Favorite Poetry Collections for K-12

[SnMomof7]

Say you wanted to have five poetry books to see you through K-12? What would they be?

 

We like some of ours, but others are...meh. Most of them are younger collections, also.

[Kfamily]

Favorite Poems Old and New by Helen Farris

 

I don't own it, but have checked it from the library and may own it soon. :)

 

Also, I own and like Palgrave's Golden Treasury by Francis Turner Palgrave and The Harp and Laurel Wreath by Laura Berquist. The former book seems better suited for older students but the Farris book and the Berquist book is good for all ages, I think.

[ScoutTN]

Seconding Favorite Poems Old and New.

 

My next favorite is A Family of Poems by Caroline Kennedy. Most of the selections are probably in Farris' book but my kids pick up the Kennedy book are read it because of the artwork.

 

My next favorite, though on the younger side, is A Child's Garden of Verses with the Tasha Tudor illustrations. I love Tasha Tudor's art and have several autographed books, though our copy of this one was a gift from a close friend and has that friend's lovely inscription to Dd.

 

I know some people really dislike Andrew Pudewa's poetry Cds, but my kids love them and they would make our list of favorite collections, even though they are not a book.

[Kareni]

Here are a few old threads that have some great recommendations.

 

Choosing a poetry anthology - MCT content ;-)

http://forums.welltr...ry#entry1859703

 

 

Poetry - How To ?

http://forums.welltr...try#entry397481

 

 

What poems do you have your dc memorize?

http://forums.welltr...try#entry346254

 

 

It's not a poetry collection, but I recommend the following as an engaging read ~

The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within by Stephen Fry

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Holly]

I have more than 5 listed, but these are our favorites.

 

1.  Ambleside Online's Year 1 poems--I love that these are divided by months of the year.  I have these printed and put in a binder with tabs dividing them by month.

2. Favorite Poems Old and New

3. Random House book of Poetry for Children

4. When We Were Very Young/Now We are Six/A Child's Garden of Verses--These are must haves for elementary ages!

5. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices--These are so fun to read aloud!

6.  My DC adore Shel Silverstein and sometimes we need a break from all the serious poems!  We have 3 of his collections.  

[Coco_Clark]

This has come up A LOT, so be sure to search old threads.

 

I will only suggest for K-4, because that's my area of experience and I wouldn't expect one collection to entertain both a 2nd grader and challenge an 8th grader.

 

A GOOD, well illustrated, collection of Mother Goose

A collection of A.A. Milne

A Child's Garden of Verses by Stevenson

A Childs Book of poems by fujikawa

The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems (perhaps this really could entertain both that 2nd grader and challenge the 8th grader. A true poetry unicorn).

[SnMomof7]

I have more than 5 listed, but these are our favorites.

 

1. Ambleside Online's Year 1 poems--I love that these are divided by months of the year. I have these printed and put in a binder with tabs dividing them by month.

2. Favorite Poems Old and New

3. Random House book of Poetry for Children

4. When We Were Very Young/Now We are Six/A Child's Garden of Verses--These are must haves for elementary ages!

5. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices--These are so fun to read aloud!

6. My DC adore Shel Silverstein and sometimes we need a break from all the serious poems! We have 3 of his collections.

Is there a lot of overlap between 2 and 3? Do you feel they are distinct enough to own both?

[SnMomof7]

This has come up A LOT, so be sure to search old threads.

 

I will only suggest for K-4, because that's my area of experience and I wouldn't expect one collection to entertain both a 2nd grader and challenge an 8th grader.

 

A GOOD, well illustrated, collection of Mother Goose

A collection of A.A. Milne

A Child's Garden of Verses by Stevenson

A Childs Book of poems by fujikawa

The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems (perhaps this really could entertain both that 2nd grader and challenge the 8th grader. A true poetry unicorn).

The Barefoot Book looks really good! I was previously unaware of it.

[SnMomof7]

So here is what we have and like:

 

The Real Mother Goose (it's OK)

Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein

Andrew Pudewa's Poetry Memorization - this is in our together time

We also read the poetry from the WYCNTK series 2-3x/week for youngers, 1x/week olders.

