BILL MARTIN JR BIG BOOK OF POETRY

My 1st grade students love the poems and pictures.

Lovely book, full of fun poetry for kids and illustrated by many different artists.

Great collection of poetry. We bought it as a gift to our grand daughter. She liked it as well.

It is impossible to only use one adjective to describe this book. This collection of poetry has been educational, fun, entertaining, wonderful and conversation-provoking for my family.This book features a diverse collection of poetry by authors ranging from Emily Dickinson to Jack Prelutsky. Surprisingly, my daughter's favorite poem is "Bed in Summer" by Robert Louis Stevenson. She laughs each time we read this poem because she is able to empathize with the narrator because she also has to go to bed before dark in the summer. She was amazed when I told her the poem was over 100 years old.The illustrations are amazing and fit each poem wonderfully. It seems no matter what is happening in our lives; there is a poem in this book which fits the occasion (such as holidays, the birth of her sister and eating vegetables).I have given this book to her teachers each year for Christmas. My daughter was thrilled when recently visiting her previous teacher; the teacher pointed out the poetry book was sitting out as she had read several poems from the book to her class that morning.This book is would be a wonderful gift for anyone who spends time children in the age range of 4 -8 years.

Children's books written in verse seem to be making a come back. Works like Brian Lies "Bats at the Beach" remind us of the wonder and pleasure we all took as children in wonderful rhyming books. Yet too often, people underrate their children's ability to appreciate poetry.This tremendous treasure of a volume brings back so many wonderful memories of the poetry my parents read to me and offered me the opportunity to read with my children and grow their love of language. To the editor's credit, he did not choose a selection that in any way reads "down" to children, but with poems by Frost, Dickenson, Hughes, and Stevenson, instead sought to lift them up to wonderful heights.Will your child love all of these poems? Of course not. What he or she will however enjoy is the diversity of the pieces. Moreover, the varied and beautiful illustrations are sure to move even the smallest imagination to new flights of wonder.