Amazon.com

A thoroughly Seussian tweak of the alphabet-book tradition, On Beyond Zebra is about all the letters that most people ignore--the ones that come after Z.Our hero (instantly recognizable to most Seuss fans as the boy who captured Thing One and Thing Two in The Cat in the Hat) takes his young friend, Conrad Cornelius O'Donald O'Dell, on a guided tour of all the weird creatures that begin with letters such as Yuzz, Wumbus, and Glikk. "And Nuh is the letter I use to spell Nutches, Who live in small caves, known as Nitches, for hutches." The message is pretty simple: the alphabet pins down boring old "reality," but if you explore further afield there are more interesting worlds to discover. "So, on beyond Z! It's high time you were shown, / That you really don't know all there is to be known."Explorers in need of guidance will even find a table of useful new letters (a beyondabet? a WumbaGlikk?) in the back. (Ages 4 to 8) --Richard Farr ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Unforgettable
I read this book as a child about 45 years ago. I loved it and never forgot it, although its title transformed in my child's brain to "way beyond Z". It inspired me, fed my imagination and made me feel like a child with special sight. Unlike adults, I KNEW the alphabet beyond Z!! Now that I have located this title again, I will give it to every child I know! Thank you, Dr. Seuss!

Thinking outside the box
This was one of my favorite books as a child. I'm so happy to be able to share it with my nieces. I think all Dr. Seuss' books encourage imagination and creativity, but none more than this.

Mom read it to me, will read it to my nephew
I was in college before I was informed that Dr. Seuss books had "messages". I then thought about it, and decided that my professor was partially right and that this is one of the books with a "message". It teaches you not to stop at the obvious but to see if there is more to life.

Gloriously, the book is so good that you don't notice until you are in college and someone tells you. Which is A Good Thing. I hate books with "messages".

I'm 41, and I bought this book for my just-aquirred 5 year old nephew. Only I re-read it before giving it to him.

Dr. Seuss was a prophet of unfettered imagination
If I were to start my own religion, this would probably be the most sacred text. Dr. Seuss possessed powers of pure imagination unequaled in all of children's literature, and this book is the most inspiring, mind-expanding example of his divine gift. Even more important than Cat in the Hat or The Lorax, every baby born into this world should be given a copy of On Beyond Zebra. Buy it and give it to a child you love today!

Seuss's Structure Slips!
Doctor Seuss has taught us all to enjoy flawless humor, good fantasy, and fantastic illustrations. So it was a great surprise to me when this book didn't carry off its premise smoothly.

The book is a satire on those alphabet books that all children trudge through to learn their ABCs. A is for apple, and so forth, is the predictable format. Here, Dr. Seuss adjusts the format to be about animals. "A is for Ape. And B is for Bear."

The story opens with Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell announcing, "I know all the twenty-six letters like that . . . ."

Our narrator disagrees. "But not me." "In the places I go there are things that I see that I never could spell if I stopped with the Z." "My alphabet starts where your alphabet ends."

Now, here's the problem. Although the book has many interesting and new letters and creatures, each letter is actually just a combination of the first twenty-six. For example, YUZZ is the first new letter, and is illustrated by the tall and hairy Yuzz-a-ma-Tuzz. Although a sort of symbol is established to represent the letter, Dr. Seuss doesn't use the symbol in the rhyme. He always refers to the letter as YUZZ.

Dr. Seuss could have used his new letter symbol wherever it fit into the rhyme, or he could have made up letters that were not combinations of the first twenty-six letters. Either approach would have worked.

I suspect that the structure in the book can either consciously or subconsciously confuse a new reader about what a letter is, what a syllable is, and what a word is. It's all quite unnecessary.

If Dr. Seuss had used his new symbols to form new words, that would have been a nice basis for helping English readers learn how to move back and forth between English and languages with different methods of representation, like Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Hebrew. So, the book's a bit of a missed opportunity in this direction, too.

My suggestion is that if you want to have fun with the story anyway (because the creatures are pretty swell), simply point out that Dr. Seuss made a little goof and clarify the point about what a letter is in whatever way makes the most sense to you for where your child is in reading readiness.

The animals and their names are terrific, and you will enjoy them and their illustrations. Here's a partial list: Wumbus ("my high-spouting whale who lives on a hill"), Umbus ("a sort of a cow" with 98 or 99 "faucets" for giving milk), Humpf-Humpf-a-Dumpfer, Miss Fuddle-dee-Duddle (a bird with the longest tail), Glikker (blue and small, eats seeds, and juggles cinammon seeds), Nutch (lives in small caves that are in short supply), Sneedle (a mos-keedle with a sharp hum-dinger stinger on its head), Quandery (a red creature on shells in the ocean that worries a lot), Thnadner (the big one has a small shadow and the small one a big shadow), Spazzin (a camel-like creature with amazing horns for carrying baggage), Floob-Boober-Bab-Boober-Bah (fish you can use like stepping stones to get across the top of water as they bob on the surface), and Zatz-It (like a tall giraffe).

The story concludes with young o'Dell getting the spirit of the narrator.

"This is really great stuff!

And I guess the old alphabet

ISN'T enough!"

o'Dell draws a new letter:

" . . . what do you think that

we should call this one, anyhow?"

Enjoy imagination, and honor it . . . wherever it may be found! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Edward Lear's nonsense poem about two unlikely sweethearts--an elegant owl and abeautiful cat--has found a perfect match in artist Jan Brett. She traveled to the Caribbean (the landwhere the Bong-tree grows, perhaps?) to research her illustrations as well as the settings, costumedetails, plants, and fish native to the area. Readers can follow an illustrated subplot of two yellowfish who also fall in love under the pea-green boat. A charming treatment of a classic children'spoem. (Ages 3 to 7) ... Read more

Reviews (12)

the best
I have always loved this rhyme, and when I found a version illustrated by Jan Brett, I knew that for me this would be the definitive version. Jan Brett's illustrations bring the Caribbean Islands to life right in front of your eyes. The cat with her headscarf, the beautiful tropical fish in the borders, the lush vegetation, this is so richly illustrated that you can look at the pages over and over again. And if you tire of the Owl and the Pussycat, there's always the story told in the borders to provide a change.

