Explore Your World With Poetry

Parents' Choice salutes National Poetry Month with the following suggestions guaranteed to tickle and teach. Even the youngest riddlers will be encouraged to explore poetry: from Bali to Zanzibar, from Frankenstein to the Elympics. This varied collection offers poetic choices for even the toughest to please. 

Here Comes Mother Goose
Ages: Infant - 3 yrs.
Author: Iona Opie   Illustrator: Rosemary Wells  
Candlewick Press, $21.99 (Hard Cover)   

A fresh interpretation on the classic, this version of Mother Goose offers charming appeal to early-readers. Illustrations by Rosemary Wells amuse and entertain, while complimenting the classic text. It's Raining Pigs & Noodles
Ages: All Ages
Author: Jack Prelutsky   Illustrator: James Stevenson  
HarperCollins Children's Books / Amistad, $17.95 (Hard Cover)   

Read these poems aloud and the reaction is sure to be laugh-aloud fun. Masterful word-play makes for marvelous poems in this collection that will likely be memorized by readers of all ages. Falling Up
Ages: All Ages
By: Shel Silverstein  
HarperCollins Childrens Books, $17.95 (Hard Cover)   

Children's favorite Shel Silverstein presents another amusing collection of poems for all ages in "Falling Up." Those who have enjoyed "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and "A Light in the Attic" won't want to miss these. 

Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry
Ages: All Ages
Illustrator: Ashley Bryan  
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing/Atheneum Books for Young Readers, $16.00 (Hard Cover)   

Illustrator Ashley Bryan weaves a spiritual collection of select African American poets together in this truly original piece. The ABCs are the unconventional strand upon which Bryan strings the varying voices of the poets. The poets are vividly illustrated through full-page paintings.  

Runny Babbit
Ages: All Ages
Author: Shel Silverstein  
HarperCollins Childrens Books, $15.99 (Hard Cover)   

In this very "billy sook," Shel Silverstein may have invented a whole new category of poetry: spooner-verse. You may not want to read them back-to-back (for fear of tying tnots in your kongue) but it's almost impossible to resist reading a few at a time out loud to anyone who will listen. The poems, however, pale in comparison to the artwork: exuberant, expressive black-line cartoons that are surely among Silverstein's best work. 

Animal Trunk: Silly Poems to Read Aloud
Ages: 3 - 5 yrs.
Author: Charles Ghigna   Illustrator: Gabriel  
Harry N. Abrams, Inc., $14.95 (Hard Cover)   

It's a zoo in here! Vivid, primary-colored images of all sorts of animals illustrate these simple poems for young readers or listeners. 

Rice Is Life
Ages: 4 - 8 yrs.
Author: Rita Goldman Gelman   Illustrator: Yangsook Choi  
Henry Holt & Company, LLC, $15.99 (Hard Cover)   

This beautifully illustrated book, set in Bali, explores the life cycle of growing rice. Each page contains a poem and a painting and prose paragraphs that compliment them. It offers a unique look at the life of a farming family in a presentation that is truly original.