Some Favorite Children's Poetry Collections

A friend asked recently about some of our favorite children's poetry collections.  I went to dig up a link from my archives for her, and it seems that I somehow haven't written a post on this yet!  I'm a little shocked at this glaring omission because poetry is one of my very favorite things.

So in the interest of righting this wrong: a few of our favorites in no particular order...

The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems
Lush and vivid illustrations by Jackie Morris.  A wonderful selection of classic poems, most of which were written with adults in mind but appeal to children as well.  One of our very favorites.

The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems 
Not as classic a collection and mostly black-and-white illustrations, but a pretty book worth owning and has lots of variety.

The Random House Book of Poetry
Jam-packed with lots and lots of great poems and Arnold Lobel's whimsical drawings.  More geared toward children than some of the others books but still a nice selection.

The Golden Treasury of Poetry 
Very comprehensive, including classics short and long.  And lovely line drawings grace most pages, in both black-and-white and color.  A really beautiful collection.

Sing a Song of Popcorn 

A fun one with drawings by a variety of famous children's illustrators.  Again, this is more child-directed collection but there are enough classics mixed in to keep the volume from being overly silly.

Talking to the Sun
A lovely volume illustrated with art from the Met.  The kids pull this one from the shelves often because it is a delight to look through--and read from too.

A Small Child's Book of Verse
This volume, edited and illustrated by Pelagie Doane, is another out-of-print book with a non-descript cover, but the Tasha Tudor-esque drawings are delightful and it is full of pleasing selections.

Favorite Poems Old and New
Although I tried to limit myself to more heavily-illustrated versions, I had to include Ferris here too. Weisgard's accompanying line drawings are few, but I have read to my littles from this volume for years and it will always be a family favorite.