Hand in hand, on the edge of the sand....
Spectacularly beautiful illustrations make this book a joy. The familiar poem has a gently rocking rhythm, and the pictures have a flow of their own. My 18-month-old daughter likes to find the flower, the yellow fish, the cat and the owl on each page. The quiet familiarity of the poem calms her down during the nighttime crazies (that spurt of energy toddlers get just before they collapse into a puddle). I recommend this book for a soothing, visually delightful experience.

Amazing Illustrations
My daughter loves this book and I don't mind reading it over and over again thanks to the beautiful illustrations. I always notice something new and wonderful and what a fantastic idea for a setting.

Beautiful But Ridiculous
As I'm sure you know, owls and cats don't make fast friends (something that makes the Hopperoo a lover of the owl). And that's what makes this book so ridiculous. Of course, it is a fairy tale and the illustrations are beautiful.

On the other hand, I once took my ailurophilic spouse Bessie on a camping trip to one of those cat-ridden ghost towns in New Mexico (Winston) and the interaction between owl and kitty cat was not quite as Lear describes in his charming book--imagine an entire evening interupted by the continual caterwauls of nature's inferior puddy tat. I only wish Bobo (her annoying tabby) had been along for the ride!!! Recommended, but not as enjoyable as the Winston Owlprey Symphony Orchestra.

Beautiful book with depth!
This is one of my favorite all-time books. I have always loved the story. My mother recited it so often that it was one of the first things I memorized. It's whimsical, sweet and has interesting characters and locations. When I found this edition with Jan Brett's illustrations, I was captivated. I have read it to my four children over and over again, and I always find a new detail that I missed before. Wonderful book!!! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Poet Jack Prelutsky again pairs up with two-time Caldecott Honor artistPeter Sís to create Scranimal Island, a fantastical, off-the-map place inhabitedby unusual animals from Hippopotamushrooms to Potatoads to a pride ofBroccolions. A boy and girl on a scooter, equipped with essentials from umbrellato inner tube, fly from habitat to habitat over Sís's dreamy, mountainouslandscapes à la Tibet: Throughthe Red Box. They make their way through the clutch of Spinachickens,past the Camelberta Peaches to the "Sweet Porcupineapple, / Unflappable chap, /You happily amble / All over the map." Prelutsky's biological inventions are asclever as they are silly, and it's wonderful that kids are allowed to figure outthe hybrid themselves in Rhinocerose, Cardinalbacore, etc. Prelutsky's glee iscontagious, and kids will get a kick out of the wordplay in poems like "Oh SleekBananaconda": "You slither on your belly, / And you slither on your chin. /You're only unappealing / As you shed your slinky skin." Pronunciation guidesfor each creature garnish each page, in case you can't pronounce Toucanemonesright off the bat, and an iconic guide to the island's animals adorns the tableof contents page. Gorgeous endpapers reveal Sís's map of Scranimal Island andits curious denizens. It's impossible to pick a favorite, between theunbelievably cute Pandaffodil and the detested Radishark. Highly recommended.(Ages 6 to 10) --Karin Snelson ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (3)

Lovely Book - No Gold!
I bought this one for my daughter who was studying Robert Frost in first grade. The illustrations are lovely, and she treasures the book. The only disappointment was that it doesn't contain the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" (one of our favorites). From the cover picture, I'd expected it to contain that one.
Still, I'm glad I bought it for her.

Awsome
I have read this book by Robert Frost end to end. When I first saw this book I had to read it. I read Robert Frost last year in school. This book can be read to any age at any time. I thik some of Robert Frosts pomes can tech kids about life. That is what I think of this Robert Frost book.

Robert Frost (Poetry for Young People).
I love Robert Frost's poetry and was looking for a good way to introduce his wonderful words to young children. I have found that way through this beautiful book. I am an assistant principal and can't wait to share this book with my teachers and students. As I read this book, I felt like I was in New England during all four seasons. A must buy for poetry lovers and Robert Frost fans. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Every Child Deserves This Beautiful Book
This large, gorgeous picture book contains 123 poems perfectly suited for youthful excursions into the land of poetry. You will find many favorites here as well as bountiful opportunity to make new friends. Emily Dickinson, Rachel Field, David McCord, Jane Yolen, Christina Rossetti, Langston Hughes, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Robert Frost are just a few of the amazing talents that grace the pages of this book. From the very beginning where a qote from Isak Dinesen's "Out of Africa" explains the title of the book, we are swept up in a cavalcade of imagery, sound and experience that is a true delight and feast for the imagination. Not only is this a wonderful introduction to poetry for children it is a giant step forward toward learning about creative visualization and self-expression. It is a fortunate child who learns to evoke response from others through the mastery and selection of words. There is no better way to teach the art than to provide a child with the opportunity to experience the magic first-hand. The splendid illustrations in this book cheerily invite one to venture closer and then become the magic carpet that sweeps one from place to place within the book. The subject matter covers a broad range of topics, humorous and thoughtful, and can serve as a wonderful catalyst to further discussion about poetry and the use of the imagination. After a long and satisfying relationship with this book, may I suggest that you place a special magical pen and a blank tablet of paper in the hands of your child and discover the wonders it has helped to deliver. This book is truly an ambassador to creative expression.

Beyond Mother Goose
This has become my favorite gift of all that I received for our now almost 3 year old twin boys. The illustrations are gorgeous and the poems vary widely in subject matter and flavor. It is a perfect introduction to poetry after Mother Goose. I've been reading it to them from about 18 months on, and they've grown to love it. They know many of the poems by heart. I think it is a book that they will read over and over for years to come. I now give this book out as gifts to other new parents.

