Former children’s poet laureate Hoberman compiles a broad range of poems for young readers—brief enough to invite memorization—from writers including Frost, Silverstein, Sandburg, Milne, and Grimes, among many more. The works are divided thematically into categories like “Sad and Sorrowful,” which features “Song” by Keats and “My Father” by Hoberman (“My father doesn’t live with us./ It doesn’t help to make a fuss;/ But still I feel unhappy, plus/ I miss him”); “Weather and Seasons”; and “Poems from Storybooks,” with excerpts from The Wind in the Willows, James and the Giant Peach, and The Fellowship of the Ring. Emberley offers cozy mixed-media cartoons, which warmly evoke the poems’ themes and images. A multidimensional and thoughtful cross section of verse with keepers on nearly every page. All ages. Agent: Gina Maccoby, Gina Maccoby Literary Agency. (Apr.)
* "A multidimensional and thoughtful cross section of verse with keepers on nearly every page."—Publishers Weekly, starred review The Horn Book, starred review The Bulletin, starred review The New York Times Book Review Booklist School Library Journal
"Emberley's appealing illustrations brighten every page of this large-format book. A handsome anthology of poems that children can learn by heart."
"[A] joyous collection."
The New York Times Book Review
* "A readaloud treasury or readalone delight...[and] an ideal spur for memorization and recitation in any setting....Emberley's art is an unassuming wonder, a playful masterclass in using the page to support and extend the verse visuals."
* "A treasure trove of the familiar and the fresh...A wonderful gift book for poetry lovers, but even children who have never considered learning a poem by heart will find much to love here."
Gr 3–6—The creators of the popular "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You" series (Little, Brown) offer a collection of carefully chosen pieces that are ideal for memorization, which gives children a sense of ownership and ultimately fosters a love of poetry. The subjects and themes are as diverse as the people who wrote them; there are works by beloved poets from all across the spectrum, such as Nikki Giovanni, Shel Silverstein, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, and dozens more. Categories include "Sad and Sorrowful," "Happiness Is," and "Strange and Mysterious." Hoberman introduces each section with a short paragraph outlining the types of poems found within, putting readers in the appropriate frame of mind and prompting critical thinking about what they are about to read. At the end of the book, she offers detailed tips about how to memorize a poem, which will assist children in not just reading and listening to the poem, but actually feeling it. She also discusses terms like couplets, assonance, and alliteration, thereby providing a quick but useful introduction to the structure of poetry. Emberley's signature watercolor, pencil, and pastel illustrations add a splash of understated cheer to the selections. A wonderful addition to any collection.—Rita Meade, Brooklyn Public Library, NY
Over 120 poems, with accompanying illustrations, selected to help young readers discover the pleasures of committing verse to memory. A good anthology, like a Whitman's Sampler, should sate an immediate desire for sweet connection with its subject while whetting the appetite for fuller indulgence later on. This collection, so full of promise given the combined talents of these longtime collaborators, falls short of that mark. Touted as a sampling of poems both " ‘easy to remember' and ‘worth remembering,' " it should present works that sit easily in the ear and/or prove memorable for their overall effect. While Hoberman does exhume a few gems from the vast corpus of British and American verse, and Emberley's vivid characters make the space surrounding the selected works visually appealing to younger readers, the marriage of word and image here is not always a happy one. For example, next to Dickinson's celebrated "I'm nobody! Who are you?" an overalls-clad, mouth-less boy looks quizzically at the close-lipped frog in his hands. Dickinson's "frog," who famously tells its "name the livelong day / To an admiring bog," is anything but silent. Moreover, the grouping of poems throughout--sometimes by form, others by content--seems arbitrary, ultimately making the collection's most memorable aspects Hoberman's introduction and concluding "suggestions for learning poetry by heart." An oversized, ambitious collection of verse that, in the end, proves sadly forgettable. (Poetry. 8-14)
Hoberman…wants to resurrect the lost art of recitation. This joyous collection…offers ample fodder.
