Poetry by Heart: A Child's Book of Poems to Remember

Poetry by Heart: A Child's Book of Poems to Remember

by Andrew Motion (Foreword), Liz Attenborough (Foreword)

$18.93

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 124
Publisher: Chicken House
Published: Sep 2001

ISBN 10: 0439296579
ISBN 13: 9780439296571

Media Reviews
First published in Britain, this collection of over 100 poems features art by nine different illustrators, each handling a different thematic sections Though included poets come from various places, there's a definite British slant to the anthology, with contributions from contemporary writers such as Phillip Larkin and Wendy Cope, poets past such as John Clare and John Dryden, and stalwarts such as Edward Lear and Robert Louis Stevenson; even Anonymous has an Anglo-Saxon flavor here. While some terms will seem arcane to U.S. readers (and 'Chinese Counting' for a nonsense rhyme will raise a few eyebrows), they'll relish the pleasing exoticism thereby lent to the most domestic of scenes. Difficulty levels of the poems range widely, making this useful for employment with a group varied in age, and there's plenty of opportunity for readalouds. On the whole, the poems are more sophisticated than the art, a discrepancy that may need to be tactfully handled (readers skilled enough for Siegfried Sassoon may find the picture-book appearance rather babyish). The illustrations vary in quality and suitability as well as style: Polly Dunbar's sharp, squiggly-lined watercolors are energetically appropriate for the Stuff and Nonsense section, for instance, but Ian Andrew's blurry colored-pencil work lends an unfortunate stodginess to Uplifting and Brave. Nonetheless, this is an intriguing gallery of poetic possibilities that will be new to many readers. Indices of titles, authors, and first lines are included.
--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February 2002
An engaging anthology that encourages children to learn their favorite poems by heart. In his foreword, Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate, UK, sets the tone: If we say we know something 'by heart, ' we mean we keep it in our closed and most inward and important place, because it matters so much to us. The more than 100 poems are arranged thematically into sections, and each one is ably illustrated bye