Poetry that poetry-hating DS might like?

[Michelle T]

I've decided to read one short poem to DS each week. I've been using an ancient book from my own childhood, "Piping Down the Valleys Wild". My copy is so tattered and old, and full of highlighting on the poems I really enjoyed.

 

Anyway, DS is apparently not so thrilled with poetry as I was. He's 11.5, and full of the attitude only a boy that age could radiate. As far as he's concerned, poetry is dumb and boring.

 

Okay. So, recommendations for poetry a DS might actually enjoy? If it is funny or gross, so much the better.

Michelle T

[Beth in Central TX]

What about A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson? My boys like his poetry, and I usually pull from this book for additional selections to assign as copywork and/or memorization.

[mooooom]

These are not serious poems but he would probably enjoy at least some of them.

[Alice]

Poetry Speaks to Children is a great anthology that comes with a CD for listening (the poems are read by the poets). They aren't all great poems but it might be a good place to start or to see which poets he likes.

 

Another idea would be Ogden Nash. I haven't read a lot of his poems but my son likes Custard the Dragon (there is a nice version illustrated by Lynne Munsinger). It would be young for your son but maybe a fun intro.

[dragons in the flower bed]

Okay. So, recommendations for poetry a DS might actually enjoy? If it is funny or gross, so much the better.

 

 

Hilaire Belloc, AA Milne, Ogden Nash and Shel Silverstein all come immediately to mind. You might also try looking at slam poetry. This book and DVD is a good introductory course in doing slam; this is my favorite anthology of slam poems but you might want to censor some; and if you want to go youtubing you'll find a lot. I recommend searching for

for a clean slam poet to start with.

[ELaurie]

Treasury of Children's Poetry

 

The Oxford Illustrated book of Children's poems

 

both contain lots of silly (and some serious) poetry.

 

If I can get them laughing, they forget that they are memorizing poetry :)

[Annie Laurie]

ANother vote for Shel Silverstein.

[Sunkirst]

My family really likes The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. The poems are selected by Jack Prelutsky, the illustrations by Arnold Lobel. It has a section titled Where Goblins Dwell, concerning all things scary and spooky, and my 10 yob has memorized a good deal of them (in fact, I just borrowed the book from his desk so I could get the name right).

Another suggestion would be to try Tuesday Tea Time as suggested in Julie Boggart's website about The Bravewriter Lifestyle:

 

Tea Time

 

My kids look forward to this, and remind me if I miss it. I think that when I read the poetry aloud, it makes much more of an impression on them.

[Zee]

You have received some good suggestions here. I would like to ditto the recommendations for "A Child's Garden of Verses." and "Poetry speaks to Children." Those are great to start with. Check out the children's poetry section of your library and get some books that have good illustrations to draw your son in. Buy the books that have the most appeal. Sonlight has poetry recommendations for each year. Those have been good suggestions for us, also.

 

Two additional suggestions I would make:

1. Consider reading poetry every day. Just read one poem or one page....everyday. This approach has worked well with my son and over time, he has come to look forward to this very brief moment in our day. It only takes 30 seconds to 2 min. most days, so it isn't complicated to add in. I ask my son what he thought of the poem, what he liked/disliked, and what he thought it was about. He has gotten better at picking out the theme of the poem. Some days he doesn't have a clue, so I tell him what I think. Sometimes, I don't get it, or don't like it either and I tell him why. Less than 5 min. total. I don't treat this as indepth poetry study, just light exposure for the sake of enjoyment.

 

2. Have him memorize poetry if you aren't already doing so. Pick out fun "boy-type" poems or let him choose one that he would like to memorize. Even if they aren't great poems at first, just get him memorizing and interested! My 5th grader is currently memorizing "The Spider and the Fly" and he enjoys changing voices for each part. It's a "dark" poem with a great message, so it's very boy friendly. Start with small poems and build up.

 

HTH.

[ELaurie]

Great suggestions!

[mcconnellboys]

Silverstein, sure! And what about Pretelusky, too????? Great boybarian poetry!

 

Regena

[Heather in VA]

ANother vote for Shel Silverstein.

 

I third Shel Silverstein. If you can't get him to laugh at "Sick" then it's probably a lost cause.

[Rosie_0801]

If you don't mind something from my side of the world, I can suggest Henry Lawson's work. Mum bought me an abridged version when I was your son's age. Most of it is pioneer Australia type stuff. I remember the poems about "Andy" to be quite manly.

:)

Rosie

[Laura Corin]

There are some pretty martial poems he might like. How about The Destruction of Sennacherib, by Byron, or The Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson? Calvin also enjoyed The Tyger, by Blake.

 

Laura

[Lori D.]

My boys don't care for poetry a bit -- and dear hubby is a poet in his spare time! Here are some poems/poets/books that actually went over well here with the non-poetry boys (and NO, we haven't read all of this! -- yet! (lol):

 

 

- Lewis Carroll

Carroll's parody of famous poems of his day (such as "How Doth the Crocodile"), found scattered throughout "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", and "Through the Looking Glass". And, of course, Carroll's 2 most famous poems: "The Walrus and the Carpenter" and "Jabberwocky".

 

- Edward Lear

Wrote a lot of nonsensical poems, such as "The Owl and the Pussycat".

