Guest 4boys Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 I would like to read my boys more poetry but I need suggestions of some good poetry books for kids. They hate poems unless they are funny. I have read Now We are Six by A. A. Milne to them and they found it funny but beyond that, I don't know what else to get. We tried A Child's Garden of Verses but they didn't like it. Help please? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alte Veste Academy Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 (edited) I would like to read my boys more poetry but I need suggestions of some good poetry books for kids. They hate poems unless they are funny. I have read Now We are Six by A. A. Milne to them and they found it funny but beyond that, I don't know what else to get. We tried A Child's Garden of Verses but they didn't like it. Help please? :D We love poetry too! DS6's favorite funny poetry book is Be Glad Your Nose Is On Your Face by Jack Prelutsky. He's a good author for the funny stuff but this is one particularly good one for early elementary boys, in my opinion. Also, it has a GREAT cd. The whole family likes to listen to it. Have you checked out Shel Silverstein? He's got great classics. Edward Lear is another favorite here. Try Poetry for Young People: Edward Lear. He's a hoot! Nonsense!, illustrated by Valorie Fisher is a favorite, all limericks. Who doesn't love a limerick? I would also encourage you to buy a really good anthology with a mix of funny and serious poems, as you could draw them in with funny and get them to love poetry in all its forms. Here are some of our favorites. The Random House Book of Poetry for Children The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury The Golden Books Family Treasury of Poetry This last one is our favorite, even though there are no pictures, a great read for tea time... Favorite Poems Old and New ETA: OK, now I'm just entertaining myself going through our poetry collection. We also have Prelutsky's haiku collection, If Not for the Cat. If not for the cat, and the scarcity of cheese, I could be content. ...written by a mouse, of course. What's better than that? :) Edited November 4, 2009 by Alte Veste Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Shel Silverstein From the Amazon review: Silly, silly Shel Silverstein. For more than 25 years, he has taken children exactly where they want to go with poetry: into the world of nonsense and wordplay. Take "Instructions," for example:If you should ever choose To bathe an armadillo, Use one bar of soap And a whole lot of hope And seventy-two pads of Brillo. Is there a moral? A higher meaning? A lesson? Most certainly not--except perhaps in bathing armadillos. The late poet's collection of verse and pen-and-ink drawings, Where the Sidewalk Ends, is the bestselling children's poetry book of all time. Now, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this literary marvel, a special new edition is available, complete with a CD featuring 10 of his nuttiest poems. The compilation, "recited, sung, and shouted" by Silverstein himself, features highlights from his Grammy Award-winning album, including "Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too," "With His Mouth Full of Food," "Crocodile's Toothache," and "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out." No child--or grownup, for that matter--should be without this collection, or its companion, A Light in the Attic. (Ages 5 and older) --Emilie Coulter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Two more anthologies you might enjoy are: Poem Stew (out of print now, but still available in most libraries), 'cause it has lots of (mostly funny) poems about one of little boys' favorite topics: food! Poetry Speaks to Children isn't all "funny" poems, though many of them are. It's a great collection of children's favorites though, and some of the readings are just phenomenal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyco Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 I agree, Shel Silverstein. Our favorite is _Where the Sidewalk Ends_. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Both my boys (ages 8 and 2) love Thomas and this is the poetry that gets read the most around here: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Friends-Railway-Rhymes-Library/dp/0375831754/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257366290&sr=1-26 I see it often at TJMaxx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 All the Small Poems and Fourteen More is a great one for kids. As it states it is full of small poems--not all funny, but many are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 4boys Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Thank you for the great links and suggestions!! Just what I was looking for. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Karla Kuskin and Dennis Lee are our favourite contemporary children's poets. See if your library has Kuskin's Moon, Have You Met My Mother, an unfortunately OOP collection of her best poems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug's Mom Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Regarding Shel Silverstein...see if your library carries the audio versions. He is SO MUCH FUN to listen to! A favorite in our house is "Jabberwocky". My dd just memorized it, because she liked it so much: http://thebugslife.blogspot.com/2009/11/jabberwocky.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarieWith3 Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 This might ruin Jabberwocky for some, but there is a pretty funny muppet show version that can be found on youtube. Really seemed to capture a feel of the poem. What about spooky stuff, like The Raven? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plimsoll Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 We are enjoying reading poems from Poems Every Child Should Know, by Mary Burt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 We love A Child's Introduction to Poetry because, along with some very good poems, it also gives some vocabulary and background to talk about poetry. It's also very playful... http://www.amazon.com/Childs-Introduction-Poetry-Mountains-Battles/dp/1579122825/ref=pd_sim_b_1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammie Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 We LOVE Jack Pretlusky in our house. We started with him by listening to a CD of A Pizza the Size of the Sun. What FUN!!! Now we have a few of his books - highly recommend for fun, funny poems!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 We LOVE Jack Pretlusky in our house. We started with him by listening to a CD of A Pizza the Size of the Sun. What FUN!!! Now we have a few of his books - highly recommend for fun, funny poems!! What a coincidence! We read "The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders" this evening, and "In Aunt Giraffe's Green Garden" earlier in the week :001_smile: Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiobrain Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 There is a poet, who happens to be a homeschooler, who has written some very good books. I swear I can't believe I forgot his name, and I don't feel like going upstairs for it.... But his book of poems about the human body "The Blood-Hungry Spleen" is a hoot. He also wrote "Immersed in Verse" and a version of Lewis and Clark's journey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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