Educators Recommend
The Kennedys have done a superb job in selecting the poems for this read-aloud. The titles run the gamut of sweetly simple (Langston Hughes' "Piggy Back"), to the powerful (Georgia Roberts Durston's "The Wolf").

There is something for everyone here. Readers will find old favorites-"The Purple Cow"-as well as a few not-so-well-known but soon-to-be favorites such as William Jay Smith's lovely and lyrical "Polar Bear."

The book is divided into nine, themed sections: Plays, Families, Just for Fun, Birds, Bugs, and Beasts, Rhymes and Songs, Magic and Wonder, Wind and Weather, Calendars and Clocks, and, finally, Day and Night.

Making their appearance are, among others, Robert Louis Stevenson, Joan Aiken, Jane Yolen, Gwendolyn Books, A. A. Milne, and Wallace Stevens.

Jane Dyer, as always, does a magnificent job with the illustrations. There are full-page pictures and spot art throughout, extending and enriching the text. Readers will want to linger over the realistic, charming watercolors.

Highly recommended.

Reviewed by the Education Oasis Staff

A Beautiful Anthology with a Wonderful Variety of Poems
This is a beautiful book both visually and in content. The watercolor illustrations are in the realistic style painted in fine detail. My daughter loves to look at the pictures closely as we read the poems aloud.

The poems selected cover a wide range of topics, themes, and moods. There are funny poems like limericks, serious poems about the seasons, poems about how children sometimes feel (such as the one about the boy who didn't do anything right yesterday, so he's not getting out of bed today) bedtime poems, and poems about child play.

This book was a gift and I love it so much I've since given it to other parents and children to enjoy. Everyone has been enthusiastic about it. When my daughter selects this book (which is often) it's fun for us to browse through the pages and pick poems based on the illustrations or on our mood. We'll say, let's read about sleepytime poems, or let's read funny poems. She never tires of this book. There are hundreds of poems to choose from, but the scope is not overwhelming either.

I give this book my highest recommendation. Every home should have some poetry on the shelf!

Great Book of Poetry For Children (and Parents)
Last night, my not-quite-three-year-old daughter spontaneously recited a couple dozen poems from this book to my wife and me. We were astounded. She's been requesting that we read TALKING LIKE THE RAIN to her day and night since I bought it last month, but we had no idea how deeply the poems had sunken in. What better endorsement can one give to such a book? We plan to buy several more copies as presents for my daughter's friends . . . and their parents.

X.J. Kennedy is a terrific poet as well as a top-notch editor. I highly recommend his own children's poetry books, particularly his irreverent BRATS, as well as his poetry books for adults, which include the excellent DARK HORSES and CROSS TIES. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Star of 3rd Rock from the Sun, actor John Lithgow is less well known as a music enthusiast, but in his comical verse story The Remarkable Farkle McBride, he has created the musical prodigy he would perhaps like to have been. Farkle is a little boy with astounding talents (he's playing violin with the orchestra by the age of 3) but little perseverance. Each year he gets bored with his instrument, takes up and masters a new one, and then gets bored with that. Of his recently beloved trombone, he says, "The racket is more than my eardrums can bear! So return it or throw it away! I don't care!" In the end, Farkle realizes that the whole orchestra is his instrument: he finds satisfaction as a conductor, and the book ends with a gatefold of him triumphantly leading all the other musicians. C.F. Payne's illustrations combine a Norman Rockwell realism with a caricaturist's sense of humor. (Ages 5 and older) --Richard Farr ... Read more

Reviews (23)

The Remarkable Farkle is Fantastic!
This is one of the best children's books out there. I have read this book to several grade school classes (K - 3rd) and it's always a winner. Mr. Lithgow does a wonderful job of putting words to the sounds of instruments and his rhyme is fantastic.

Mr. Payne's illustrations are brilliant and are the finishing touch to this a new "classic"

It seems that there is a rush of actors writing children's books with varying degrees of success, but Mr. Lithgow does a first class job. If he decides to abandon his day job - he has a brilliant future as a children's author.

Buy the book - you or your children won't be dissappointed.

Music Made Wonderful
Farkle McBride is definitely a remarkable little guy. He could play the violin at three. But was bored with violin playing at four. At five he discovered the flute. But at six decided it was not for him. When Farkle was seven, he took up the trombone, but then gave it up too. Next he tried percussion, but decided that was not quite right for him either. After thinking and thinking he realized that his very favorite sound was all the different instruments playing together...the orchestra. And so when the conductor gets sick, Maestro Farkle McBride steps in, finding what he really likes to do most at last. John Lithgow as written a terrific children's book, full of rhythm, rhyme and wonderful sound effects. His text is complimented by C.F. Payne's very expressive and detailed, larger than life illustrations. This is a delightful story that will charm and amuse all youngsters aged 4-8 and is a wonderful introduction to both musical instruments and the orchestra. The Remarkable Farkle McBride is a winner and a wonderful addition to all home libraries.

Musical Fun
I judge a great children's book by how easily the words flow, how captivating and relevant the illustrations are, and most importantly, if my children enjoy it. The illustrations are what first caught my eye and since I have a very musical family, I thought this would be a nice addition to our library. My children loved it immediately! The rhythym is fun and the sheer silliness of this boy who is so musically talented but cannot seem to find his place, sends my kids into fits of laughter. Sometimes, as adults, I think we need to stop taking ourselves so seriously and find simple pleasure in things the way our kids do. This book comes highly recommended.

Way To Go, Mr. Lithgow!
Farkle McBride is not satisfied. He's a musical genius who masters every instrument he picks up, only to toss it away out of boredom soon after. By the end of this story, told in fun, lilting verse, Farkle has found a way to be involved in music; a way that also holds his interest.

John Lithgow's books are a cut above many other children's books written by celebrities. The rhymed verse that he uses to tell Farkle's story bounces and rambles along, and it's almost impossible not to hear Lithgow's voice in your head, "reading" the book to you.

