Poems for Children

Title: Here's a Little Poem

Author: Jane Yolen

Illustrator: Polly Dunbar

Publisher: Candlewick press

Publication Date: 2007

ISBN: 978-0-7636-3141-3

Summary: This book is a great book that introduce kids to poetry. This book contains sixty six poems by a wide range of writers. This book contain poems about having to get up in the morning, enjoying the adventures in the morning, and bedtime poems. This particular book specifically has numerous poems that depict a toddler's day from dawn to dusk. 

Personal Statement:  Although this book is a little lengthy, I very much enjoyed reading this book. The poems on the pages are very short and to the point for kids to enjoy.  I recommend this book for younger elementary school students, preferable first through second grade because the vocabulary is simple enough for first and second grade, but may be too easy for students 3rd and up. Students can find themselves  relating to this book because the book contains poems on things that kids at that age go through from dawn to dusk. The only thing may steer someone away from reading this book is that only a specific age group can relate to this book. 

Rate: 4 out of 5. 

Title: It's Snowing! It's Snowing!

Author: Jack Prelutsky

Illustrator: Jean Titherington

 Publisher: Greenwillow books

Publication Date: 1984

ISBN: 0-688-01513-1

Summary: This book is about a young boy who discovers that it is snowing and he goes outside and has a blast in the snow, which is typical of what most kids do when it snows outside. The big idea of this book is about being youthful, the changing of seasons, and a young boys perspective of the snow. 

Personal Statement:  I enjoyed reading this book. In this book, I really enjoyed the language, organization, structure, and it's illustrations. The author does a great job of using difficult language in this children's book. For example, the author used "galoshes" instead of something more widely known such as "snow boot." He also used interesting structure in his language throughout this book. For example, this can be seen in sentences like "Stuck in the snow, dad's pickup truck." The titles of the poems matched the poem and was helpful in setting an idea about the poem before it was read. Prelutsky also used an interesting structure when the snowman was talking about how he was shrinking because of the warm weather. As the snowman was speaking the words and paragraphs were getting smaller and smaller. In continuation, I thought the illustrations by Jeanne Titherington in this book was fantastic. The images were subtle and did not take away from the poems, and aided understanding. The illustrations matched the poems very well. For example, when the pickup truck was stuck in the snow there was an illustration of the pickup truck under the pile of snow and someone digging out the truck with the shovel. I recommend this book for elementary students in third through fourth grade, mainly because the vocabulary may be difficult for younger elementary students. Other than the vocabulary, I think this book is a very well written book. 

Rate: 5 out of 5