I have heard that Bible study groups use the poems to study. That groups of people without religion will ponder the poems line by line. The nicest poem in the group is, to my mind, "God Went to India". I have heard that people have read this poem at funerals. That it encompasses something in all of us, touching us deeply, revealing the truth that everything changes from one thing into another. The book is small and it does not impose itself upon you. It invites you to read it and whether you love it or hate it, it will not attempt to convert you one way or another. It is a book to love.

Slim Volume of Powerful Poems
Cynthia Rylant doesn't need to use a lot of words to get her point across. This Newberry Medal winning author gives a whimsical and endearing view of God in this book. From eating spaghetti to sailing a boat, God does all the things a human might and sees them with a deep and innocent intensity.
While the book may not be a perfect representation of a real God, it does soften the edges and round the corners of the most powerful being.
Overall, this book is light on the surface but thought provoking in it's simplicity. A great read!

Disappointed
I was looking for a new genre for my 5th grade daughter, and I picked this book, normally a huge fan of Rylant. I found the cover statement "soft, reflective and often humorous" to be totally untrue. The book was disturbing in an offensive way. I didn't find any humor at all. The God she tries to know is not the God I know. It seemed very disrespectful. I've read better books that touch on the attributes of God in a loving, funny, soft way while opening the reader's eyes to the possibility of being inside God's mind. Rylant missed the mark in a big way this time. I will continue to read her work, and I hope that it will reflect growth, especially in this area.

What IF God was one of us?...
This poetry about placing god in "mundane" situations, dealing with them as if a mere human, is not only whimsical/fanciful. I implore you to read the poems multiple times (preferably after giving them some time to sink in) if they initially strike you as this shallow. Mrs. Ryant verses far transcends the trite, flippant or ... rolls eyes... blasphemous. These poems are refreshing, as they creatively hit the bullseye of imbuing everyday situations with godliness. There is plenty of genuine humor thinking about something traditionally associated with omnipotence becoming a nail stylist, having difficulty with credit card companies, or about owning a dog. And if a book can get across some genuine spiritual lessons to me all the while making me chuckle, if not outright laugh... it's worth having.

a great book
I loved the whole idea of God being "normal", that he had a cold, that he would like someone else to have dinner with (because communion is just not the same as having dinner) I read this twice, smiled, thought, grinned, giggled. what a neat way of humanizing the Man Upstairs! ... Read more

Reviews (10)

One of the Very Best Titles in Children's Books
This was THE book of my childhood! I still own this book, and read it even today. I received it as a gift more than forty years ago, and it has lost none of it's original charm. This book introduces children to poetry with beautiful cadence, and uplifting, happy thoughts. The illsutrations of Tasha Tudor are lush and give additional imagination to the poetry. The stories in the poems are of a different time and place in history, but still evoke the innocence present in every child, even today...no matter our age!

Sweet As Candy..
With it's delicate Tasha Tudor drawings as a perfect accompiment to these famous poems for children(or the child within).this book is both lovely to look at as well as read. Would make a lovely gift for expectant mom;I'm saving this one for my niece & nephew..!

What a beautiful book!
Tasha Tudor's illustrations are absolutely timeless! I bought this book to read to my daughters but my 3 year old son loves it just as much. It would make a great shower gift!

A classic for any child (or child at heart)
This classic edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses" is justly famed because it so beautifully pairs Stevenson's sometimes exuberant, sometimes melancholy poems on childhood with the extraordinary illustrations of Tasha Tudor.

Tudor's delicate watercolors complement Stevenson's work almost to the point that you think the two, living in different centuries, must share some time-travel telepathy with each other. All the classic Stevenson pieces are here: "The Swing," "The Land of Counterpane," the terrific poem about a child's shadow. Tudor depicts only children and animals herein--as it should be--without the presence of shadow of adults anywhere. Both Stevenson and Tudor understand in their bones that no matter what grown-ups may think, children inhabit a world of their own. That world is mostly beautiful, but sometimes fraught with danger or questions. Those hints are present here, but the overwhelming impression any reader will have will be that of beauty--both in words and in pictures.