The Llama Who Had No Pajama (a favorite here - it came with a SL core)

A Child's Garden of Verse

 

What isn't a big hit:

 

Milne, just have never felt the love

A Family of Poems, not sure why, but it just isn't reached for

Rod and Staff Poems for Memorizing (May not be exact title) - I like these actually, it's sort of borderline, not really getting read though

When All the Stars Have Fallen (meh...not reached for, but it's a Canadian children's anthology, so...)

And a handful of other things that aren't substantial enough that I want to mention them.

 

Maybe I'm feeling the nudge into more meaty stuff for my oldest and a broader collection for my youngers.

[ScoutTN]

My kids also like Poetry Speaks to Children. They like the book better than the CD. 

We have gotten some Naxos CDs of poetry from the library that they have enjoyed.

 

I'd like to find a good recording of Horatius at the Bridge.

[happypamama]

The Random House book by Jack Prelutsky

A Child's Garden of Verses

The A. A. Milne books

 

My children like Shel Silverstein.

 

I like Art of Poetry for older students, and it has a good variety, plus some analysis.

 

I also like the Poetry for Young People series. They've gotten mixed review from the children; they like some better than others. Carl Sandburg was a hit with them. (I think the quality of the series varies too, as some have more explanation than others, which does help.)

 

We use R Is for Rhyme in about third or fourth grade, reading it together and working on writing some of the forms together.

[Holly]

Is there a lot of overlap between 2 and 3? Do you feel they are distinct enough to own both?

 

I haven't used the Random House book as much (I picked it up this summer), but I'd say they are distinct enough.  The Random House has more poems that I'm familiar with and the Favorite Poems has many that I'd never read, but are considered classics.  I think if you go to Amazon you can see the TOC for both books for yourself.  Honestly, we have a huge shelf of poetry books, so I may be inclined to say they are all worth owning.   :lol:   I recently pointed out DH's huge number of fishing books (does he really need 3 books specifically on fishing for bass), and he brought up my ridiculous number of poetry books as his defense.    

[kalusignan]

I'll echo what some others have recommended (Garden of Verses, AA Milne, Poetry Speaks to Children, etc.), but I would add The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker, especially if you have girls. Wow! I don't see it mentioned often, but it's an amazing book of poems that we keep coming back to year after year. The poems are a delight to read, and we've used them for poetry study, memorization, and also in our nature studies. AND, the illustrations are outstanding! A treasure.

[almondbutterandjelly]

Illustrated Poems for Children by Orska.  Wonderful.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Special-Collection-Illustrated-Poems-Children/dp/B001BOXB7I

[SnMomof7]

Would anyone recommend an Oxford anthology or similar (Norton?) for older children?

[kateingr]

Agreeing with Milne, and Fujikawa's "A Child Book of Poems" and "A Child's Garden of Verses." I also love "Here's a Little Poem" for younger children. It's perfect for toddlers through first grade or so, with great illustrations and a wonderful mix of poems. We've read it so many times that my kids and I have memorized many of them without even trying. 

 

For older kids, I'm looking forward to using  "A Child's Introduction to Poetry."  My kids aren't quite old enough for it, but it's a wonderful selection of classic poems, with some information about types of poetry and poetic language. 

[birchbark]

I love Poems to Read to the Very Young for pre-K through 1st. Sweet Eloise Wilkins artwork.

 

The Random House book for elementary. Everyone enjoys Lobel's illustrations.

 

The Golden Treasury of Poetry for middle and high school, although the youngers have some favorites too. Here is where we discovered Custard the Dragon!

 

 

[SnMomof7]

I love Poems to Read to the Very Young for pre-K through 1st. Sweet Eloise Wilkins artwork.

 

The Random House book for elementary. Everyone enjoys Lobel's illustrations.

 

The Golden Treasury of Poetry for middle and high school, although the youngers have some favorites too. Here is where we discovered Custard the Dragon!

So, you feel the Random House and Golden Treasury are fairly distinct in age appropriateness? Not a lot of overlap? If you could tell me a little about the differences, I'd love to hear them! I'm very interested in this combination of books!

[ElizaG]

Would anyone recommend an Oxford anthology or similar (Norton?) for older children?