The illustrations by C.F. Payne are at once sensitive and wonderfully silly; they're a perfect match for Lithgow's text. I have been known to bring this book out for friends and just open it to certain pages (such as the one showing Farkle with the cymbals) to exclaim, "Look at this painting! Look at the kid's face. Isn't that a riot? And the story's really good too!"

Fantastic Story
I purchased this book through day care for my 6 month old daughter. She loved it from the start. She is now 13 months, and this is her favorite bedtime story. She can point out farkle, the birds, and the instruments. Nice rhymes, clever story. The paperback version rips easily with a toddler, so I'm purchasing the hardback now. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1955, people all over the United States knew that Emmett Louis Till was a fourteen-year-old African American boy lynched for supposedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. The brutality of his murder, the open-casket funeral, and the acquittal of the men tried for the crime drew wide media attention.

Award-winning poet Marilyn Nelson reminds us of the boy whose fate helped spark the civil rights movement. This martyr"s wreath, woven from a little-known but sophisticated form of poetry, challenges us to speak out against modern-day injustices, to "speak what we see." ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Richie's Picks: A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL
I cannot recall if back in 1968 my eighth-grade American history teacher Mrs. Auryansen taught us about the death of Emmett Till. But one of the things I loved most about that year of studying with an enthusiastic teacher who often made American history come alive for me was the series of quarterly independent projects we had to plan and complete. Each marking period we would have to do an American history-related visual piece as well as a written piece and an oral piece.

"BY the flow of the inland river,
Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the one, the Blue,
Under the other, the Gray."
Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the one, the Blue,
Under the other, the Gray."

That's the first of the seven verses of "The Blue and The Gray" by Francis Miles Finch (1827-1907). I memorized and proudly recited those seven verses to my American history class, and that memory has stuck with me.

Having just celebrated my personal half-century mark, I'm all for turning around and returning to eighth-grade. And if I could do so, this is what I would memorize this time around for one of my oral pieces:

"Pierced by the screams of a shortened childhood,
my heartwood has been scarred for fifty years
by what I heard, with hundreds of green ears.
That jackal laughter. Two hundred years I stood
listening to small struggles to find food,
to the songs of creature life, which disappears
and comes again, to the music of the spheres.
Two hundred years of deaths I understood.
Then slaughter axed one quiet summer night,
shivering the deep silence of the stars.
A running boy, five men in close pursuit.
One dark, five pale faces in the moonlight.
Noise, silence, back-slaps. One match, five cigars.
Emmett Till's name still catches in the throat."

That is one of the fifteen sonnets that comprises A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL by Marilyn Nelson. After reading the book to myself and then reading it aloud to Shari, my thoughts kept wandering off yesterday to brainstorming how I might somehow set up an event down in the City on Sunday, August 28th--fifty years to the day since Emmett was kidnapped--in which someone who would both have known the Civil Rights movement and whose presence could attract a major audience (a Danny Glover or a Bill Russell or someone else of that stature) would read this powerful series of poems aloud to a crowd to commemorate the anniversary of the brutal death of Emmett Till, a death which horrified the world and made clear what had gone on for so long.

I can imagine having a choir and soloist perform at such an event, but definitely not a bunch of droning speakers whose verbosity might take away from the carefully chosen words of Marilyn Nelson's heroic crown of sonnets about Emmett Till. As Marilyn explains in her preface (HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS POEM):

"A crown of sonnets is a sequence of interlinked sonnets in which the last line of one becomes the first line, sometimes slightly altered, of the next. A heroic crown of sonnets is a sequence of fifteen interlocking sonnets, in which the last one is made up of the first lines of the preceeding fourteen."

Thus, it's like a literary crossword puzzle. Get one word wrong and it simply doesn't fit together. Get all the words exactly right and you've got something worthy of public performances by famous personalities and recitations by today's and tomorrow's American history students.

Marilyn Nelson got it right.

... Read more

Book Description

This book is about a Rat, a Cat, a Cow over the moon, and a Baby humming a tune. It's about what the Bug did to the rug. It's about how the Egg fell off the wall. It's about the crazy mayhem that can occur when nursery rhymes go awry. Children and adults alike will enjoy reading this book over and over."This one will wow even the most sophisticated." --Kirkus Reviews, pointer review"Clever, madcap text. A twisted treat in rhyme and pictures." -- Children's Book Review Service Jon Scieszka is the author of many books for children, including the Caldecott Honor Book The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!, the Time Warp Trio series, and most recently Math Curse. Daniel Adel is an illustrator whose work has appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A wonderful book!
I'm a student teacher and I have used this book in the class I'm with and they love it! The words are powerful and have a very interesitng rhyming pattern. Each page has a new line, that explains the page before.

What I like best about this books is how is repeats itself over and over. The kids love it. Towards the end of the book, they were saying it along with me.

The illustraions are INCREDIBLE!!!

If you're a teacher, I highly suggest you get this book. If you're a parent, I highly suggest you buy this book. You won't be sorry.

Incessant giggling
This book starts a complete and utter 'gigglefest' at my house every time it's read (which is quite often!), we discovered it from the library and now it's a favorite gift item for all the children that we know. The characters and illustrations are great, and my 5 year old son just loves seeing these well known characters (from other stories) present in this fun book.

Wonderful pictures and powerful language
This book has been a favorite of my 6 year old son since he was 3 or so. For quite a while, it was almost an every evening affair. Now that he's older, he is starting to realize pieces are taken from other stories, and the wonderful circular silliness really appeals to him. Finally, it's a wonderful book to read aloud, playing games with rhythm and speed. Few of his books have held his interest for so long and continue to delight him. How much more do you want in a children's book?

Very clever, very sinister
I agree with the reader who said it's for parents, not necessarily their children. The illustrations are astonishing and darkly humorous, but really too cynical for the very young children it is marketed for. Adults: read and enjoy. I haven't met a child yet who didn't put it down almost immediately.

