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Poetry for Children

First off, these aren't just for kids. A good poem has universal appeal, and if it captures a child's imagination it ought to capture an adult's as well. The main difference between "poems for kids" and "poems for adults" is that the former are easier to understand and enjoy at face value.

T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland goes over heads because it's full of allusions and analogies only the well-read are likely to get, whereas Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein is self-contained (though there's plenty more going on beneath the surface for older readers to appreciate). And who can argue that John Donne is easier to understand than A.A. Milne?

Of course, "at face value" doesn't mean there are no hidden meanings in children's poetry. It just means kids don't have to pick them up to be impacted by the poem. At the same time, teaching them to do so from a young age with the poetry they love will give them a huge advantage when they're older and encounter Milton, Frost, and Yeats.

Poetry intended for young readers is often marked by what some consider a juvenile rhyme scheme. Yet organizing thoughts and words in a metrical pattern and making it seem effortless isn't the work of some "kiddie writer," but of a master.

Kindling in children a love of poetry (not just rhymes) is essential for helping them reach their full imaginative potential. Stories are important, but poems impart a sense of wonder and an attitude of curiosity and investigation that mere prose can never accomplish. If Keats could transport grown men and women to other realms, why would we think Grahame, Carroll, or Stevenson couldn't do exactly the same thing for kids?

Readers often forget that poetry is intended to be read aloud. While children can have plenty of fun curled up on the couch with their favorite book of poems (probably mouthing each word silently as they read, deaf to the rest of the world), reading aloud with them opens their ears to the beauty of language, its cadences, its mysticism and enchantment. It'll probably do the same thing for you.