A Child's Garden of Verses
The moment my first grandson was born, I could not wait until he was old enough for me to read this wonderful book to him. It's time! The book was given to me when I was 4 and I still can recite most of the poems from memory. The poems and stories of Robert Louis Stevenson are simply the best. If there is a child in your family.....A Child's Garden of Verses is a MUST! ... Read more

Book Description

What a wonderful feeling it is, to know that wherever you are there is something you love. It is a feeling millions of readers have for the Christopher Robin books.

The verses here, and in When We Were Very Young, the stories in Winnie-The-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner have endeared themselves to so many readers that it is painful to try to imagine what the world would be like without them.

The perfect book for that all-important birthday, Now We Are Six is much more than a worthy successor to When We Were Very Young; it is a modern classic in its own right.

The beguiling verses are rendered more delightful by E.H. Shepard’s enchanting pictures.
... Read more

Reviews (5)

Not so young any more...
A.A. Milne's second collection of poems has a different tone than his first; a little sly, a tad more mature, as befits little bookworms that have graduated from "When We Were Very Young". Now Milne gives us the delightfully funny "Sneezles" (Christopher Robin had wheezles and sneezles, they bundled him into his bed), and the hilarious good girl Jane ("Well, what did they think that I went there to do? And why would I want to be bad at the zoo? And would I be likely to say if I had?") accompanied by Ernest Shepard's great pen and ink drawings (check out his picture of Jane trying to climb into the bears' cage in the zoo). Kids of all ages (and yes, that includes old coots over 30 like you and me) love reading and listening to the poems in this book. Highly recommended.

Marvellous but mixed collection of poetry
Everyone who has read Milne's original Pooh books knows that he can write a good hum, after all Pooh gives us several.

In this volume (and the earlier "When We Were Very Young") Milne's voice comes through more clearly, unmoderated by writing for his bear of little brain. He gives us a small volume full of poems that should surely last as well as his prose. While some of them are strongly flavoured by the time and place where he wrote them others are more universal in their subject and tone.

As you read this volume you will almost certainly come across something you recognise, if it isn't the line "James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree" that catches your memory then it might be "Just a bit of butter for the royal slice of bread." If not, then you will find many of them sticking when you have read them to a child.

I have seen editions of this volume without the illustrations by E.H. Shepard, it would seem to me a travesty to separate the two. Shepard has always been the traditional illustrator of Milne and the pen and ink drawings he made for the first edition of this book, retained in this (and most) paperback edition are marvellous - well executed and suiting the style and subject of the poems.

It is hard to overstate the joy my daughter and I have had from this volume. My mother read many of these poems to me thirty five (and more) years ago, over the past few years my daughter and I have discovered our own favourites. Now she is old enough that she reads them herself.

The poems are indeed a little sentimental, a little whimsical and seem to come from a softer, more pastoral childhood than has perhaps existed for many years. I don't see this as a problem for the poetry, after all, if we cannot recreate a gentler time for our children perhaps we can soften the one we can provide with the tiny charming tales in these poems.

I would recommend this book to anyone with a small child. I give it only four stars as the poems are mixed in quality.

Kuralt has the most boring, monotone voice I have ever heard
I grew up listening to and loving the two poetry Winnie the Pooh books. If like me, you love this poetry, DO NOT purchase these tapes! After listening to the first 15 minutes of one tape and skimming other poems in the hopes that Kuralt suddenly gained inspiration, the tapes have remained in the box unlistened to. I have tried to give them to other teachers, only to have them returned to me. Charles Kuralt is absolutely the WRONG person to read this wonderful poetry. His dry, boring, monotonous voice made me want to cry, terrified that his reading would turn kids off to Milne's incredibly beautiful and funny poetry.

