Review by New York Times Review
IF babies get an edge in math by listening to Mozart, might poetry - Mother Goose, Shakespeare's sonnets, Emily Dickinson -tune young ears to the music of language? Here are four collections - two anthologies, two by individual poets - to take children from their earliest delight in sounds to mature enjoyment of such demanding poetry as Ted Hughes's. Like the nursery rhymes of Mother Goose, the verse in Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters's "Here's a Little Poem" is blessed with catchy rhythms. The 61 selections reflect the toddler's expanding world: sections include "Me, Myself and I," "Who Lives in My House?" and "I Go Outside." Good humor reigns, as in Margaret Mahy's strategy with a "remarkably light" sister ("It's a troublesome thing,/but we tie her with string, / and we use her instead of a kite") and Michael Flanders and Donald Swann's "Mud," with its exuberant illustration of gleeful splashing. The pacing is nicely varied: "Mud" follows Langston Hughes's mellow "April Rain Song" ("Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops"). Bedtime poems round out a collection with just one misstep: Milne's "Halfway Down" breaks off halfway, at "the stair / where / I always / stop," robbed of its raison d'être - the intriguing notion that "It isn't really anywhere! / It's somewhere else / instead." Still, with a wonderful range of choices and Polly Dunbar's inviting illustrations, this could become a favorite lap book. Children will meet some of the best-known poetry in English in Jackie Morris's "The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems." Some are so well known as to seem superfluous ("The Road Not Taken," or Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"), yet it's worth remembering that children themselves are new. The bright watercolors and intriguing hints of story that Morris splashes across the pages make this an attractive venue for first encounters with the soon-to-be-familiar. Though Morris revels in the romantic ("She Walks in Beauty"), her art serves other moods as well - the "jocund company" of Wordsworth's "Daffodils," Siegfried Sassoon's bitter memories of war. Even without the lush format, the more than 70 poems have enough range and allure to entice the young and the adults who read to them. Luminaries like Yeats and Poe keep amiable company with Ogden Nash ("The Tale of Custard the Dragon") and Alfred Noyes ("The Highwayman"). While anthologies open young minds to poetry's unbounded possibilities, books like the new collections by Valerie Worth (1933-94) and Ted Hughes (1930-98) impart a deeper sense of a single poet. Worth wrote several volumes of "small" verses. Her poems typically segue from the ordinary (raw carrots, say, or weeds; an old clock; a dead crab) to a small, precise epiphany - about what's described, about the reader, about the world. Natalie Babbitt, Worth's frequent collaborator, excelled in delicate pencil drawings that were perfectly paired with the poet's gentle insights. Surprisingly, Steve Jenkins's bold cut-paper collages suit these funny, thought-provoking (and previously unpublished) "Animal Poems" just as well. Don't tell the children (let them enjoy the poems on their own terms), but Worth also teaches what poems can do. Sounds can reverberate ("Snail": "Only compare/our ... rugs and chairs, / to the bare / stone spiral / of his one / unlighted / stairwell") and mimic movement (minnows' "slivers / sift together / in a scintillating / mesh"); the poet adroitly compares (camels "munching and belching / like smug old maids / remembering") or challenges perceptions ("The bear's fur/is gentle but ... we/look, and his / hot eye / stings out / from the dark hive / of his head / like a fierce / furious / bee"). She can build from innocent awe at a gorilla's latent power to an unexpected payoff: "Strong / enough to / fear no / enemy; / feeding / serenely / on celery." Meanwhile, in brilliantly composed collages, Jenkins (whose "What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?" was a Caldecott Honor Book in 2004) catches the essence of each creature - a shaggy groundhog poised on an ample white background, a whale afloat in deepest blue - with expertly snipped paper, textured or marbled, feathery or sleek, deftly adding such details as eyes of luminous intelligence. Worth's voice is quizzical, yet wise and affectionate. Ted Hughes's "Collected Poems for Children," many of them also about animals, are as perceptive and as well informed on nature's minutiae. He too telegraphs profound significance with exquisite skill. But Hughes inhabits a far darker world, fraught with sharp teeth, claws, knives and strange visions: a pig's nightmare of the sun as a fried egg; a needle to stitch poets' eyelids "so they can sing better"; a "Moon-Lily" fading away in "nights of quiet sobbing, and no sleep for you." The word "children" in the title of this omnibus (it incorporates eight earlier books) is unfortunate. Older kids will enjoy the first 60 pages, especially the oddball characters in "Meet My Folks!" But even here it's often the deceptively cheery rhymes and rhythms, more than the subject matter, that suggest a young audience. In the first poem a seal's eyes are "as wild / and wide and dark / as a famine child" that has "lost its mother." And while some poems are laced with humor and virtuosic wordplay, Hughes tends to upend the most innocent