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In the tradition of Poetry Speaks, the anthology named a Best Book of 2002 by School Library Journal, and praised by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as "a volume to delight longtime lovers of poetry and to spark new love for poetry, especially among the young," Sourcebooks MediaFusion is proud to introduce the joy of the written and spoken word in Poetry Speaks to Children. Parents, educators, librarians, and poetry enthusiasts have wondered for years how to get children really interested in poetry. Until now, there hasn't been a collection of poems and poets that spoke directly to that elusive audience. Poetry Speaks to Children cracks through that barrier by packaging the best poems by the best authors along with a CD-making the engrossing and often mischievous verses come alive in the voices of many of the creators. Poetry Speaks to Children reaches into the world of poetry and pulls out the elements children love: rhyme, rhythm, fun and, every once in a while, a little mischief. More than 90 poems, for children ages six and up, celebrate the written word and feature a star-studded lineup of beloved poets, including: Roald Dahl; J. R. R. Tolkien; Robert Frost; Gwendolyn Brooks; Ogden Nash; John Ciardi; Langston Hughes; Sonia Sanchez; Seamus Heaney; Canada's best-loved children's poet, Dennis Lee; Rita Dove; Billy Collins; Nikki Giovanni and X. J. Kennedy. On the accompanying CD, 52 of the poems are brought to life-most read by the poets themselves-allow the reader to hear the words as the poets intended. Hear Gwendolyn Brooks growl her rhyming verse poem "The Tiger Who Wore White Gloves, or, What You Are You Are" with verve and inflection-relaying the story of the striped cat who "rushed to the jungle fair for something fine to wear," much to the hoots of his jungle peers. Amid jeers, sneers and sighs, the tiger eventually learns to be comfortable in his own striped skin! (or fur as it were!). Follow Ogden Nash as he tells of the brave little Isabel, who "didn't worry, didn't scream or scurry" when confronted with a ravenous bear, a one-eyed giant or a troublesome doctor. Her clever solutions to problems ("She turned the witch into milk and drank her") will keep even the most reluctant readers interested. Listen to James Berry, who quells a little girl's anxieties about her color by celebrating the marriage of "night and light," emphasizing how all colors are necessary in nature, in "Okay, Brown Girl, Okay." Turn the page and tune in . . . kids won't be the only ones hooked!
Poetry Speaks to Children FROM THE PUBLISHER In the tradition of Poetry Speaks, the anthology named a Best Book of 2002 by School Library Journal, and praised by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as "a volume to delight longtime lovers of poetry and to spark new love for poetry, especially among the young," Sourcebooks MediaFusion is proud to introduce the joy of the written and spoken word in Poetry Speaks to Children.
Parents, educators, librarians, and poetry enthusiasts have wondered for years how to get children really interested in poetry. Until now, there hasn't been a collection of poems and poets that spoke directly to that
elusive audience. Poetry Speaks to Children cracks through that barrier by packaging the best poems by the best authors along with a CD-making the engrossing and often mischievous verses come alive in the voices of many of the creators.
Poetry Speaks to Children reaches into the world of poetry and pulls out the elements children love: rhyme, rhythm, fun and, every once in a while, a little mischief.
More than 90 poems, for children ages six and up, celebrate the written word and feature a star-studded lineup of beloved poets, including: Roald Dahl; J. R. R. Tolkien; Robert Frost; Gwendolyn Brooks; Ogden Nash; John Ciardi; Langston Hughes; Sonia Sanchez; Seamus Heaney; Canada's best-loved children's poet, Dennis Lee; Rita Dove; Billy Collins; Nikki Giovanni and X. J. Kennedy.
On the accompanying CD, 52 of the poems are brought to life-most read by the poets themselves-allow the reader to hear the words as the poets intended.
Hear Gwendolyn Brooks growl her rhyming verse poem "The Tiger Who Wore White Gloves, or, What You Are You Are" with verve and inflection -- relaying the story of the striped cat who "rushed to the jungle fair for something fine to wear," much to the hoots of his jungle peers. Amid jeers, sneers and sighs, the tiger eventually learns to be comfortable in his own striped skin (or fur as it were!).
Follow Ogden Nash as he tells of the brave little Isabel, who "didn't worry, didn't scream or scurry" when confronted with a ravenous bear, a one-eyed giant or a troublesome doctor. Her clever solutions to problems ("She turned the witch into milk and drank her") will keep even the most reluctant readers interested.
Listen to James Berry, who quells a little girl's anxieties about her color by celebrating the marriage of "night and light," emphasizing how all colors are necessary in nature, in "Okay, Brown Girl, Okay."