And, of course, you can't go wrong with A Child's Book of Poems, scheduled in AmblesideOnline Year 1.  Gyo Fujikawa's charming vintage illustrations, an appealing layout on the page, and a wonderful and extensive selection of poems.

~~~

Last but not least, a question for you all: any favorite choices for thematic poetry collections for children, like an a book of poems specifically about birds, or about animals, etc?  My friend is asking and I'd love to pass along your suggestions to her, because I haven't found any themed collections that we have loved.  Thanks in advance!

Why Poetry?

I'm guest-posting today over at Afterthoughts as part of her "31 Days of Charlotte Mason" series on one of my favorite topics: Why Poetry?  A sneak peek:

To be sure, there are many practical reasons to read poetry.  It teaches an ear for language.  It models brevity in writing.  It prepares one well for more sophisticated reading.  It is the mark of an educated person in many intellectual circles.  It gives one a sense for diction and rhythm.  It aids in understanding the many cultural references that draw on the classics.  It provides a sense for metaphor in writing.  It helps with public speaking.  It sharpens the powers of observation.  It exercises the memory.  And so on.

But as usual, Miss Mason doesn't advocate studying content just for skills.  She believes in the content itself, in the ideas that are contained there.  Poetry for poetry's sake.

"People employ themselves about Knowledge, about Mathematics, Poetry, History, in a feverish, eager way, not at all for the love of these things, but for the sake of prize or place, some reward bestowed on Emulation. But Knowledge has her own prizes, and these she reserves for her lovers. It is only in so far as Knowledge is dear to us and delights us for herself that she yields us lifelong joy and contentment. He who delights in her, not for the sake of showing off, and not for the sake of excelling others, but just because she is so worthy to be loved, cannot be unhappy." (Vol. 4, p. 78-9)

So if not for the practical reasons above, why should children study poetry at all?

Go read the rest over there!

(And if you're interested in learning more about Charlotte Mason education, her series is a great place to start.  You can see the full line-up of topics here.)

First Grade in Our Home: Memory Work Round-up

Since April is National Poetry Month, I thought I would list here the poems the children have learned this year...and then I decided (following Brandy's example), why not just round-up all the memory work my two first-graders have learned this year?  So here are all the poetry, hymns, songs, and prayers for this school year.  Perhaps it will give you some ideas for your own early-elementary students?

Poetry

Vincent - The Young Dandelion (Muloch), The Owl (Tennyson), The Eagle (Tennyson), The Crocodile (Carroll), Furry Bear (Milne), Knight-in-Armor (Milne), Autumn Fires (Stevenson), My Bed is Like a Little Boat (Stevenson)

Gianna - On Easter Day (Thaxter), Between Two Hills (Sandburg), It's All I Have To Bring Today (Dickinson), What Robin Told (Cooper), Rice Pudding (Milne), The Mirror (Milne), The Morns are Meeker (Dickinson), The Gardener (Stevenson)

Hymns

Holy God We Praise Thy Name

To Jesus Christ Our Sovereign King

Asperges Me

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

Alma Redemptoris Mater

Ave Regina Caelorum

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

O Little Town of Bethelehem

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Now Thank We All Our God

O Sacred Head Surrounded

Jesus Christ is Risen Today

Ave Maria (chant)

Folk Songs

Do Re Mi

The Star-Spangled Banner

America the Beautiful

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Home on the Range

Edelweiss

Over the River and Through the Woods

God Bless America

You're a Grand Old Flag

I've Been Working on the Railroad

Battle Hymn of the Republic

O My Darlin Clementine

Prayers

Pater Noster (Our Father in Latin)

The Angelus

Benedic Domine (mealtime prayer in Latin)

St. Andrew novena prayer

Ave Maria (Hail Mary in Latin)

Queen of Heaven

Apostle's Creed

Act of Contrition

Soul of Christ

Angele Dei (Angel of God in Latin)

Other

Pledge of Allegiance

PNEU Motto, as well as this longer version from When Children Love to Learn:

I am a child of God,

I ought to do His will.

I can do what He tells me,

And by His grace, I will.

Even though we'll be finishing up Year 1 next week, we'll be continuing with our daily subjects year-round, including our few minutes of memory work each day.  So I'm hoping all this all stays put in those busy brains! ;)  

And as we end the school year and move into our "summer" break, one my my to-dos is to plan next year's memory work.  Our poems will be chosen by the children from our scheduled poets, and I'll be picking hymns from the parish hymnal, but I'm still deciding on folk songs, and I'm hoping to hit at least one psalm and one parable next year, per Miss Mason's suggestions.  Any suggestions for ones to start with?  I'd love to hear what other young children are working on!

Valentines and Vacation

"I will make you brooches and toys for your delight,
of birdsong at morning and starshine at night.
I will make a palace fit for you and me,
Of green days in forests
And blue days at sea."

Robert Louis Stevenson

It's hard to believe Lent is here already!  Besides Ash Wednesday's being so early this year, our family was on vacation last week, and it has taken me a little while to readjust.  We deliberately planned the trip to be just before Lent begins, a week-long Mardi Gras of sorts.  And if you're like me, walking under soaring redwoods and over rocky shorelines trumps beads and parades any day. (Though I do love pancakes! ;))

But now we're back, and thanks to the gradual easing-in of the traditional Septuagesima, I'm not feeling completely unprepared.  The Stations of the Cross booklets are out, our prayers to learn are framed and ready, penances are chosen, calendars are drawn up, spiritual reading is chosen.

But in the midst of this seasonal shift, I find myself still thinking back to our little trip, and I wanted to share a bit of it here--particularly our time spent in nature study.  We may be suburbanites, but thankfully, we live in one of the most beautiful places in the country, I think, and it's great to take advantage of that now and then.  Some of the nature-related highlights of our trip:

Deep in the redwoods - super chilly and eerily quiet (well, until we got there--ahem).

Redwood sorrel and sword ferns were everywhere, as well as all different kinds of moss and fungi.

At the coast - we just finished the landforms section in C.C. Long's geography text, so this beach outing was a really fun opportunity to see all we had read about in person: mouth of a river, delta, bay, peninsula...