context with abruptly savage imagery. On the other hand, teenagers will easily relate to such darkly allusive, fantastical works as his "Moon Poems" ("In every moonmirror lurks a danger. / Look in it - and there glances out some stranger"). Absorbed in the newly discovered depths of their own souls, they're ripe to appreciate disillusionment, as well as Hughes's phenomenal craft. Adults, however, may be the best audience for the cruel beauty of the poems that make up "Season Songs," with their expert depiction of rural life and resonant imagery. Raymond Briggs's drawings are splendid: they develop the fantastical, underline fierce horror or add a touch of pathos. His sensitivity, rough humor and grasp of humanity's dark side match the poet's perfectly - another reason this book is a keeper, one to rediscover in all life's seasons. Joanna Rudge Long, a former editor at Kirkus Reviews, writes and lectures about children's books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
With lots of hugs and kisses, as well as messy nonsense and uproarious action, this big, spacious anthology of more than 60 poems is a wonderful first book to read with babies and toddlers over and over again. As with nursery rhymes, the sounds of the words are a big part of the fun (Oh soggy greens, I hate you / I hate your sloppy slush ), and so are the movements from dawn to bedtime, as in Getting Dressed (You've one trouser leg / And two legs in it ). The clear, active, mixed-media illustrations show very young children outdoors and in; morning to bedtime; loving, teary, absurd, furious. The intense scenarios range from tantrums (No! No! No! To everything! ) and jealousy about the new baby (What's she want another one for? ) to slurpy kisses and lullabies. Many of the best children's poets are included, from Rosemary Wells and Mary Ann Hoberman to Jack Prelutsky; and there are adult poets too--Langston Hughes, Gertrude Stein, and more. Unlike in Mother Goose, the slapstick here is always child-centered, from Mud, mud, glorious mud to the unforgettable parody Happy Birthday to you / Squashed tomatoes and stew. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Here are, actually, 61 little poems, which together provide a high-spirited, engaging introduction to poetry. Gleaned from various countries and representing a refreshing array of voices, the poems fall into four categories of high interest to youngsters: "Me, Myself, and I," "Who Lives in My House?," "I Go Outside" and "Time for Bed." The selections include waggish nonsense verse, rambunctious action rhymes, quieter passages, and snippets of everyday life. Margaret Mahy's "My Sister" typifies the collection's airiness and spunk: "My sister's remarkably light,/ She can float to a fabulous height./ It's a troublesome thing,/ But we tie her with string,/ And we use her instead of a kite." Other contributors include the volume's two anthologists, plus Langston Hughes, Margaret Wise Brown, Eve Merriam, Jack Prelutsky, Charlotte Pomerantz and Lilian Moore. Dunbar's signature cheery, mixed-media art injects new energy into even the most familiar poems; her interpretation of A.A. Milne's "Halfway Down," for instance, portrays a girl on a staircase that seems to spiral up to heaven, while the girl on "The Swing" by Robert Louis Stevenson looks suspended from the clouds, over a collage countryside of textured cloth patterns. This elegant, oversize treasury features children as endearing as the verse they illustrate-well, except perhaps for "The No-No Bird" perched in "the Tantrum Tree," a boy with wings aflame and mouth open in a scream. There's something for everyone here. Ages 6 mos.-5 yrs. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-Many collections of poems that purport to be for very young children are actually for primary graders. This oversize book really is for preschoolers. The poems, one per page, are arranged in four categories that encompass child's a world: "Me, Myself, and I," "Who Lives in My House?," "I Go Outside," and "Time for Bed." The poetry is witty, intelligent, and well crafted, and perfect for the target audience. The list of contributors reads like a who's who of children's poetry-Margaret Wise Brown, Nikki Grimes, Aileen Fisher, Jack Prelutsky, and others. Almost all of the selections have appeared in print before. Most of them are only a few lines long, and are printed in large informal type in a variety of colors that match the illustrations. The art was created using a wide range of mediums and techniques, and Dunbar blends them seamlessly to create charming images that are amazingly expressive. The children in them are carefree and happy and the book as a whole suggests a world that is safe and secure. Here's a Little Poem is a great way to introduce the youngest listeners to the genre.-Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT (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.
Review by Horn Book Review
This collection includes sixty-one poems, arranged thematically, that celebrate a child's day. The well-selected pieces include familiar works and some that are lesser known. The poems' varied rhythms and rhyme schemes, child-friendly wordplay, and age-appropriate topics make this book a good starting point for sharing poetry with young children. Dunbar's lively mixed-media illustrations bounce and tumble over the pages. 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.