 

- Ogden Nash

Fun, usually short poems. Example: "Common Sense": Why did the Lord give us agility,/If not to evade responsibility?

 

- Shel Silverstein

Very accessible poetry.

 

 

Strongly Narrative Poems (sometimes poems that really tell a story are easier to connect with):

- "Casey At The Bat" (Thayer)

- "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" (Longfellow)

- "Charge of the Light Brigade" (Tennyson)

(Memorial poem of the suicidal charge by light cavalry over open terrain by British forces in the Battle of Balaclava (Ukraine) in the Crimean War (1854-56). 247 men of the 637 in the charge were killed or wounded.)

- "Hiawatha" (Longfellow) -- very long (novella length)

- "Evangeline" (Longfellow) -- very long (novella length)

- "The Goblin Market" (Rossetti)

- "Old Ironsides" (Holmes) -- the poem that led to saving the USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides"), the famous 1812 U.S. warship

- "Kubla Khan"(Coleridge)

- "Ibu Ben Adhem" (Hunt)

- "The Raven" (Poe) -- long; not so narrative, but a great, spooky atmosphere

 

 

Children's Picture Books of Poetry

(Don't immediately dismiss these -- they can be a fun and gentle way into beginning to learn how to listen to and appreciate poetry.)

- When It Snowed That Night (Norma Farber) -- lovely short poems on the animals coming to visit baby Jesus

- Antarctica Antics (Judy Sierra) -- well written, short, fun poems all about penguins

- Science Verse (Scieszka) -- parodies of famous poems and songs, now all about science

- A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems (Janeczko) -- 30 poems that are also homonym and visual games

- The Disappearing Alphabet (Wilber)

- Alphabestiary: Animal Poems from A to Z (Yolen) -- collection of animal poems by famous and talented poets

 

 

Books:

- "Poetry Speaks to Children" -- editor: Elise Paschen (wonderful, accessible collection of poems, many by former U.S. poet laureates!)

- "Opposites" -- Richard Wilbur (*very* clever and fun short poem/riddles)

- "More Opposites" -- Richard Wilbur (sequel to above)

- check out some of the poetry collection books used by Sonlight Curriculum

 

 

Poems Emailed to You:

- Library of Congress: Poetry 180: A Poem A Day for American High Schools

http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/

 

 

What about the book of Psalms?

Lovely Hebrew praise/worship poems -- and some with a lot of forceful emotion (lol), as in the psalms by David before he was king being chased around by various enemies? The psalms focus on rhythm and imagery rather than the rhyming patterns we are accustomed to in Western culture poetry.

 

 

What Your ... Grader Should Know

There are some very nice, wide-ranging selections of poems in each of these volumes (at least, in the volumes for grades 2 - 6, which is what I have). The poem is reprinted, along with a little info about the poet, and then there are more poetry suggestions at the end of the section.

 

 

Finally, I have the 10 volume set "The Junior Classics: The Young Folks' Shelf of Books", published by Collier, (edited by Mabel Williams and Marcia Dalphin). The whole series is fabulous, with a lot of myths, fairy tales, and selections from classic literature that works *very* well with WTM history. Anyways, volume 10 is over 300 pages of all classic poems, listed by topic, especially selected for young people, and includes all the well-known western (European and American) poets such as:

 

Oliver Wendall Holmes, Edgar Allan Poe, James Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Cullen Bryant, Christiana Rossetti, Robert Browning, Lord Alfred Tennyson, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, William Blake, Alexander Pope, John Bunyan, John Milton, William Shakespeare, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Walt Whitman, Robert Burns, Hilaire Belloc, Robert Frost, and lots more!

 

See it at:

http://www.amazon.com/Young-Folks-Shelf-Books-Colliers/dp/B000CQYBVG

 

Some of these volumes might be available at ebay (though, there is also a different Junior Classic available, too, so use the photo at the amazon website as a guide).

 

 

Whew! Hope something there connects and gets you started on reading some poetry! April is National Poetry month, so you've got great timing in getting started with "a poem a day"! BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

[King Alfred Academy]

My family really likes The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. The poems are selected by Jack Prelutsky, the illustrations by Arnold Lobel. It has a section titled Where Goblins Dwell, concerning all things scary and spooky, and my 10 yob has memorized a good deal of them (in fact, I just borrowed the book from his desk so I could get the name right).

Another suggestion would be to try Tuesday Tea Time as suggested in Julie Boggart's website about The Bravewriter Lifestyle:

 

Tea Time

 

My kids look forward to this, and remind me if I miss it. I think that when I read the poetry aloud, it makes much more of an impression on them.

 

I second the The Random House Book of Poetry for Children.

We also do "tea time"...in fact, just started it this week! They like taking "break" from their studies to have a fancy or not-so-fancy snack and listen to me read. We rotate it between our nature stories, poetry, and picture studies.

[Laurie]

I bought the 25th anniversary edition of Where the Sidewalk Ends. Maybe you and your ds would have fun listening to the poet himself!

[Tess in the Burbs]

the Michael Clay Thompson language arts series has a poetry book.

 

Music of the Hemispheres

http://rfwp.com/series36.htm#105

 

I am putting this on my 'future' list. My son and I read some of it together this weekend and he really enjoyed it. (he's 6)