river on the right, ocean on the left

The river side of the beach was calm with quiet currents...

...while the seaside was rocky with crashing waves.

And back at the house, we did plenty of bird-watching (herons, ducks, egrets, jays), nature-journaling, and laying in the sun, watching the river run by.

 Oh, and this guy greeted us the first evening:

Hello, Mr. Fox!

The kids were thrilled; I was less so (after getting a few photos of him, naturally!).  We didn't see him after that first night, though.

In our poetry reading this morning, I came across the poem I quoted at the beginning of this post.  It's one I have read many times, but today the children and I were tickled at how well it suited our adventures of last week.

I will make you brooches and toys for your delight,

of birdsong at morning and starshine at night.

I will make a palace fit for you and me,

Of green days in forests

And blue days at sea.

God's valentine to us: our beautiful world.  In the midst of the prayers and fasting of this penitential season, time outdoors is a welcome balm to the soul.

Chapter 4: Poetry

If there is one element of Charlotte Mason's method that I need no convincing about it is the power of poetry.  A couple months ago, I read a fantastic snippet from a J. Bottom article, quoted at Common Room: "Another reason we read poetry to children has to do with what can only be called magic. Heavy meter and insistent rhyme are a kind of sorcery, through which words achieve unity not only with their meanings but with the things they represent. To put it another way, meter and rhyme confirm children’s deeply conservative desire that the world make sense in all its parts."  Oh, how true this is--there is magic in poetry, to be sure.  The beauty of good poetry lies in its tight connection between form and meaning and in its song, and although the former might be beyond the conscious notice of the young child, they explicitly delight in the latter.  

I grew up with very little exposure to poetry in school, but discovered the joy of reading and learning poetry in college, and I have read poetry to the children since they were very young and continue to do so daily.  Certain poems have already become part of our family culture, and we love quoting relevant lines.  For example, my daughter loves to sing, "How would you like to go up in the swing, up in the air so blue?" when we're at the park, and I often comment on the "bee-loud glade" under our backyard hibiscus tree.  I only have a very modest number memorized, but my children's capacity to absorb the poems so effortlessly has inspired me to try to memorize more--so handy to have a small anthology in my mind for the enjoyment of my children and myself at any time in any place!  I can genuinely say that the images, phrases, and rhythm we have internalized from our poetry readings have enriched all of us--even my toddler loves when I pull out an anthology and immediately shouts out his requests.  (His current favorite is Phyllis McGinley's "B's the Bus," which, as such, gets read nearly every morning.  William Blake's "The Lamb" is a close second.)

I contrast my own children's enthusiasm with my experience teaching college undergrads, who were--even as English majors!--interested in poetry but absolutely intimidated by it.  It was as if they felt that "sorcery," that lure, but did not know what to make of the poem and certainly did not know how to decode it.  Certainly, it is a beautiful thing to be able to take apart a poem, look at it closely, observe how it functions, and put it back together to re-experience its song in a new light.  My analytical side loves the feeling of really digging into a poem and reflecting on how the word choice, the meter, the rhyme scheme all come together to form the whole and make it "work."  But my less-analytical side just enjoys reading a good poem, or hearing one recited, or reciting one myself.  Acknowledging and appreciating the power of a poem doesn't rely on the student being able to tear it apart, like so many students have been taught.  

I think this is what Maryellen St. Cyr is referring to when she cautions: "This intimate and searching teacher, poetry, may only have its way if we bring it before the students void of preconceived notions that may interfere with the students' enjoyment and learning." (156)  Once again, we must be sure not to get in the way of the student in his meeting of the text/author.  This principle is so central to Charlotte Mason's philosophy and relates to every subject; the reminder in this chapter calls to my mind a passage regarding kindergarten from Miss Mason herself (and I just love her sense of humor here):

"There are still, probably, Kindergartens where a great deal of twaddle is talked in song and story, where the teacher conceives that to make poems for the children herself and to compose tunes for their singing and to draw pictures for their admiration, is to fulfill her function to the uttermost. The children might echo Wordsworth's complaint of 'the world,' and say, the teacher is too much with us, late and soon. Everything is directed, expected, suggested. No other personality out of book, picture, or song, no, not even that of Nature herself, can get at the children without the mediation of the teacher. No room is left for spontaneity or personal initiation on their part."  (Home Education, v. 1, p. 188, emphasis mine).

St. Cyr agrees: "Share the works of poets that afford the best thought of the best writers with your students.  There is so much noble poetry; the child should not be allowed to learn twaddle." (157)  It is a shame how many modern "children's anthologies" include only silly ditties when so much of even the greatest poetry is accessible to young ones, as the compilers of older anthologies--and the "children's poets" of the past themselves--knew quite well.  I do love a fun nonsense rhyme (a la Edward Lear or Mother Goose) or a sweet verse written especially for a child (a la Kate Greenaway or A.A. Milne)--it doesn't all need to be Shakespeare, Yeats, or Blake!  But the banal selections in so many modern anthologies leave me and my littles uninspired.

And one suggestion from this chapter that I'm hoping to implement with this year: "Train the students in the art of recitation, the fine art of beautiful and perfect speaking." (157)  I try to model good reading for the children and they do pick up on my phrasing, pausing, and whatnot just by listening.  But to work on this carefully as a service to both themselves and to others will be a great challenge for this year.  I'm also planning to incorporate some recitations for Daddy and the grandparents during our upcoming exam week and during Sunday teatimes in the winter.  If anyone has tips or suggestions on how to implement such a thing, I am all ears!  Thanks so much for indulging me in my little poetry diatribe today--it's one of my favorite subjects. :)