Customer Reviews
Bringing Poetry To Kids 
2007-06-14
Poetry Speaks to Children includes poems from authors like J.R.R. Tolkien (author of Lord of The Rings), Robert Frost and many more. This book is fun and comes with a CD with poems read by the poets themselves. There are a few spots that may not be appropriate for your children (Tolkien refers to beer in his poem/song sung by one of the hobbits in LOTR), but overall the book is fun and can help your child find an appreciation for poetry.
POETRY SPEAKS TO CHILDREN 
2007-05-26
The book was in excellent condition. I will purchase again.
wonderful assortment of poetry 2007-05-13
I am always looking for children's books that can entertain me as much as my children. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading and listening to this book with my children at bedtime. My daughter, who is 4, especially loves the poem "Rabbit" by Mary Ann Hoberman. My son, who is 2, loves the poem about "The Tiger Who Wore White Gloves," by Gwendolyn Brooks. My only criticism is that there is no illustration for the poem by Roald Dahl ("The Dentist and the Crocodile"). My kids pay attention the best when there is an illustration next to the poem. Also, my children love the poem which was made into a song ("The Ghost and Jenny Jemima," by Dennis Lee). I think this book helps broaden the horizons of children and can teach children of a young age to improve the length of their attention spans. (It took a couple of times listening to the CD for my daughter to realize that the poets are not supposed to break into song. She kept asking for the song about the ghost!) Overall, this is one of the best book purchases I have made in a long time. It is a book I hope to keep forever.
Poems for children. 2007-02-01
Hard-back book with CD. Very colourful illustrations. Mainly obscure (to me)and modern poets.
A family book 2007-01-19
If you have children under 10, and you only buy one book this year, this should be it.However, it is NOT a "bookshelf book." Keep it next to the tv and each night the kids watch a tv show, share one poem from the book. This is a book for them to enjoy and for you to work with to give them a lifelong
love for poetry.(You should use the CD to help with intonation and interpretaion but then you read the poems together.) It is a gem.
95 Winning Poems for Kids AND Adults 2008-05-23
I gave this book/CD to my daughter for her 6th birthday party. After the party while she played with the neighbors I was exhausted and just wanted to take a nap. Before I did though I put this 68 minute CD of poetry on and found it to be very entertaining and relaxing. 29 of the readers are the poets reading their own words.
Now my daughter has been listening to it every night before bed and often I play it early in the morning to gentle wake her before kindergarten.
There are some classic recorded poems here such as "The Raven" by Poe, "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, "The Tyger" by William Blake and "Casey at the Bat" by Earnst L. Thayer.
There are also some very nice multicultural poems recorded such as "Eagle Poem" by Joy Harjo, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes, and perhaps my favorite poem in the collection "Okay, Brown Girl, Okay" by James Berry which is reassuring, touching, and can speak to everyone about what it's like to be different among other people.
Not all of the poems are included on the CD--some are just included in the book. Familiar poems and poets in the book only are "from Macbeth" by Shakespeare, "The Tale of Custard the Dragon" by Ogden Nash, "Frodo's Song in Bree" by J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Land of Counterpane" by Robert Louis Stevenson, from "The Bed Book" by Sylvia Plath, "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" by Eugene Field, and "Letter to a Bee" by Emily Dickinson among many others.
In all there are 95 poems. Some of them recorded and/or published for the first time. The illustration are delightful and done by three different artist with different styles. They are Judy Love, Wendy Rasmussen, and Paula Zinngrabe Wendland.
This book/CD combo is a winner. It's very educational, fun, and will be enjoyed by the whole family.
Great Intro. to Poetry 2008-04-15
My child is 3 1/2 and loves this book, as do I. While she's not into the CD YET, she loves sitting w/me and exploring the poems which are neither too complex or too simple. There are classics and more modern works and they've done a wonderful job finding an assortment that represent various ways that poetry is used in other literary works (ex. excerpts from Macbeth and "Lord of the Rings"). I'm not a poetry expert, so I love that there are poets and writers of whom I recognize such as Robert Frost, Nikki Giovanni, Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allen Poe and that it introduces me and my child to others who I don't recognize. A great way to introduce poetry to your kids.
Endlessly valuable! 2008-01-21
This book is fantastic. I've used it in the classroom with first, third, fourth and sixth graders -- because of the high quality of the poetry, it holds up to the scrutiny of middle schoolers and keeps the attention of six year olds. Hearing the poets read their own work gives the children an introduction to reading their own poetry out loud.
We use many of these poems as writing prompts for our own poetry in the classroom. The resulting poems are exiting, high-quality pieces the children and parents treasure. I would also recommend the Kenneth Koch-edited books "Rose, Where did you Get That Red? Teaching Great Poetry to Young Children" and "Talking to the Sun". The former gives lesson ideas, while the latter is a beautiful anthology of poetry paired with great works of art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
5-year old LOVES this book 2008-01-08
My 5-year old daughter LOVES this book. She listens to this CD over-and-over again. A lot of the poems are fun to read aloud, too. My daughter was a fan of Shel Silverstein -- but, this collection is a fun way to inspire an interest in a variety of poetry...I highly recommend this book.
W E L O V E T H I S B O O K !!!!!! 2007-12-07
Poetry speaks to children indeed. Although this book is actually meant for younger age lkie my 7-year old sister, my two older brothers (11 and 12) seem to also enjoy it, especially the CD recording. I highly recommend Poetry Speaks to all kids in the age group from five to ten. For slightly older kids I highly recommend Why Some Cats are Rascals, Book 2 - a collection of touching stories from the world of cats.