Which brings us back to the first point: poetry for children is also poetry for adults. Nowhere else is the ethos of childhood so perfectly rendered than in poems of this kind, where the happiness, terror and innocence of the young is brought to full light not just in the images and words themselves, but in the very way they're structured on the page and spoken out loud. If you feel lost or dead to the world of childhood, read some of the poetry written to and for kids before adulthood squelches any youthfulness of soul you have left.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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All the Small Poems and Fourteen More
by Valerie Worth
from Sunburst Book
Lyrical Poetry for Preschool-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$9.99 $5.00 (5 in stock)
All the World's a Stage
by Rebecca Piatt Davidson, illustrated by Anita Lobel
from Greenwillow Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Another Book of Verses for Children
by E.V. Lucas (editor), illustrated by F.D. Bedford
from Macmillan
for 1st-5th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$26.00 (1 in stock)
Arnold Lobel Book of Mother Goose
by Arnold Lobel
from Random House
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Babes and Cradles
by Maud Wolcott Spalding, illustrated by Lucile Patterson Marsh & Anita Parkhurst
from Southern Publishing Association
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
by Fred Rogers, illustrated by Luke Flowers
from Quirk Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Beauty of the Beast
by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Meilo So
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Kindergarten-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Pigericks
by Arnold Lobel
First Ediition from Harper & Row
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Verses for Children
by E. V. Lucas
1st THUS from Popular Culture Ink
for Preschool-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Casey at the Bat
by Ernest L. Thayer & Patricia Polacco
from Putnam Juvenile
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.99
Casey at the Bat
by Ernest L. Thayer & Christopher Bing
1st edition from Chronicle Books
for 2nd-6th grade
2001 Caldecott Honor Book
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$19.99
Casey at the Bat
by Ernest L. Thayer & Patricia Polacco
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Anthology of Poetry
by Elizabeth Hauge Sword
for 1st-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Book of Poems
by Gyo Fujikawa
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$14.99
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Tasha Tudor
from Simon and Schuster
Poetry for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$19.99 $14.50 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Dover Publications
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 $1.50 (2 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
from Platt and Munk Publishers
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Cooper Edens
from Chronicle Books
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for Preschool-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
Arcadia
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Charles Robinson
from Princess House Books
Poetry for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Joanna Isles
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Thomas Kinkade
First Edition, Thus from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Weathervane Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Juanita C. Bennett
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
Popular Edition from Platt and Munk Publishers
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Martin & Alice Provensen
from Golden Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
from Platt and Munk Publishers
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses - A Poetry Pop-Up Book
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Martin & Alice Provensen
from Golden Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Introduction to Poetry
Books for Young Explorers
by Michael Driscoll & Meredith Hamilton
from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 2nd-8th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Introduction to Poetry
Books for Young Explorers
by Michael Driscoll & Meredith Hamilton
First Revised Edition from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 2nd-8th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$19.99
Christopher Robin Book of Verse
by A. A. Milne, illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard
1st edition from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$13.00 (1 in stock)
Circus
by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Arnold Lobel
from Aladdin Books
Rhyming Books for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Poetry
by Michael Rosen & Paul Howard
Reprint from Candlewick Press
for 1st-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$15.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Cornstalks: A Bushel of Poems
by James Stevenson
from Avyx, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (4 in stock)
Cotton Sailboats
by Edith Witmer
from Rod & Staff Publishers, Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night
by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen
from Houghton Mifflin
for 1st-4th grade
2011 Newbery Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Dream Keeper And Other Poems
by Langston Hughes
from Scholastic Inc.
for 5th-9th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Edgar Allen Poe’s Pie
by J. Patrick Lewis
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for 2nd-6th grade
in Math Picture Books (Location: MATR-PIC)
$7.99
Eric Carle's Animals Animals
by Eric Carle
First Edition from Philomel Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Family of Poems
by Caroline Kennedy
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Family Read-Aloud Holiday Treasury
by Selected by Alice Low, Illustrated by Marc Brown
First Ediition from Little, Brown & Company
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Picture Book Treasuries (Location: PIC-TRE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Favorite Poems for Children
by Holly Pell McConnaughy, editor
from Barnes & Noble
for 1st-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Favorite Poems of Childhood
by Christina Rossetti, Edward Lear, Emily Dickinson, Eugene Field, Lewis Carroll, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sarah Josepha Hale
from Dover Publications
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 $2.50 (2 in stock)
Favorite Poems Old and New
by Helen Ferris
from Delacorte Press
Poetry for All ages
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$26.99
Firefly July
by Selected by Paul B. Janeczko, Illustrated by Melissa Sweet
from Candlewick Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.99
First Caldecott Collection
by Randolph Caldecott
from Living Book Press
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$19.99
Flower Fairies of the Spring
by Cicely Mary Barker
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Flower Fairies of the Spring—A Celebration
by Cicely Mary Barker
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Fourth Caldecott Collection
by Randolph Caldecott
from Living Book Press
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$19.99
Frog Went A-Courtin'
by John Langstaff
from HMH Books for Young Readers
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Frog Went A-Courtin'
by John Langstaff, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky
from Harcourt, Brace & World
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Fun Poems & Finger Plays
2nd edition from A Beka Books
for Preschool
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$13.00 (1 in stock)
Gladiola Garden
World Voices
by Effie Lee Newsome, illustrated by Lois Mailou Jones
from Living Book Press
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
God's Servant, Job
by Douglas Bond
from P&R Publishing
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Bible Stories for Kids (Location: BIBR-STO)
$9.99
Great Frog Race
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Hiawatha
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
1st edition from Puffin Books
Poetry for 4th-8th
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$8.99
Highwayman
by Alfred Noyes, illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak
1st edition
for 3rd-8th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
If I Were In Charge of the World and Other Worries
by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Lynne Cherry
from Aladdin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Johnny Appleseed
by Reeve Lindbergh
from Little, Brown & Company
Poetry for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Joyful Noise
by Paul Fleischman
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
1989 Newbery Medal winner
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.99
Joyful Noise
by Paul Fleischman
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 4th-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Joyful Noise
by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Eric Beddows
1st edition from Harper & Row
for 4th-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Leaves From a Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrated by Donna Green
from Vermillion, Inc
for Preschool-1st grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lessons from Nature
by John Bunyan
from Back Home Industries
Lyrical Poems for 3rd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$24.00
Little Book of Poems & Prayers
by Joan Walsh Anglund
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Llama Who Had No Pajama
by Betty Fraser, Mary Ann Hoberman
from Harcourt
for Ages 5-10
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.99
Loony Limericks from Alabama to Wyoming
by Jack Stokes
from Doubleday & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Lullabies & Good Night
by Stephen Elkins (editor), illustrated with paintings by Mary Cassatt
from Ideals Children's Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Marshmallow Clouds
by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek, illustrated by Richard Jones
from Candlewick Press
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$19.99
Mirror, Mirror
by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josee Masse
from Dutton Children's Books
for 2nd-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose
by Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
from Wordsworth Classics
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose
by Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
from Weathervane Books
for Nursery-Kindergarten
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
by Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
from Viking Press
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Mouse of Amherst
by Elizabeth Spires, Illustrated by Claire A. Nivola
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
My America
by Lee Bennett Hopkins
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
My Daddy Rules the World
by Hope Anita Smith
from Henry Holt and Company
for Preschool-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$17.99
My Favorite Kindergarten Poems (old)
from A Beka Books
for Kindergarten Age 5
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.80 (3 in stock)
My First Oxford Book of Poems
by John Foster (compiler)
from Oxford University
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
My Uncle Emily
by Jane Yolen
from Philomel Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
My Very First Mother Goose
by Iona Opie
from Candlewick Press
for Nursery-kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Night Before Christmas
by Clement Moore, illustrated by Jan Brett
from Scholastic Press
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Night Before Christmas - Coloring Book
by Clement C. Moore, illustrated by John O'Brien
81st edition from Dover Publications
for 3rd-5th grade
in Literary & Fantasy Coloring Books (Location: COL-LIT)
$4.99
Night Before Christmas with DVD
by Clement Moore, illustrated by Jan Brett
from Putnam Juvenile
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Now We Are Six
by A. A. Milne
from Puffin Books
Poetry for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.99
Now We Are Six
by A. A. Milne
from Dutton Children's Books
Poetry for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$19.99
Now We Are Six
by A. A. Milne
from Dutton Children's Books
Poetry for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Nursery Friends from France
from Book House for Children
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
$19.00 (1 in stock)
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
by T. S. Eliot
from Harcourt
for 7th-Adult
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
On the Wing
by David Elliott, Illustrated by Becca Stadtlander
from Candlewick Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.99
Original Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright, illustrator
from Running Press
Rhyming Books for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Out of the Dust
by Karen Hesse
from Scholastic Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade
1998 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Out of the Dust
by Karen Hesse
1st edition from Scholastic Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade
1998 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Owl and the Pussycat
by Edward Lear, illustrated by Jan Brett
from PaperStar Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Owl and the Pussycat
by Edward Lear, illustrated by Colin West
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Owl and the Pussycat
by Edward Lear, illustrated by Gwen Fulton
from Atheneum
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Oxford Book of Children's Verse in America
by Donald Hall, ed.
from Oxford University
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Oxford Book of Poetry for Children
by Edward Blishen (editor), illustrated by Brian Wildsmith
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$24.00 (1 in stock)
Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems
by Donald Hall
from Oxford University
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$12.95
Paul Revere's Ride
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, illustrated by Ted Rand
from Puffin Books
American Poetry for 2nd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace
by Anna Grossnickle Hines
from Henry Holt and Company
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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