This book was written for parents, not children!!
Take your time looking at this book and understanding the complexity of the order of the tale as well as the wonderful way you "peel" back the pages. This story delights my five year old and more importantly makes me laugh after a tough day at work. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

An amazing collection of poetry
Wow. This book is amazing...This book seems to apply to life, no matter what is going on. The poetry in this book seems to span across so many issues, and so many age groups. I just keep coming back to it.

What Have You Lost?
This is a collection of poems about losing things, for all age groups. From losing pencils, keys, toys, parents, siblings, spouses, trust and freindship. A very moving book of poetry. It contains excellent black and white illustrations and I recommend it for students from the 5th grade up, as well as parents and teachers.

I was moved by this collection of poetry.
I purchased this book on a whim for my 9 year old son. He found some of the ideas very sad. We enjoyed talking about the different types of losses. I definately got more out of it than he did. I have enjoyed sharing it with my friends. The poetry comes from many kinds of experiences and is a great all around poetry experience.

Haunting
The photographs are haunting and the words stay with you because they are from the heart... definately not to be lost.

A Work of Art
Rarely does a book grab hold of me and not let go until I've read and read. The poetry is of the highest quality and the photographs are stunning. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Who says you can't teach someone how to write poetry? Paul B. Janeczko'sthoughtful, clearly organized guide provides a terrific starting point foranyone who has ever dreamed of putting pen to paper to express a thought orfeeling. Janeczko covers a range of techniques to help young poets create magicwith words. In chapters titled "Getting Ready," "Starting to Write," "WritingPoems that Rhyme," "Writing Free Verse Poems," and "When Your Poem Is Finished,"readers will pick up tips on keeping journals, paying attention to "soundeffects," revising, understanding figurative language, and submitting poems topublishers. They'll also learn to avoid such pitfalls as assuming you'llremember a brilliant idea (write it down!), not getting hung up on neatness orspelling, and keeping in mind that lots of people try to get published--noteveryone will be. Special features include writing exercises, tips from poets,and bibliographical information. There's also a checklist of good poetry booksand a glossary. Janeczko's enthusiasm and skill is reflected in this enjoyable,straightforward guide. As he says, "It's all done with words. No high-techspecial effects. No computer-enhanced remastered sound. No trick photography.Words. Those things we've used since we were babies. And when you sit down towrite a poem, you have the power of the words at your fingertips." For more funwith poetry, try Janeczko's Favorite Poetry Lessons. (Ages9 and older) --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Not for Everyone
I bought this book to help my 10 year old, who is already a budding poet, improve his poetry skills by starting to think more carefully about meter, rhyme schemes, forms, and careful selection of words. This book is not for him or others in his situation. It's clearly not designed to identify what constitutes a GOOD poem, or even what a poem is (the word "poem" is never defined in the book, including the glossary, and there is probably a good reason for that). Here are a couple of telling examples: from page 82: "when you draft a poem it's okay if you write it to look like a paragraph or a chunk of prose. After you do some tinkering with sharpening the images and the language, you can simply draw slash marks where you think the line breaks should come." page 27-28: of the 4 examples of rhyming couplets given at the beginning of this chapter, 2 don't actually rhyme (spaghetti/ready; things/King). I have often been offended at the sloppiness of some poetry written for children, as though the poets don't think it matters whether a poem scans, rhymes, sounds beautiful or conveys an interesting thought, since the audience is not likely to be discriminating enough to know the difference. This book, to me, encourages children (and, unfortunately, their teachers) to buy into the "sloppy is OK so long as you call it poetry" attitude. ...

I Love This Book!!
I found this book a wonderful guide to writing poetry. I wrote most of my poems while reading this book. My friends love it as much as I do - they are all waiting in line to borrow it!!! If you need ideas or advice with your poems you should definately get this book!! Good luck with your writing.

A Gem: Small and Valuable
Any thoughts I might ever have entertained about writing a book on poetry writing were quickly dispelled when I discovered Paul Janeczko's guide. HOW TO WRITE POETRY is the book I hope I would have written on this subject.

First of all, the small format and conversational style invite the reader in. Janeczko begins by suggesting ways for writers to catalog their words and ideas. In addition to notebooks, he recommends the use of a tape recorder when writing notes is not practical. Janeczko also emphasizes the importance of reading. Throughout the book he provides bibliographic lists that provide more information on concepts in each chapter. Yet another list of good poetry anthologies is included at the end of the book.

After a sketch of the writing process, Janeczko describes several specific kinds of poems: acrostic poems, synonym poems, opposite poems, clerihews, list poems, poems of address, persona poems, and narrative poems. Elements especially important in poetry (sound, images, word choice, figurative language, and line breaks) are discussed in a recurring "Poetcraft" feature. Poems by students and by famous poets amply illustrate both the poetic elements and the particular formats. Biographical notes on all poets are included near the end of the book.

Other special recurring features of HOW TO WRITE POETRY include "Writing Tip from a Poet," "Try This" (specific suggestions for writing), and various checklists. In addition to the biographical and bibliographical information mentioned earlier, the book includes an index and a comprehensive, cross-referenced glossary, which even includes examples of various formats.

Although Janeczko maintains that poems must be written for oneself, he also suggests many ways to "publish" finished poems -- from handmade books to cards and posters, to submitting to magazines and contests. He recommends MARKET GUIDE FOR YOUNG WRITERS by Kathy Henderson (Writer's Digest Books, 1996) as an invaluable resource for those interested in submitting for publication.

Even beyond the pertinent subjects Janeczko includes, however, is the manner in which he conveys his information. Having taught English and compiled more than a dozen poetry anthologies, Janeczko is a master who projects wholehearted confidence that young poets can and will succeed.

a WONDERFUL BOOK
I ACTUALLY PURCHASED THIS BOOK FROM MY SON'S READING CLUB @ SCHOOL. ALTHOUGH IT IS DESIGNED WITH THE YOUNGER READER IN MIND, IT IS WRITTEN IN SUCH A SINCERE, STRAIGHTFORWARD, NON-CONDESCENDING MANNER, THAT I TOO CAN BENEFIT. THIS BOOK WILL HELP ME WITH ALL OF MY FUTURE POETRY WRITING.

