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Favorite children's poetry books?


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We love everything by Jack Prelutsky. We got a special treat two weeks ago when we went to the Symphony (a great family series they put on) and Jack Prelutsky was there narrating Carnival of the Animals. Afterwards, we bought his book and had him sign it.

 

He has great, great poetry and my kids absolutely loooooooooove him and his work. We get the books and the audio cds - they get a kick out of listening to him do his own work. I also got a book called Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem, and my daughter read it, then wrote a wonderful poem, all on her own. I didn't even know she was doing it. After that, I really became a fan of his :)

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I absolutely adore these books for poetry. There are numerous poets represented, you get a good feel for their style of writing, they have a one page biography of the poet and have a lot of artwork in the books. It was awesome to read Walt Whitman's work when we were studying the Civil War since a good deal of his poetry was influenced by the war.

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=poetry+for++young+people&x=17&y=16

 

I know Silverstein is popular, but some of his stuff weirds me out. Poetry with depth is a good thing too.

 

You can't go wrong with this book either: http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Speaks-Children-Book-Read/dp/1402203292/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1NNSMDKJYGSMC&colid=1VU0Z7EQWQAHG

 

It includes a cd with many of the poems being read by the original author! Many are read by someone else, but it's intriguing to hear the poetry being read to you. :) All the poems can be read in the book as well. There are so many and from a great variety of poets.

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My very favorite is Louis Untermeyer's "Golden Treasury of Poetry." It has tons and tons of great poems, lovely (Joan Walsh Anglund) illustrations, and very nice commentary by Untermeyer. Unfortunately, it's out of print. The cheapest one on Amazon right now is $20, it looks like, but I can't tell for sure if it's the same edition I have (I picked mine up at a garage sale or thrift store at some point).

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We love everything by Jack Prelutsky.
:iagree:

 

One of my favorite poems is in Something Big Has Been Here.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Something-Big-Has-Been-Here/dp/0688064345

 

 

The name of the poem is: My Neighbor's Dog is Purple.

 

My neighbor's dog is purple;

its eyes are large and green,

its tail is almost endless,

the longest I have seen.

 

My neighbor's dog is quiet,

it does not bark one bit,

but when my neighbor's dog is near,

I feel afraid of it.

 

My neighbor's dog looks nasty,

it has a wicked smile....

before my neighbor painted it,

it was a crocodile.

 

 

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My favorites are my old vintage finds, I go to the library book store and find them for $.50-$2. It's been a rewarding and cheap hobby. :)

 

We use and love many already listed, here's two more :

A Family of Poems

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Poems-Caroline-Kennedy/dp/B000V4R2DS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296587104&sr=1-1

A Special Collection Illustrated Poems for Children (nice collection, cool illustrations)

http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Poems-Children-Special-Collection/dp/0528828037/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296587883&sr=1-2

Photo of cover:

http://www.amazon.com/Special-Collection-Illustrated-Poems-Children/dp/083310019X

 

 

My all time favorite vintage is Taxis and Toadstools by Rachel Field

Favorite contemporary would have to be Random House Book of Poetry

:lurk5:

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Our favorites:

 

Plum, Tony Mitton

 

Classic Poetry: An Illustrated Collection, selected by Michael Rosen

 

Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems, Joyce Sidman

 

A Child's Introduction to Poetry, Michael Driscoll (comes w/a CD)

 

Poetry Speaks to Children, Elise Paschen, Ed. (comes w/a CD)

 

And Shel Silverstein!

 

Cat

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What are your favorite children's poetry books?

 

Favorite Poems Old and New has a nice variety of topical, humorous, historical and lyrical poems. They also pull from a wide variety of authors. My kids love to hear me read from this book.

 

We also like Jack Prelutzky. I've never been a fan of Shel Silverstein. I think that Prelutzky manages to keep the humor without every other poem being about how awful all the adults are.

 

I think that April is Poetry Month. You will probably see some good selections at Scholastic or in bookstores then.

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Favorite Poems Old and New has a nice variety of topical, humorous, historical and lyrical poems. They also pull from a wide variety of authors. My kids love to hear me read from this book.

 

 

:iagree:This is our current favorite.

 

We were given A Family of Poems by Caroline Kennedy for Christmas and are just beginning to dive into it. So far so good. Nice art.

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I love the Poetry for Young People series, the Random House Book of Poetry, Don't Step on the Sky (haiku), Thunderboom! (Poems for Everyone), A Spider Bought a Bicycle and Other Poems for Young Children (The Kingfisher Book of Children's Poetry is by the same author, Michael Rosen and I like it, too), I, Too, Sing America: Three Centuries of African-American Poetry.

 

Nest, Nook, and Cranny is a lovely poetry book about animals and the homes they make AND it defines in simple language the mechanics of poetry, too.

 

Another recent find is The Wonder Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal--not all poetry, but other fun things like palindromes and nonsense stuff. :)

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"Favorite Poems Old and New" by Helen Ferris

"When We Were Very Young" and "Now We Are Six" by A.A. Milne

Gyo Fujikawa's "A Child's Book of Poems" and "A Child's Garden of Verses"

"The Llama Who Had No Pajama" by Mary Ann Hoberman

"Poems and Prayers for the Very Young" by Martha Alexander

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http://www.amazon.com/Vile-Verses-Roald-Dahl/dp/0670060429/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296604509&sr=1-1

 

Caroline Kennedy's poetry book is great.

 

Random House's children's poetry collection

Shel

Stevenson

Poems for the Very Young edited by Neil Philip

 

Poetry Speaks to Children (wonderful!) www.amazon.com/Poetry-Speaks-Children-Book-Read/dp/1402203292/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296604705&sr=1-1

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Another vote for Untermeyer's Golden Treasury.

 

And the Oxford Book of Poetry for Children, specifically the one edited by Blishen. Blishen chose poetry that could be appreciated (if not necessarily completely comprehended) by, and easily memorized (at least in part) by children. More than half of his choices were not intended as children's poetry. OOP but readily available used.

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We love everything by Jack Prelutsky. We got a special treat two weeks ago when we went to the Symphony (a great family series they put on) and Jack Prelutsky was there narrating Carnival of the Animals. Afterwards, we bought his book and had him sign it.

 

He has great, great poetry and my kids absolutely loooooooooove him and his work. We get the books and the audio cds - they get a kick out of listening to him do his own work. I also got a book called Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem, and my daughter read it, then wrote a wonderful poem, all on her own. I didn't even know she was doing it. After that, I really became a fan of his :)

 

Ohh, I kinda forgot about Jack Prelutsky! I'll look for his books next time I'm at the library. When I was about 10 years old, our small homeschool group was able to make a tv show at our (very) local station. My friend and I decided to do one of his poems and act it out. It really came out awful;) But I still remember most of the poem! It was fun!:)

 

It's Valentine's Day, so I'll create a special cake to celebrate....

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