Sentimental verses very inferior to the Pooh books
I spent my childhood and adolescence in sight of Ashdown Forest, England, where the Pooh books are set. I still retain a deep affection for them. But Milne's verse is something else and would long-ago have been forgotten but for the stories with which it is associated. Nobody who has seen the parody:

Hush, Hush. Nobody cares. Christopher Robin has fallen down stairs.

will ever again be able to read Milne's sentimental whimsies with a straight face. The book is only worth three stars for the beautiful illustrations by E H Shepard

A wonderful book of children's poems
I'm buying this book now for my daughter. I still remember many of the poems from when I was growing up, and I hear my Mom's voice as I read them. ... Read more

Book Description

From the simplest couplet to the mind-boggling pantoum, poetry anthologist Paul B. Janeczko and illustrator Chris Raschka show the many fascinating ways poetic forms take shape. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

IF YOU GIVE ONE CHILDREN'S BOOK, LET THIS BE IT !

If you give a child but one book this year let it be "A Kick In The Head," an eye-popping introduction to poetic forms.Now, don't be put off by the term "poetic forms," the examples win both young readers and adults.Who can resist Ogden Nash's "In the world of mules, there are no rules."?(A couplet, of course).

Poet and teacher Paul B. Janeczko has included 29 poetic forms from haiku to a sonnet to an elegy.All are so thoughtfully chosen that one cannot suppress a smile or a catch in the throat.Among the authors represented are Shakespeare, Robert Service, Gary Soto, Georgia Heard, Richard Wilbur, the author himself, and, of course, everyone's favorite - anonymous.

Among these pleasurable pages readers may learn why there are 17 syllables in a haiku, and 14 lines in a sonnet.Closing pages hold further notes on the various forms.An excellent suggestion from the author is to first read the poem, then read the explanatory note at the bottom of the page, nextread the poem again to see if you can detect how it follows the stated form.

Fairly bursting from the pages are Chris Raschka's watercolor, ink, and torn paper illustrations.Collage-like in appearance they capture the eye and couple perfectly with each poem.

"A Kick In the Head" is that rarity - a book to be enjoyed by both adults and children, and a joy to return to again and again.

- Gail Cooke
... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

A delightful read!
The late Valerie Worth is well remembered in this volume of nature poems. They are short and sweet, with neat imagery. I used this book to help my daughter, a struggling reader, to read, by reading with her, and sometimes singing the poems as though they were lyrics.
Simple titles like "Pie" and "Toad" evoke a simple life...yet the poems stir the imagination, too: "The watering can rusts among friends." Mm. Natalie Babbit's line drawings complement the poems without fail.

A wonderful collection!
This book is a great collection of poems about nature. My children love these poems, and they are great to teach with. ... Read more

Book Description

Written to be read aloud by two voices--sometimes alternating, sometimes simultaneous--here is a collection of irresistible poems that celebrate the insect world, from the short life of the mayfly to the love song of the book louse. Funny, sad, loud, and quiet, each of these poems resounds with a booming, boisterous, joyful noise.

In this remarkable volume of poetry for two voices, a companion to I Am Phoenix,Paul Fleischman verbally re-creates the "Booming/boisterios/joyful noise" of insects. The poems resound with the pulse of the cicada and the drone of the honeybee. Eric Beddows's vibrant drawings send each insect soaring, spinning, or creeping off the page in its own unique way.

Paul Fleischman has created not only a clear and fascinating guide to the insect world--from chrysalid butterflies to whirligig beetles--but an exultant celebration of life.