Look no further!
For those of us who teach poetry at the elementary level,Janeczko is indispensible -- and this recent release from Scholasticis further proof. Janeczko takes us through the entire writing process, from getting ready to "when your poem is finished", covering rhymed and unrhymed verse and encompassing the myriad of creative forms we've come to expect from this author/poet/teacher. He intersperses his chapters with offset boxes containing writing tips from well-known poets and includes a "Poetcraft" section where he explains in more detail the skills one needs to write. This book includes wonderful examples and an excellent checklist of good poetry books. In addition, it's aesthetically pleasing: the lovely cover, user-friendly format and easy-to-read font make it a real gem! Grab this one! ... Read more

Book Description

Meet the wild bunch, an appealing cast of fruits and vegetables just bursting with personality.There are mangos who tango and roots in dirty suits, some who are saucy and some who are sweet.And some can even be touchy, so please, don't ever call an eggplant "chicken"!

Dee Lillegard's clever verse is perfectly accompanied by Rex Barron's bright and expressive illustrations, which truly bring these delicious characters to life.So turn the pages and enjoy the feast! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Do you love your vegetables? You will after this book!
Having had Rex Barron visit our kids' school, I had to order this book of his. We all love his bright illustrations and the thoughts behind the drawings. He shows vegetables some kids have never seen in real life let alone tried them. The easy text is great for beginning readers. Maybe kids will love their veggies after having read the book. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Struggling for years with eating disorders, in and out of treatmentfacilities, Eireann Corrigan is teetering on the brink of no return when herhigh school boyfriend attempts suicide. Suddenly, Eireann is on the other sideof the high-railed hospital bed, and on an entirely unexpected path to recoveryherself. In this witty, smart, and heart-rending poetry memoir, author EireannCorrigan takes a breathtakingly honest look at herself as she wends her waythrough profoundly difficult times. Her complicated relationship with hersweetheart is captured in the second-person prosaic verses scattered throughout,as well as in the interviews, presumably with a therapist, that fill in many ofthe blanks left by the sometimes cryptic first-person narrative. We are invitedinside Eireann's head to try with her to understand the bewildering chain ofevents and emotions that led to such chapter heads as "She Tries Out for VarsityRecklessness and Only Makes JV," and "She Never Claimed Reliable NarratorStatus," and "Eventually, They Had a Sex Life." (Ages 14 and older) --EmilieCoulter ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Honest and Powerful
I am not, in general, a big fan of free-verse poetry; most that I've read is pretentious and disappointing. In this memoir, however, Eireann Corrigan shows how powerful and wonderful the form can be. With the honesty of firsthand experience driving the words, the poetry breaks free of the all-too-common trap of self-importance. The book seems to uncannily bypass conscious response and transmit its messages directly to the deepest, most vulnerable regions of the reader's soul.

At first the prospect of reading 123 pages of short poems about a woman's struggles with anorexia and bulimia might seem daunting, or even tiresome, but You Remind Me Of You quickly does away with any such apprehensions. The poems do not, as might be expected (or feared), retread the same piece of ground. Instead, they map that area so delicately and traverse it so carefully that no syllable seems extraneous. Corrigan explores facets of the experience that I would never have even known existed -- ways in which she affected others, others affected her, she affected herself, or others affected one another.

The author pulls no punches in relating her experiences, and the effect is unlike anything I've ever experienced. I am a rather cynical reader, not given to exaggerated emotional response. This book, however, brought tears to my eyes -- not tears of admiration or artistic appreciation so much as tears of sorrow at understanding (in some small, vicarious way) the experiences she had. More than that, I was physically affected by the reading: my breaths came as irregular gasps; my limbs and digits quivered; my throat became dry; my heart pumped furiously. This is a raw book, and although its scope is perhaps somewhat narrower than those of other raw books (about, say, war or epidemics), its power is undeniable. I recommend it, and urge all readers to take the time to focus on it and allow its effects to be fully felt, for then it will be at its best.

Amazing!
This book is one of the best I've read. In so many ways, I found myself able to relate to different parts of Eireann's life. As a writer myself, I was intrigued by her style of writing and her grasp of language. Writing a poetry memoir is a unique and original idea and I would love to read more memoirs like this. I would also love to read more of Eireann's poetry.
I started reading this book late at night, thinking I'd just read a few of the poems and then go to sleep. Wrong. I couldn't put the book down. Eireann's words...her style just pull you in and keep you reading from the first page, to the end. It is more than just a book about the struggles of a teenager--it goes beyond that. Each poem is it's own story, yet they follow in chronological order. I would reccommend this book to anyone.

I went to school with Eireann Corrigan
from 4th grade through middle school and knew her reasonably well. She is stunningly talented, and that is understating it. She was an accomplished flutist, a die-hard Hoya fan, and 100% dedicated to her writing. I purchased this book last year and could not put it down - she's been through hell and back, and shares it in such a haunting, beautiful way. I cannot wait to read anything and everything else she publishes.

excellent poetry memoir
You Remind Me of You by Eireann Corrigan is about her unfortunate life of depression, eating disorders, and love. She went through lots of problems, all starting with a little bit of self-hatred. Her boyfriends suicide attempt goes wrong and she has to bring him back to health. Towards the end of the book, the focus turns on her boyfriend and their relationship, but the book is still good. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys poetry, or has ever has problems such as depression or just enjoys reading memoirs.

wow
This is one of the best, if not THE best book i have ever read. As a teen, i related to her experiences....her account made me think and helped me to understand things. This woman truly had an astonishing experience and i thank her for sharing it with us in such a beautiful way! ... Read more

Book Description

The well-known children's song is illustrated using a die-cutting technique that stays with one picture but reveals each new animal 'swallowed' as we come to it in the verses of the song. ... Read more

Reviews (32)

Delightfully Silly
Perhaps I was just in a weird mood when I first read this book to my son, but I just found it laugh out loud hilarious. The expressions on the old lady's face are just too much, and the clever running commentary by the about-to-be-swallowed animals just adds to the fun.

