Once Upon A Poem - Hardcover

Grade 3 Up - This collection of 15 story-poems ranges widely, from Eugene Field's "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" to Alfred Noyes's "The Highwayman." Familiar favorites like Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" and Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas" are included along with lesser-known entries such as C. S. Lewis's "The Late Passenger" and W. H. Auden's "O What is That Sound" and a rather nontraditional retelling of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" by Roald Dahl. The illustrations from Peter Bailey, Siān Bailey, Carol Lawson, and Chris McEwan are well matched to each piece, using styles varying from realistic to cartoonlike, and rendered in a variety of mediums from pen and ink and watercolor to deeply saturated acrylics. The selections are well suited for read-alouds, with plenty of dense, sophisticated language. Each one is briefly introduced by a recommendation from a well-known author (J. K. Rowling, Eva Ibbotson, Avi, Sharon Creech, etc.); an afterword offers biographical sketches of the poets and authors included. This is a collection to grow on and to treasure over the years. - Cris Riedel, Ellis B. Hyde Elementary School, Dansville, NY
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Gr. 4-7. "I don't like poems that / aren't about anything." So says the narrator of Roger McGough's "A Good Poem," which serves as an epigraph to this valuable, wide-ranging collection of narrative poetry. The 15 entries by authors from across the English-speaking world include both old standards (Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky," and Longfellow's "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,") and an assortment of lesser-known works. The more obscure entries are the collection's shining stars. Readers will giggle over Roald Dahl's revisionist Goldilocks (a "delinquent little tot"); shiver over Alfred Noyes' grisly "The Highwayman"; and do a little of both over Robert Service's tall tale, "The Cremation of Sam McGee." The type winds, wiggles, and shifts in size to reflect the rhythms; and the illustrations, by four different artists with diverse styles, are similarly wedded to the content. Only the gushy endorsements from prominent children's-lit personalities seem extraneous. Strong as this collection is, the poems speak for themselves. Jennifer Mattson
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