This is not a mere collection of Mother Goose rhymes, but an anthology of the best poetry of the English language made accessible to children. There are examples of everything from limericks to ballads, and poets from Edmund Lear to Shakespeare. A child whose first experience of poetry is formed by this book will have known the best right from the start. I received my copy shortly after it was first published, and I still use it. This is poetry of timeless quality that never gets old.
It's a lost treasure!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
I've had this book since I was a child, and am now reading it to my kids. In fact, as the guest reader in my 3rd grader's classroom, I just read several poems from it and the class was enraptured, and want me to come back to read more. The poems collected in this volume are stellar - child pleasing while not silly or simple. Our favorites are James Whitcomb Riley's Little Orphant Annie, Longfellow's The Children's Hour, Bunner's One, Two, Three, and Edna St. Vincent Millay's hauntingly sad The Ballad of the Harp Weaver. I've never seen these in another poetry anthology. You'll also find the great classics - John Keats' La Belle Dames Sans Merci, Longfellow's The Wreck of the Hesperus, Lear's The Jumblies, Carroll's The Jabberwocky, Poe's Annabelle Lee, and many of Anonymous' favorite poems and limericks. If you only own one poetry book, this is it!
A true keeper that I've had for 20 years.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 26 years ago
My father gave me this book over 20 years ago, and it has been literally around the world with me. I read it when I am feeling good or bad and I now share the poems with my 3 year old son. We always find something to cheer us up and make us laugh. I hope to instill a love of poetry in him and this book is essential.
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