The artwork is colorful and detailed, and there is plenty of little details for a smartalecky kid (or a smartalecky adult) to pick out of the background. My son loved this book and so did I. I would heartily recommend it. I will actively seek out other books by Simms Tayback.

LOVE THIS BOOK!
I remember singing "There was an Old Lady..." all the time in preschool, so when I found out that there was a book of this song, I had to buy it for my baby daughter. Not only is the song fun to sing, but the book is fun to read as well with its vibrant colors and cartoony illustrations. This is an excellent sing along book!

Fun to Read
I don't know of many stories that are more fun to read. My daughter loves the animals and the bright pictures. The words will keep her attention through about half the book usually. She is still young though and some of the pages towards the end get a little long. The book is probably better suited for children 2 and older.

I love this story
I love to read this book the children in school.

It is a silly story and I try to make each child in the circle
one of the things in the Old Lady's belly as we go along. At the end of the book they almost know all the parts by heart!!

An old favourite updated
The illustrations are wonderful and the story is fun.My kids love it, they are aged 6,4,2 .Highly recommended. The people who have given this book a bad review are taking life too seriously. I also recommend "Walter the Farting Dog", "Dirty Bertie" and "Frank Was A Monster Who Wanted To Dance".These are all fun books for children and put laughter into reading! ... Read more

Book Description

Illus. in full color. Every afternoon King Birtram raced around the palace on a pair of old red stilts, until they were stolen. An uproarious tale. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Good Seuss story of sticking to your duty.
Though it is hard to pick a favorite by Dr. Seuss, this is one of his best. The king works hard so he can play hard. When the duke takes away the fun, the kingdom has problems. Only a boy who knows his duty to his king can save the kingdom.

Play Hard . . . Work Hard!
Many young people are unsure about the proper balance between work and fun. As a result, they tend to overemphasize one or the other. Dr. Seuss has created a wonderful book here to relieve youngsters of the sense that they should work hard all of the time.

This is an early book by Dr. Seuss, and it is written in prose rather than rhyme. Despite this, the prose often has a definite meter, and he sneaks in rhyming words now and again.

The illustrations are predominately in black and white, but splashes of red are used for emphasis to good effect.

The story is quite funny. The king's passion is to run around the kingdom on his red stilts. But he never does so until after putting in a full twelve hours of grueling work.

Never was there a harder working king than Birtram. He even signs papers while taking a bath at five in the morning!

He feels very responsible, because he kingdom is threatened by natural disaster if he lets down his guard.

Who could begrudge such a fine king his fun? Well, there is one who does. Where could that lead?

I also found the book very good for introducing the concept of how we all rely on one another for our well-being. For example, this story can also help a parent explain the need to go to work, despite a sincere desire to stay and play with her or his child.

I think the book is good, too, for helping children think about what kind of work they might want to do when they are older. What benefit would they like others to receive from their work? How hard would they like to work? What difficulties would be bearable, and which would be too much?

After you finish enjoying this book, I suggest that you and your child spend time planning how you can have more fun playing together, and still meet your responsibilities. You can also tell your child about different kinds of work that adults do, and what the stresses and strains are. Although no four year old is going to choose a vocation, it is never too soon to start providing the raw material for mental exploration of work alternatives. Most of us will spend more time working than anything else we will do in our lives except sleep!

May you and your family find ways to play hard that energize and excite you to do your work well!

All work and no stilts put King Birtram's kingdom in danger
Theodore Seuss Geisel, using his famous pen name of Dr. Seuss, wrote and illustrated his first children's book, "And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street," in 1937. Two years later he wrote "The King's Stilts." Even at this early point in his career Dr. Seuss was able to emphasize the idea that reading could be fun without have to be moralistic and that it was important that the illustrations actually had a close relationship with the text of the story. Geisel once declared: "I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities." Certainly "The King's Stilts" evidences that point.

The story begins with the point that King Birtram on the Kingdom of Binn NEVER wore his stilts during business hours and that he worked very hard, continuing to sign important papers of state even while he was taking a bath. However, the king's most important job was caring for the mighty Dike Trees that protected the people of Binn from the sea. Their heavy, knotted roots held back the water. However, those roots were also very tasty to Nizzards, a kind of giant blackbird with a sharp and pointed beak. If the Nizzards were to eat the roots of the Dike Trees then the roots would soon give way, the sea would pour in, and every last soul in the Kingdom of Binn would drown. But King Birtram did not allow this to happen and by gathering together a thousand of the largest and smartest cats in the world to function as Patrol Cats (wearing badges that say "P.C."). These cats were so important that the Cat Kitchen was bigger than that of the King and even had the best cooks in the land.

Every day from seven in the morning, when he watched the changing of the Cat Guard, to five in the afternoon, the King inspected every root of every Dike Tree in the kingdom. Only after that important task was finished each day would King Bitram hurry back to his castle to get his red stilts and start racing through his marble halls and garden stairs. The people thought it looked strange, but they knew the king worked hard and well as his job and if he wanted to have a bit of fun then he should be allowed to do whatever he wanted to do. Unfortunately Lord Droon was the one person in Binn who did not like fun and who sulked long enough that the decided to steal the King's stilts, which is when things start to go bad for both King Birtram and his people.

What makes this an interesting book is that, as is usually the case, Dr. Seuss is telling a story that imparts lessons to both young readers and older readers alike. If anything it is the latter that are the target audience for this story, since we see that being able to play is as important as hard work. As long as someone works long and hard they deserve to do what ever their heart desires when it comes to having fun. Meanwhile, younger readers would be getting the opposite lesson, learning that being able to have fun as an adult is dependent upon earning your enjoyment (which makes it clear that "The King's Stilts" is really more for adults).

