#14- A Child's Introduction to Poetry

#14- A Child’s Introduction to Poetry

A Child’s Introduction to Poetry

Written by: Michael Driscoll

Illustrated by: Meredith Hamilton

Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., 2003

91 pages

Poetry

“Listen while you learn about the magic words that have moved mountains, won battles and made us laugh and cry.”

This book is all about different types of poetry. It has two parts: part one is about rhymes and their reasons; and part two is about poetry greats. The book discusses the different kinds of poetry in a very kid-friendly way, and then gives you terrific examples of the specific kind of poetry they are talking about. They give you definitions for words that children may not understand while reading the poem. The book even talks a little about the authors of the poems. There is a CD included with this book that includes all the poems being read aloud. The book contains nursery rhymes such as “Little Miss Muffet” and “There was an Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe.” There are nonsense verse poems such as “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll. Even the “Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is included in this collection of poems.

Hamilton illustrates colorful, cartoon-like drawings to tell the story of each poem. The medium is not listed, but it looks like pencil and watercolor is used. You can see the layers of transparent colors in each of the drawing. Some of the pictures are full-page, and some of them are vignettes.

This book is appropriate for middle elementary level students (2^nd-5^th grade). You could use this book in a literary center. The students could fill out a graphic organizer on the book as they perused it. They would be able to see and understand all different types of poetry by doing this activity.