Product Description
Illus. in color and full color. "A generous collection with a distinctly upbeat tone, this gives a taste of the best poets writing for children over the last several decades. Lobel's drawings imbue the whole with action and graphic images as inventive as the verse. Successfully geared to meet home, school, and library needs."--(starred) Booklist.

Amazon.com Review
The Random House Book of Poetry for Children was recognized upon its publication in 1983 as an invaluable collection--a modern classic--and it has not since been surpassed. Five hundred poems, selected by poet and anthologist Jack Prelutsky, are divided into broad subject areas such as nature, seasons, living things, children, and home. The poems of Emily Dickinson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, and Gwendolyn Brooks populate the book's pages, while Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, and Shel Silverstein ensure that the collection delights even the most reluctant readers of rhyme. Playground chants, anonymous rhymes, scary poems, silly verse, and even some sad strains are carefully indexed by title, author, first line, and subject. With illustrations of cheerful, round-faced children and animals on every page, Arnold Lobel (a Caldecott medalist and creator of the Frog and Toad series) unifies the diverse poems to form a satisfying whole; Lobel can draw anything and make it funny--or poignant, if he chooses. This collection, one of the most varied and complete around, will carry any budding poetry lover through childhood and beyond. (Ages 5 to 11.)

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 19 reviews)

A Perennial Gift

As a middle school reading teacher, I host an annual Poetry Reading Competition open to all 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. For the past several years, this book has been a prize, in addition to plaques for the first and second prize winners. The best review for this book is that the children use it, read it, and often select poems from it for their entry pieces. Even better, perhaps, is that I have had thanks from many parents for awakening an interest in poetry in their children, boys and girls alike. This volume of poetry offers a full range of poems, for short to long, humorous to sublime, and in a wide range of topics. While it is just one of a wide selection of books and poets I offer my students, it is one of the most versatile. Whether teaching rhyme scheme, simile and metaphor, slanted rhyme, figurative language, or stress, this is also an invaluable part of my teaching arsenal.
June 17, 2007

Just so so..

Not as exciting or holding interest as the 20th Century Anthology by the same author...
June 13, 2007

Great Book for children

Along with funny and cute drawings, good short stories about anything and everything is in this book. I am using this book to read to children, and they like it very much. They laughed.
April 11, 2007

For young and old children

The copy I bought for my granddaughter Kate in 1990 is tattered and worn. She and I still remember sitting in my recliner, reading to one another. I'm still reading but Kate is a Marine in Iraq right now. I email poems that we shared and others that remind her of home. I won't risk sending her OUR COPY but I've ordered another to put in our next package.

March 11, 2007

Children's Poetry

This book provides a new mix of poetry for children and goes beyond the usual mix of the familiar. All of the comforting poems you remember from your own childhoold are there but much, much more. You will love finding gems you've forgotten as well as new delights. I buy this book now for all new parents.
January 09, 2007

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury (Treasured Gifts for the Holidays)
by Jack Prelutsky, Meilo So

Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young
by Jack Prelutsky, Marc Brown

For Laughing Out Loud: Poems to Tickle Your Funnybone
by Jack Prelutsky, Marjorie Priceman

If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand: Poems About School (Aladdin Poetry)
by Kalli Dakos
by G. Brian Karas

Where the Sidewalk Ends 30th Anniversary Edition: Poems and Drawings
by Shel Silverstein