We have a ~10-15 year old set of Longman university-level anthologies (similar to Norton) that I found at very low prices, but I've decided to keep them with my personal books, as a parent resource.   I wouldn't give them to the children until upper high school age.   Some of the content is on the "mature" side, and the scholarly notes, while interesting, would be a distraction from the sort of study I'd like to encourage at this stage.

 

There are many different Oxford anthologies, so it would depend on the specific title.  The only one I can think of offhand is The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse by Iona & Peter Opie, which we do have on the main shelves.   It's very good, and has survived our first round of downsizing, though I do agree with the Amazon reviewer who says that the overall tone is too serious.   So, probably not the best single choice for longer poems.   :001_smile:

 

ETA:  Here's a comparison of Longman and Norton, circa 2000.   The Longman introduced more writers outside the standard canon (international, women, etc.), and more political commentary, and the Norton changed to become somewhat more like them.   So it seems as if an older Norton (6th edition or earlier) would be best if you were going for standard classics. 

 

The introductions in the Longman can be a bit much, and they definitely reflect current trends in much of academia (LOL at the reviewer's description of giving "victim status" to medieval literature), but again, for upper high school, my children are going to have to learn to navigate that sort of discussion.  And I didn't mind the inclusion of lesser-known writers, but then, we're not going minimalist with grown-up literature in our house.   In fact, I was mainly looking at their anthologies for world literature, and just bought the others because they were such a bargain.  They'll also be handy as a doorstop, or for pressing flowers.  :laugh:

[kalusignan]

 

For older kids, I'm looking forward to using  "A Child's Introduction to Poetry."  My kids aren't quite old enough for it, but it's a wonderful selection of classic poems, with some information about types of poetry and poetic language. 

 

I've been going through this book with my dd7 during our morning time (well over halfway through), and we're both really enjoying it! Like the title suggests, it's a good intro to types of poetry and poets.

[SnMomof7]

Yes, I've read much of the Norton 6th vs 7th debate and Norton vs Oxford

Etc. interesting article on the Longman. I was previously unaware of that anthology.

[happypamama]

I'll echo what some others have recommended (Garden of Verses, AA Milne, Poetry Speaks to Children, etc.), but I would add The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker, especially if you have girls. Wow! I don't see it mentioned often, but it's an amazing book of poems that we keep coming back to year after year. The poems are a delight to read, and we've used them for poetry study, memorization, and also in our nature studies. AND, the illustrations are outstanding! A treasure.

I forgot about that one -- DD loved it, and my small boys have really enjoyed it as well.

[arliemaria]

My kids also like Poetry Speaks to Children. They like the book better than the CD. 

We have gotten some Naxos CDs of poetry from the library that they have enjoyed.

 

I'd like to find a good recording of Horatius at the Bridge.

 

Not sure if Memoria Press has a recording, but I think they offer a medal for once a student memorizes this poem.

[birchbark]

So, you feel the Random House and Golden Treasury are fairly distinct in age appropriateness? Not a lot of overlap? If you could tell me a little about the differences, I'd love to hear them! I'm very interested in this combination of books!

 

Random House has mostly shorter poems, and at least half are funny poems intended for children, as well as limericks, tongue-twisters, and so forth. There are many classics though too. I should probably mention for the CC's that there is a chapter devoted to goblins and such like.

 

Golden Treasury has longer poems such as The Highwayman, The Skeleton in Armor, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin mixed in with shorter selections. The entire volume has a very "classic" flavor. This would be the choice for the "if you're only going to get one poetry book, get this one," category.

[SnMomof7]

Random House has mostly shorter poems, and at least half are funny poems intended for children, as well as limericks, tongue-twisters, and so forth. There are many classics though too. I should probably mention for the CC's that there is a chapter devoted to goblins and such like.

 

Golden Treasury has longer poems such as The Highwayman, The Skeleton in Armor, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin mixed in with shorter selections. The entire volume has a very "classic" flavor. This would be the choice for the "if you're only going to get one poetry book, get this one," category.

Thanks so much!!

[Michael12]

The Fujikawa book is very pretty to look at and enjoyable in a casual way, but it has some shortcomings for serious study. Some of the poems are only excerpts, and this is not mentioned. Some have words altered (or even entire stanzas omitted - possibly unintentionally). Also, some do not name the known author. Of course, the Berquist book is kind of the opposite - not pretty at all, but wonderful for the serious student.