Favourite Poems for Children

March 1, 2011

PreS-Gr 6-This collection includes 39 poems, and all but one are by British authors. Some will be familiar to American audiences, like "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" by Robert Browning, and Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter." Others will be new, like the delightful "The Guinea Pig Song" (anonymous) and John Keats's "There Was a Naughty Boy." No attempt has been made to make these poems more "politically correct," and occasionally the main characters meet with terrible ends. For example, in Hilaire Belloc's "Matilda," a young girl burns to death because she tells so many lies that nobody believes her when her house catches on fire. The CD comes with a complete list of the poems by track, an insightful introduction about why and how poetry works, and short bios of each of the performers. All of the voice actors have extensive performing experience and many have worked for the BBC, and the poems are read in easy-to-understand British accents. A great choice for those interested in traditional British children's poetry. For a wider range of poets, consider the book/CD package, Poetry Speaks to Children (Sourcebooks Media Fusion, 2005), which includes nearly 100 poems in the print version and about half of them on the CD.-Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT

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