Winner, 1989 Newbery Medal
Notable Children's Books of 1988 (ALA)
1988 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
1988 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor Book for Fiction/Poetry
1989 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
1988 Notable Trade Books in the Language Arts (NCTE)
Children's Books of 1988 (Library of Congress)
1988 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
100 Books for Reading and Sharing (NY Public Library)

Reviews (15)

What a great book!
This is a collection of beautiful short poems for children about a variety of insects. The children are supposed to read the poems together as if it were a dialog or play and the interplay of words is supposed to fit with the type of insect the poem describes. The book, illustrated by Eric Beddows, won the 1989 Newbery Medal for best contribution to American children's literature.

Great and Lots of fun!
Joyful noise is a great book to read with another person. It is filled with poems for two voices about insects. It has from Book Lice to Water Striders, House Crickets to Grasshoppers, Water Boatmen to Fireflies. I really enjoy reading it with one of my friends!!

An original idea
These poems about the lives of different insects are meant to be read by two voices, thereby mimicking the sounds or characteristics of those bugs. The book works rather well, especially the whirligig beetle poem. Appearing in bookstores nation wide in 1992, I remember being given this book at the age of 10 from my mother. At that particular age I was not interested in participating in a picture book, clearly designed for younger students. Had I received it at a younger age I think I would have liked it more. I would recommend presenting this book to a group of students, having them perform it together. That would be the best use of this singular text.

Wonderful
A real celebration of the insects. Fourteen neat poems - you can read just one side and enjoy the poems too if you don't have a partner onhand but listening to them read by two people is neat! Really great drawings throughout - obviously done by a nature lover. The poems are funny and at times like haiku too.

A Novel Way to Engage Children in Poetry
This book consists of fourteen poems about different insects. Each poem is written in two parts and must be read aloud to be truly appreciated. The two parts fit together, and when performed aloud, have a rhythmical sound. Having children act out the poems as they read them would be a great way to incorporate dance and creative movement. I would recommend this book for all teachers and parents who want to get children excited about poetry. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Eric Carle's distinctive art holds a place of honor in the world of children's books. (He is the creator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and the illustrator of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?.)In this thoughtfully selected collection of poems about animals, you'll meet creatures of every sort, from an ant to a yak. You'll find selections from many cultures, penned by celebrated poets such as Lewis Carroll, Ogden Nash, Rudyard Kipling, Emily Dickinson, and Jack Prelutsky. Animals, Animals is best suited for older preschoolers and children in the early elementary grades, but the beautiful illustrations will please children of any age, including babies. The oversized format lends itself well to Eric Carle's bright collages--the animals, birds, and insects seem ready to jump or fly right off the pages. (Ages 1 to 8) ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Animal collection
This book contains a collection of animal poems. The sources of the poems are quite varied, from Emily Dickinson, to the Bible, to Japanese haikus. All sorts of animals are featured, from fireflies to hippopotami. There are no scary bits, and the pictures are great. At the end of the book is an index of the animals and a table of contents by first lines to help you find your favorite poems. The book has about 2900 words.

The Inimitable Eric Carle
From Ogden Nash to Shakespeare, from haiku to Hungarian proverbs, ANIMALS ANIMALS has it all--and it all is illustrated beautifully by the inimitable Eric Carle. His trademark collage-style pictures and jewel-tone colors bring to life an entire zoo in this collection of short poems and poetic sayings about animals. Ants and elephants, octopuses and walruses, and many other delightfully quirky animals tumble playfully across the pages, vividly animating the lovingly selected verses. No need to read it at one sitting, or even sequentially; just open the covers and let the pages fall where they may. This refreshing and entertaining picture book is sure to engage the most restless reader or listener of any age.

Engaging graphics and enjoyable text for all ages.
I have owned this book for several years; I originally bought it thinking the bright and engaging portraits of animals would surely delight my young child. Since then all our children have enjoyed hearing the poems and laughing at, studying, copying, and perusing the creatures that share our earth. A lyrical book, both in text and picture layout, which we won't easily part with for some time, I'm sure.

