Poetry

[hmarie]

Can anyone recommend a book that will introduce a child of age 9 to poetry? I do not mean a book "about" or "how to" but simply a book of poems that might attract a child who already enjoys reading very much.

Thank you. hmarie

[Winifred]

There are a couple of suggestions in this thread, together with a stack of poems, should said child be allowed to read this forum, with supervision. And, I don't think you can go wrong with Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses.

http://www.literaturejunction.com/showthread.php?4704-Children-s-Poems-and-Rhymes

[hmarie]

Thank you. It has been years since I knew "A Child's Garden of Verses". I shall get it.

[margaine]

I loved A Child's Garden of Verses as a kid. I also had a lovely anthology of all different poetry, but I cannot remember its title. If I figure it out, I'll return to this thread and post.

[Winifred]

I stumbled over a great anthology for children today at my favorite browsing bookstore, Chamblin's in Jacksonville: A Child's Anthology of Poetry by Elizabeth Hauge Sword. I wish I'd seen it a few years earlier! It offers a really wide selection of poems, many not usually found in children's anthologies, so your child will stretch his or her mindset.

from the Booklist review: Adults will remember these poems, and their joy at finding them in a collection will be in their voices as they share the lines with children. The choices range widely, from nonsense verse to narrative and lyrical poetry. An occasional poem (such as Keats' "Ode to a Grecian Urn" ) is beyond the grade-school audience, but everyone will find lots of old accessible favorite voices here (from Blake, Dickinson, and Wordsworth to Frost, Lear, and Langston Hughes). A few new pieces have been slipped into the canon, including a poem each by Maya Angelou and Octavio Paz, but the focus is not on the contemporary. This is an anthology to read aloud across generations. Hazel Rochman

[freewoman]

What about Shel Silverstein?

[Winifred]

What about Shel Silverstein?

What would you suggest?

[Phantom Paragrapher]

I bought a collection called "Great Poems" - compiled by Kate Miles . Another favourite that might interest the child is Poetry by Roald Dahl or Quentin Blake. There tends to be in the Junior/Childrens Non-Fiction around the number 821 ( Using the Dewey Decimal) - lots of poetry books suited to children

[freewoman]

A Light in the Attic is one that I have read with children and they enjoy it.

I found another book In Daddy's Arms I am Tall (African Americans celebrating fathers) by Javaka Steptoe

One part of a poem:

Tickle Tickle

me papa tickle me feet
he call it "finger treat"
me scream and run each he come
me papa tickle me feet

It may be too simple for a ten year old, but I still think it is cute. The poetry is really quite engaging.