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Poetry
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Traditional Literature
Poetry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This site is part of a class project for LS 5603, a graduate level children's literature course offered at Texas Woman's University. On this page I review Poetry for Children and Young Adults. See Below: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Florian, Douglas. 1998. Insectlopedia. San Diego: Harcourt. ISBN 0152013067. This book is a collection of original poetry about insects by the author-illustrator Douglas Florian. The poems in the book use rhyme and humor to describe everyday insects – from army ants to whirligig beetles and almost every other kind of familiar insect imaginable. Besides humor and rhyme, the poet in some instances also uses concrete poetry (in which the words create a shape) to get his point across. This style of concrete poetry can be seen in the case of the poem about whirligig beetles, where the words run clockwise in a circle to depict the way a whirligig beetle moves. Other examples of concrete poetry in the book can be found in the poem about the inchworm, where the words take the shape of an inchworm, inching along its merry way; or in the poem about termites, where the words take the shape of a termite mound. The illustrations are watercolor and were painted on brown paper bags with collage. Typically, the illustrations depict the insect in question doing something described in the poem, and thus complement the poetry well. I would highly recommend this book for its educational value as well as its ability to make poetry accessible, interesting and fun for children. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prelutsky, Jack. 1990. Beneath a Blue Umbrella. Illus. by Garth Williams. New York: Greenwillow Books. ISBN 0688064299. This book is a collection of original poetry by the author Jack Pretlusky. The poems are about people and animals, from bears to worms, doing everyday activities as well as nonsensical things. The poems also describe the characters in them as being in geographic locations such as from Baltimore, Maryland, New Jersey, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. Sometimes a geographical location is not mentioned, and the action in the poem instead takes place at a beach, on a boat, in a room, or outside. The poems sometimes tell a story, such as the one about Jason Johnson who went searching for gold. In other cases, they are just simply descriptive in nature, such as the one about Tippity Toppity Upside Down Roy, who lives an upside down existence. The poems in this book are humorous and lighthearted, and are typically one to three stanzas in length. The poems are also rhythmic and rhyming, and use alliteration. The illustrations in the book are color paintings with black pen. Each illustration faithfully depicts the essence of the poem to which it refers. I would highly recommend this book of poetry for children because of its beautiful illustrations as well as for its being a simple yet lively introduction to geography and poetry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cullinan, Bernice E. 1996. A Jar of Tiny Stars. Illus. by Andi MacLeod and Marc Nadel. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press. ISBN 1563970872. This book is an anthology of poetry written by the winners of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Award for Poetry for Children. The book features the work of the ten award-winning poets: David McCord, Aileen Fisher, Karla Kuskin, Myra Cohn Livingston, Eve Merriam, John Ciardi, Lilian Moore, Arnold Adoff, Valerie Worth, and Barbara Esbensen. A study was conducted in which 3500 children were asked to rank their top five favorite poems after reading poems or listening to poems being read to them. The poems of these authors were included in this book after they were elected by children in that study as being their favorite poems. The book is set up in sections, with each poet having his/her own section. For each poet, the book offers a watercolor portrait, painted by Marc Nadel, followed by a quote of something the poet stated, followed by the chosen poems written by the poet in question. In the back of the book is also some biographical information about each of the poets. There are a variety of styles of poetry to be found in this anthology, because of the different poets whose work is being displayed. The illustrations in the book are simple and are pen and ink drawings, and were done by Andi MacLeod. I would recommend this book highly for children because of the excellence of the poetry and because it contains poetry that children enjoy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nye, Naomi Shihab.1998. The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings From the Middle East. New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division. ISBN 068981237. This 144 -page book is a collection of poetry and paintings done by poets and artists from several Middle Eastern countries including Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, Oman, and Yemen. The collector of these poems and paintings, Naomi Shihab Nye has a Middle Eastern background and decided to gather and publish this collection of poems and paintings because she wanted to share the Middle Eastern culture with the rest of the world. The poems in this book describe many things about the Middle Eastern culture, including family life, nature, food, travel, love of homeland, sorrow and joy, etc. The paintings included in the book were not painted specifically to illustrate the poems in the book, and yet they complement the text well, because they give the reader a vivid visual sense of the Middle Eastern culture. The back of the book offers brief notes on each of the poets and painters who contributed to the book. I would highly recommend this collection of poetry for adolescents and young adults because it provides an important service and meets a growing need, that of giving the reader a window into a parallel culture that they otherwise might not understand. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stevenson, Robert Louis. 1966. A Child’s Garden of Verses. Illus. by Brian Wildsmith. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192760327. This book is a collection of original poetry by the author Robert Louis Stevenson. The poems in the book typically describe aspects of nature, or some of the everyday events and imaginings of a child, and from a child’s perspective. The poet captures the essence of some modern-day childhood experiences very clearly, such as the poem “The Swing,” which describes what a child feels and sees while swinging on a swing. Another example of an experience that a modern-day child would be able to relate to from the book would be the poem “Bed in Summer” which portrays the frustration a child feels at having to go to bed early when it is still light outside in the summertime. Some of the topics of other poems in the book are more outdated, such as the “Lamplighter” in which the work of a lamplighter is described. The poems seem to be somewhat ethnocentric, and told from the perspective of a Caucasian male of privileged upbringing from the last century. However, they have historical value in that they provide the reader a glimpse into a way of living that in some instances no longer exists. The illustrations in this book, done by Brian Wildsmith, are painted and quite bright and attractive. I would recommend this book of poems for children, especially when read in combination with other books of poetry that describe experiences of parallel cultures to enhance the children’s understanding of diversity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are Some Links To Pages about Children's Literature (On this Website)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Home ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Picture Books ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Traditional Literature ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author Study about Lloyd Alexander ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Non-Fiction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Historical Fiction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fiction and Fantasy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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