We love this book!
My kids adore this book and it's great for grown-ups too! The illustrations and poems go together beautifully and the selection of poems is wonderful. There's a great range of different styles and even young toddlers sit and listen. Eric Carle's books are always a hit but this one in particular is fantastic. This book will be one kids will read for years--even when they're adults. We love this book! ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

Inspiring and Entertaining
Fold Me a Poem is a wonderful example of a book being more than the sum of its parts. Inside the covers of this stunning creation, the poems and illustrations meld to create a picture book that is both inspiring and entertaining.

Each of George's short poems is exquisitely illustrated with an acrylic painting depicting a young boy among his origami creations. In "Spring," for example, we read:

At last
my tulips
arrive
wearing
paper crowns.

And thus we see-surrounding the large, black print-patterned and boldly colorful origami tulips.

While a few of the poems are about possibilities, the majority concern themselves with animals. A double-page spread shows a large yellow table festooned with rabbits at one end and foxes at the other. In between the boy has placed blocks (for the rabbits' protection). On another page, the pink ostrich receives no such protection and is attacked by the boy's cat. "Glue? Staple? Tape? Band-Aid?" The boy tries to decide how best to make repairs.

Midway through the book we find the large, green dragon on a rampage-having knocked down the other animals-and must be reigned in. Later on, we see a herd of colorful cows hungrily "eyeing the green paper. Oh. Grass!"

As the young boy prepares for bed, he hangs his own origami star against the darkening sky. Soon he hears "rustling/ soft/ papery/ whisper-thumps ./ Is someone dancing?" It appears so: the penguin and the ostrich (now sporting band-aids) move toward one another.

The book includes a list of suggested books on making origami.

Classroom Uses: We took this book into two classrooms. The first was a second-grade special-education classroom. When we finished reading the book, the students, of course, wanted to make their own origami creations. We had prepared paper so the students could create origami dogs. You will find the instructions in a wonderful downloadable teacher's guide here on the illustrator's website. The students then wrote haiku poems about their animals.

On another occassion we brought the book into a seventh-grade language arts classroom. The students were in the middle of a script writing unit. Again, taking a lesson from the teacher's guide, we had the students write a script using the origami animals they had created as characters.

Highly recommeded. Suitable for district-wide purchase.

Our only suggestions is that you have plenty of origami paper and a set of instructions ready when you read this.
... Read more

Book Description

Caldecott Medal winner Paul O. Zelinsky's first moving-parts book since the best-selling Wheels on the Bus is a beauty. To the verses of "This Old Man," an ingenious visual narrative follows a young boy as he ventures outside. Along the way, children can push tabs, turn wheels, or lift flaps to see ten different old men pop out of hiding to play Knick-Knack. Children (and critics) agree that Knick-Knack Paddywhack! takes the interactive book to a new level of imagination.

€ Smithsonian magazine Notable Book for Children 2002
€ Parenting magazine Book of the Year
€ Newsweek magazine Top Pick for Kids
€ New York Times Best Illustrated Book for 2002
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Reviews (3)

Always something new
My three year old son loves this book and we read it every night. He is constantly finding new things to open, close, move, etc. After about 2 months of constant use, one of the tabs finally broke, which is much better than other lift/move books he has. Highly recommend this book!

Buy one for yourself
This is far and away the best movable I have ever seen. The attention to detail and the unbelievable quality of the book is amazing. There is a new something I see everytime I open the book. Wait until you read it through a few times and you find a new detail or creative way for the movement to happen. My daughter and I love this book so much I am buying another one to put away for her child.

not as toddler friendly as his classic wheels on the bus
This IS a beautiful book like all of his books, but while I love it, I can't let my 2 year old read and handle it with me. Now, my son CAN handle and work all of the various flaps and tabs on the Wheels on the bus book, and has been doing that since 10 months. These are just too tiny and somewhat delicate for daily handling like well loved books should have. I have to admit that I do have tape on my second copy of wheels on the bus, but that book did not attempt to fall apart at the very beginning.

