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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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Active Filters: 3rd grade (Ages 8-9), Hardcover
A Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Amazing Peace
by Maya Angelou, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
from Schwartz & Wade
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Christmas & Advent (Location: HOLIDAY)
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)
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)
Best-Loved Verse
by Illustrated by Margaret Tarrant
from Gallery Books
Realistic Fiction for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Bilbo's Last Song
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Riverwood Publishers
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Lord of the Rings (Location: LIR-LOTR)
Birds, Beasts and the Third Thing
by D. H. Lawrence; illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen
from Viking Press
for Kindergarten-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
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 & Christopher Bing
1st edition from Chronicle Books
for 2nd-6th grade
2001 Caldecott Honor Book
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$19.99
Child's Book of Poems
by Gyo Fujikawa
from Grosset & Dunlap
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
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 Book of Poetry
by Arthur Malcolm (selected by), illustrated by Eva Noe
from J. H. Sears & Company
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
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, 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 Florence Storer
from Longmeadow Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
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 Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for Kindergarten-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
Books of Wonder
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Diane Goode
from HarperCollins
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Hilda Boswell
from Collins
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
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 Ruth Mary Hallock
from Barnes & Noble
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrated by Maria L. Kirk
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, unknown illustrator
from Henry Altemus Company
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Charles Robinson
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Poetry for 1st-5th grade
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
from Platt and Munk Publishers
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
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)
Cricket in a Thicket
by Aileen Fisher
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 1st-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut
by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James
from Agate Bolden
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
2018 Newbery Honor Book, 2018 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
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
Edward Lear's Nonsense Books
by Edward Lear
from Grosset & Dunlap
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
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)
First Poems of Childhood
by Tasha Tudor
from Grosset & Dunlap
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
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)
Garland of Verse for Young People
by Alfred H. Miles (editor)
from Stanley Paul & Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
Golden Treasury of Poetry
by Joan Walsh Anglund
from Golden Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Hailstones and Halibut Bones
by Mary O'Neill
from Doubleday & Company
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
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)
Long Ago in Oregon
by Claudia Lewis, illustrated by Joel Fontaine
from Harper & Row
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Love Songs of Childhood
by Eugene Field
1916th edition from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 2nd-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
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)
Magic Windows
by Ernest Nister
from Philomel Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
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)
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
National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry
from National Geographic
for 1st-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Night Before Christmas
by Clement C. Moore, illustrated by Tasha Tudor
from Checkerboard Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Night Before Christmas
by Clement Moore, illustrated by Jan Brett
from Putnam Juvenile
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Christmas & Advent (Location: HOLIDAY)
Night Before Christmas
by Clement Moore, illustrated by Cheryl Harness
from Random House
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Christmas & Advent (Location: HOLIDAY)
Night Before Christmas
by Clement C. Moore, illustrated by Tasha Tudor
from Little, Brown & Company
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Christmas & Advent (Location: HOLIDAY)
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 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)
One Thousand Tracings
by Lita Judge
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-5th grade
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
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
by Iona and Peter Opie
from Oxford University
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Oxford Book of Children's Verse in America
by Donald Hall
from Oxford University
for 1st-8th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
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)
Paul Revere's Ride
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, illustrated by Charles Santore
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Piper, Pipe That Song Again
by Nancy Larrick
from Random House
for Preschool-5th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Poetry for Young People: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
from Sterling Publishing Co.
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg
by Carl Sandburg
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Poetry for Young People: Edna St. Vincent Millay
by Edna St. Vincent Millay, edited by Frances Schoonmaker & illustrated by Mike Bryce
from Sterling Publishing Co.
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Poetry for Young People: Edward Lear
by Edward Lear
from Sterling Publishing Co.
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson
Poetry for Young People
by Emily Dickinson
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Poetry for Young People: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Poetry for Young People: Robert Browning
by Robert Browning
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 1st-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Poetry for Young People: Robert Frost
by Robert Frost
A Magnolia eds. bk from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Poetry for Young People: Robert Louis Stevenson
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Poetry for Young People: William Shakespeare
Poetry for Young People
by William Shakespeare; David Scott Kastan, Marina Kastan, eds.
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Poetry for Young People: William Wordsworth
by Robert Frost
A Magnolia eds. bk from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Poetry Speaks to Children w/CD
by Elise Paschen (editor), illustrated by Judy Love, Wendy Rasmussen, Paula Zinngrabe Wendland
from Sourcebooks
for Kindergarten-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Poke in the I
by Paul Janeczko
1st edition from Candlewick Press
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Prayer for a Child
by Rachel Field
1957 Printing from Macmillan
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-To Poems
from Candlewick Press
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Rainbow Gold
by Sara Teasdale
from Macmillan
for 1st-5th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$19.00 (1 in stock)
Random House Book of Mother Goose
by Arnold Lobel
from Random House
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
Random House Book of Poetry for Children
by Jack Prelutsky
from Random House
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Read-Aloud Poems for Young People
by Glorya Hale
from Tess Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Real Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright
for 1st-3rd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Rhymes and Verses
by Walter De la Mare
2002 Reprint from Henry Holt and Company
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Sing a Song of Popcorn
by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers
1st edition from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Small Child's Book of Verse
by Pelagie Doane
from Henry Z. Walck, Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
Song of Hiawatha
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, illustrated by Margaret Early
from Handprint Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems
by Joyce Sidman
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
2006 Caldecott Honor Book
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Sounds Around the Clock
a Sounds of Language Reader
by Edited by Bill Martin Jr.
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Sounds Around the Clock - Teacher Edition
a Sounds of Language Reader
by Edited by Bill Martin Jr.
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Sounds of Laughter
a Sounds of Language Reader
by Edited by Bill Martin Jr.
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 3rd-4th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
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