I was actually surprised that "The King's Stilts" was written in 1939, because if I were trying to guess at what inspired Dr. Seuss to tell this particular story it would have been the concern in the press about President Dwight D. Eisenhower playing golf so often (I thought King Birtram looked a bit like Ike). But evidently Dr. Seuss was going for a more universal idea here. Meanwhile there is the entire subtext of how a kingdom might be lost because of a pair of stilts the same way as the old story about the battle lost for the want of a nail, which only serves to prove that with the good doctor there are always multiple levels to the story and its lessons.

Day Cats, Night Cats
Another of the finest long-form Seuess books, THE KINGS STILTS joins BARTHOLOMEW AND THE OOBLECK, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS and both of the Horton the Elephant books as his finest works for new readers.

The best Dr. Seuss book
This is a Dr. Seuss book that a mother can love. It's long, but entertaining even the fifteenth time you've read it. No tongue twisters or silly rhymes, just a playful, fun story with a good message to discuss with your children. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Delightful
I was fortunate to hear the author speak in the early 90s in my hometown of Syracuse, NY. He is an engaging storyteller. It was then that I discovered his book. The artwork in this edition is rich and appealing. The vignettes of each moon, combined with the illustrations, make an appealing canvas for young and/or exploring minds.

Traditional View of Seasonal meanings
This book is an excellent work of Native American children's literature. Joseph Bruchac is a well-known Abenaki story-teller who profiles in this book the thirteen moons of the year, and profiles for each moon what is important about that season to different Native Nations. The artwork is a beautiful compliment to the story. If you are looking for a solid and sensitive look at inter-tribal stories for children, this is a great place to start! ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Tender? Deep? Try Tolerance Run Amok
(...) YOU HEAR ME: POEMS AND WRITINGS BY TEENAGE BOYS is a collection of teenage angst that will shock most any parent who reads this book. That may come as a surprise to those on the left who promote the acceptance of trash as "tolerance"... but "shocked" is probably being kind as many parents would be flat-out angry at finding their 7th-12th grader in possession of this book.

Let me be honest: This book cannot even be reviewed with the frankness I would like, in using words from the book itself, because Amazon would, rightfully, strike it for being obscene! The editorial reviews above give you a taste.

Teenage boys, for YEARS, have grown up learning right from wrong, but to those who praise this book I suppose that's an oppressive and old-fashioned concept. Books like this - and praise for them - say that it's okay (and right) to use vulgarity, promote pre-marital sex - and more - all in the name of "acceptance of young boys angst." Sorry, but some of us still believe you stand up for what is right and true and good and call trash what it deserves to be called - and what this book is - TRASH that belongs nowhere near a junior high library.

Poetry for the Teenage Boy!
This poetry book edited by Betsey Franco is an excellent book.The poetry is written by teenage boys.The writing is freeverse.The boys tell their emotions which consists of sad,happy,and hurt feelings. They write about things that are important to them like , how they were abused mentally and phisically, how they didn't have girlfriends,and about secrets they never told any one. Over all it was a five star book.I liked this book because I could relate to it.

I don't normally read poetry, but this was fabulous
There are some incredibly gifted writers included in this book. Quantedius Hall, Shysuaune Taylor, Todd VanDerWerff, Stephan Johnson, Timothy Arevalo - WOW! I hope they continue to write and publish their work, because many people have been touched by their words.

In A Class Of Its Own
I have waited to review "You Hear Me?" so that I might read it through many times first. I was quietly involved with this project and in keeping with the intention to not analyze or critique its contents, I will only say that each poem and writing speaks powerfully for itself. I imagine this book to be a wonderful companion for any teenage boy keen to understand himself and peers. As a mother who knows how complicated the world of teenage boys can be, this offers a sacred peek into that world that I've only wondered and guessed about before. What a privilege to have a tender glimpse into the heart and soul of teenage boys. More simply, it is an honor to read this book.

The Best I've Seen Yet
I work with an online magazine with teenage writing as the primary content. When I got my hands on a copy of this book, I thought it was right up my alley, and it was. I never expected the quality and scope of the selections. Some of the poetry is so unbelievably striking--let's just say that this book is not just for teens. Readers of many ages will appreciate it. I really loved it, and I'm even considering reviewing it for my zine. ... Read more

Book Description

In a large garden live the Flower Fairies™ and their many friends. There’s mischievous Periwinkle, shy Daffodil, Poppy, who likes to give parties for Flower Fairy™ children, and Marigold, who loves the sun. Seventeen fairies in all are featured in this book that’s chock full of the details young readers and listeners love to know about the Flower Fairies and their secret lives. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Tomie dePaola's collection of traditional rhymes is a visual treat for both children and parents. His cheerful, humorous style enlivens 200 rhymes that star both the familiar Mother Goose cast of characters and those not as well known. Some pages are devoted to one rhyme--including all the verses--while other pages feature a variety of shorter rhymes or thematic groupings (such as verses about weather). Amidst the nursery rhymes are American poems such as "Yankee Doodle" and "Hush Little Baby," along with traditional poems such as "Three Little Kittens." This collection is a delightful introduction to poetry as well as an entertaining, comprehensive Mother Goose book. Parents could read a few rhymes to younger children and longer segments to older preschoolers. Beginning readers who have grown up with this book will move naturally into reading Mother Goose on their own. (Ages 1-6) ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A mixed bag well organized
This book includes items that I remember (and/or own) as separate Golden Book stories; an example is the Three Little Kittens. Other items I know as folk songs e.g. "I had a cat and the cat pleased me". Others have longer versions than normally appear in Mother Goose although the additional verses are often traditional e.g. Jack and Jill; this trait is the one most apt to disturb the adults - they often wis