ITs a gorgeous book with stunning effects and illustrations so go ahead and buy it! ... Read more

Amazon.com

We are mad for poet-painter Douglas Florian. We were buzzed by Insectlopedia, moony for Mammalabilia, and batty for hisother beautifully biological, biologically beautiful books as well. We loveFlorian for his clever, downright shameless wordplay. One of our favorite poemsin Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs is "The Wood Frog":

I am a frozen frogsicle.
I froze beneath a logsicle.
My mind is in a fogsicle
Inside this icy bogsicle.
My temperature is ten degrees.
I froze my nose, my toes, my knees.
But I don't care, I feel at ease,
For I am full of antifreeze.

We polliwoggle.
We polliwiggle.
We shake in lakes,
Make wakes,
And wriggle.
We quiver,
We shiver,
We jiggle,
We jog.
We're yearning
To turn ourselves
Into a frog.

Reviews (4)

Fabulous for reptile fans!
My two-year-old son is a *huge* reptile fan, and he loves this book. The playful language is wonderful, and it's an inspiring way to talk and think about different types of animals. It's one of those books that *I* love reading, too!

A rare find, like Loco for Lizards
This book takes an offbeat subject like lizards and makes the subject fun and entertaining, while it also informs. Very much like Jim Cherry's book, Loco for Lizards, a laugh-out-loud funny book that packs an amazing wealth of information in at the same time. Highly recommended!

Keen observations, delicate touch.
Florian delights! He's carefully observed the reptiles and amphibians in his book, and the poetry and collages are witty and subtle. This is good for kids and like great animation, terrific for herp-loving adults. --Ae Nash, Director, Colorado Reptile Rescue

Poems You Don't Want to Miss!
Douglas Florian is back with another marvelous collection of 21 poems that will charm and amuse the entire family. This time out, he tackles the world of reptiles and amphibians, from those noisy spring peepers to the transparent glass frog to the wall walking gecko. His clever poetry, full of wordplay, puns and even visual fun, is complimented by his creative and inventive artwork, that will mesmerize readers with its wit, color and detail. For all who loved Mr Florian's past collections of Mammalabilia and Insectlopedia, Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs is a terrific book you shouldn't miss. ... Read more

Book Description

In this hilarious collection of twenty-one original animal poems and paintings, the animals are out in all their finned, furry, and feathered glory. From lobsters to rheas to fireflies, kiwis to camels to chameleons, here’s a beast for everyone to love!
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Reviews (1)

Beast Feast
It is very funny. I'll give the The Walrus In His Chair a "two thumbs up." I memorized The Bat for a Poetry Reading for school. I give The Barracuda some very earth-eating competition. niknnik (Evan, 9) ... Read more

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Reviews (2)

The combo of poetry/photos will make your heart ache.
Walker Evans' photos speak volumes without any poetry alongside them but Cynthia Rylant did a superb job of complementing the photos with her gritty observations. I bought this book several years ago and have read it numerous times since. Just looking at his brutally honest snapshots of the hard times (supposedly) gone by was worth the books' price but just as you think you've absorbed all the beauty his photographs hold, you look over to read her accompanying poem and your heart aches a little more! This book is beautiful and moving - there are really no other words to describe it! It truly makes one relate to and hurt for the suffering/troubles of the people in the photos. And, one should always keep in mind, just because the photos were taken so long ago doesn't mean there aren't still people in the grip of poverty (& classism, suffering, depression, etc.) just as badly as the people whose images were captured in Evans' photos so many years ago. I've not really done that great a job explaining just how moving this book is but I guarantee you'll find it both gripping and touching and you'll laugh, cry, and get angry. Definitely a classic worth adding to your library!

Beautiful book!
Though they are simple and black and white, I found the photographs by Walker Evans to be fascinating. Cynthia Rylant's poetry adds depth to the photographs in this interesting look at the Depression era. I recommend this book. ... Read more

Book Description