Turn the page and tune in...kids won't be the only ones hooked!
FROM THE CRITICS Publishers Weekly Poetry Speaks, the popular 2001 poetry-anthology-with-CD for adults, has inspired an offspring: Poetry Speaks to Children edited by Elise Paschen, illus. by Judy Love and others. The volume features 95 poems by 73 poets including W.B. Yeats, Richard Wilbur, Ogden Nash and Nikki Giovanni. The works of 52 of these poets are read on the accompanying CD, most in the authors' own voices (Robert Frost, Langston Hughes and Roald Dahl among them). This entertaining dip into many archival recordings will likely be a family treasure as well as a welcome classroom or library resource. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews This is jolly and good, a fine thing in an anthology. It serves as an excellent introduction to a whole lot of poetry, from Shakespeare to Nikki Giovanni, from Kipling to Naomi Shihab Nye. The poems are short and long, rhymed and not, famous and little-known. Every single one of them is appealing. There's all of "Casey at the Bat" and "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod"; there are poems about farting and about underwear; there's Billy Collins's existential musing on turning ten and Maxine Kumin's poem about a sneeze. The accompanying CD is a wonder: Langston Hughes introducing his own "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and Tolkien himself reading one of Frodo's songs. Joy Harjo near-chants her "Eagle Poem," and Poetry Alive! performs a few selections with a bit of musical accompaniment. The illustrations are earnest and cheerful, although they suffer a bit from being by several hands: There isn't one style or focus. Sure to please teachers, parents and children who might not yet know how much they need poetry, and how much they will love it. (Poetry. 7-12)
AUTHOR DESCRIPTION Elise Paschen is the author of Infidelities, winner of the Nicholas Roerich
Poetry Prize and Houses: Coasts, and her poems have appeared in numerous
magazines and anthologies. A graduate of Harvard University, she holds
M.Phil and D. Phil. degrees in twentieth-century literature from Oxford
University. Former executive director of the Poetry Society of America
(1988?2001) and co-founder of Poetry in Motion, a nationwide program that
places poetry in subways and buses, and she is the coeditor of Poetry
Speaks, Poetry in Motion, and Poetry in Motion from Coast to Coast. Dr.
Paschen teaches in the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago, and she lives in Chicago with her husband and two children.
About the Advisory Editors:
Billy Collins is the author of many volumes of poetry including The Trouble
with Poetry: And Other Poems, Nine Horses, Sailing Alone Around the Room,
and Picnic, Lightning. His poems have appeared regularly in The Best
American Poetry. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman
College (City University of New York). He served as United States Poet
Laureate (2001?03) and is currently the poet laureate of New York State.
A poet, lecturer and educator Nikki Giovanni has written more than two dozen
books, including Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea, Racism 101, Blues for All the
Changes, and Love Poems. The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection, a
spoken-word CD, was a finalist for a Grammy Award in 2003. She is the
three-time winner of the NAACP Image Award for Literature; she has also
received the Langston Hughes Award for Distinguished Contributions to Arts
and Letters and the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award. She has been voted
Woman of the Year by Essence, Mademoiselle, and Ladies? Home Journal. She
is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, where she teaches
writing and literature.
X. J. Kennedy is the author of Nude Descending a Staircase (winner of the
Lamont Award of the Academy of American Poets) and The Lords of Misrule,
which won the Poets? Prize, and other poetry books as well as numerous works
for children. With his wife, Dorothy, he edited Knock at a Star: A Child?s
Introduction to Poetry. Among his many awards is the National Council of
Teachers of English Year 2000 Award for Excellence in Children?s Poetry.
Formerly the poetry editor of The Paris Review, Kennedy has taught at the
University of Michigan, the Woman?s College of the University of North
Carolina, Wellesley College, the University of California-Irvine, the
University of Leeds and Tufts. Mr. Kennedy lives in Lexington,
Massachusetts, with his wife.
About the Series Editor:
Dominique Raccah is founder, president and publisher of Sourcebooks, a
leading independent publisher outside of Chicago. Today Sourcebooks
publishes non-fiction, fiction and poetry. She is the series editor of
Poetry Speaks and Sourcebooks Shakespeare.
About the Illustrators:
Judy Love has illustrated many children?s books, including the Jitter
series, Leapin? Lizzy and other titles.
Wendy Rasmussen is the illustrator of There?s a Kangaroo in My Soup! and
many other books.
Paula Zinngrabe Wendland has illustrated various educational titles; she is
known for her bold, stylized mixedmedia work.
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