A family of poems My favorite poetry for children

Review by Booklist Review

Gr. 4-7, younger for reading aloud. The Best-loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis0 was a surprise best-seller, and this equally personal collection will also garner much attention. There's a varied selection here, though weighted toward old (in some cases old, old) favorites: Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snow Evening," a piece of Whitman's "Song of the Open Road," Sandburg's "Buffalo Dusk." Certainly some of those oldies, such as Ogden Nash's "The People Upstairs," have a rambunctious child appeal, and animal lovers will be glad to see cats and dogs represented in poems such as Dylan Thomas' "The Song of the Mischievous Dog." Among the contemporary poets included are Jack Prelutsky, Nikki Giovanni, and Sandra Cisneros. A short, delightful poem about the sea by a young Jacqueline Bouvier (Onassis) is tucked into the section entitled "Seashore." Other topical chapters include "About Me," "That's So Silly," and "Bedtime." Tying everything together are Muth's engaging watercolors, which are as adept in catching the humor of some poems as they are in reflecting the power of others. Children who might not readily take to poetry may be lured by art, which continually delights. Kennedy personalizes the book with an introduction. A roundup of foreign poems in their original languages and a first-line index are appended. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2005 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Kennedy, who created the anthology The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for adult readers, gives this winsome collection a personal feel. In her introduction, she describes the pivotal role poetry has played in her life and introduces each of the book's sections with relevant anecdotes from her childhood. Throughout her commentary, Kennedy articulately underscores the importance of reading and appreciating poetry and urges children to express themselves through this medium. She organizes the 106 poems into seven categories, all seminal to a youngster's life, including "About Me," "Animals," "Adventure" and "Bedtime." The expansive range of poets represented include those renowned for their writing for children (A.A. Milne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack Prelutsky, Edward Lear) and those whose work has thrilled readers of all ages (Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot, Carl Sandberg, William Shakespeare, plus Psalm 23 and Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). Kennedy also selected two thoughtful poems of rhymed verse penned by her mother (credited to Jacqueline Bouvier), one a melancholy ode to autumn, the other an affectionate paean to the seashore. Providing stunning backdrops for these timeless works are Muth's richly textured watercolor paintings, which capture with remarkable insight the spirit of each poem. He is as adept at humor in the "That's So Silly!" section, which teems with clownish characters, as he is dramatic realism in undersea views of octupus or jellyfish. This resonant volume deserves a permanent-and prominent-place on any family bookshelf. All ages. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 2 Up-From the cover photograph of Kennedy as a toddler "reading" to her teddy to the red linen-textured endpapers; from her thoughtful introduction and words of encouragement to children at the beginning of each section of carefully chosen poems to Muth's beautifully executed watercolors, this volume is a treasure. In compiling the collection, Kennedy passes on her own family's tradition of creating a scrapbook of poems chosen by the children in lieu of gifts to their mother and grandparents. Divided by topic into seven sections, the collection is, indeed, a treasury of beloved poems written in a variety of styles by poets from many lands and generations, some more familiar than others, some unknown. Most of the soft-focus illustrations fill whole pages. The wide variety of artistic styles-ethereal, realistic, comical, energetic, sweet, romantic-matches the mood of the poems themselves. The 10 translated selections appear at the end of the volume in their original languages. This well-balanced anthology should be a first purchase for school and public libraries. Recommend it as a gift book for parents to share with their children, as well.-Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Horn Book Review

This collection features over one hundred poems cherished by Kennedy's family. Appealing to a broad audience, most of the verses are traditional, but a number are contemporary, many from different cultures. Muth's sensitive watercolors, often on expansive double-page spreads, extend the poems. Two pages of ""Foreign Poems in Their Original Languages"" are included. Ind. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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