Poetry Speaks to Children

I am very impressed with the children's poetry book Poetry Speaks to Children. It's just one of those books that you know is destined to become a classic. The book is already a New York Times Bestseller, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, and I feel kind of honored that Sourcebooks publishers asked us to review it.

This book follows in the great tradition of the original Poetry Speaks book. The book is an effort to bring classic poetry alive for children, and the book excels at this effort. Now, I admit that I grew up memorizing poems with my mom, and began writing my own poetry as soon as I could write, so I might be biased, but I love this book.

Before you even read your kids any of these poems, your kids will fall in love with this book. The illustrations are beautiful, warm, and inviting. One of the great things about a book of poems, is that each page is a new story, with new pictures for your kids. My wife and I have been reading our daughter one poem a night before she goes to bed, and she loves the poems and the pictures.

What really sets this book apart, and brings the book to life for kids, is the CD that comes with it. The CD has 58 tracks of poetry, most of the poems read on the CD by their authors. 27 of the recordings are original, and can only be found on this CD. Your kids will benefit in so many ways from listening to poets like Robert Frost, Roald Dahl, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Ogden Nash reading their own poetry. Hearing the poems read this way will really get your kids excited about poetry. Plus, hearing the poems with their original, flowing cadence will help them learn how to read and understand poetry. This sounds simple, but a lot of people struggle with this their whole lives, which turns them away from poetry in general.

Poetry excites me. I believe that this is at least in part due to the poems and stories that my mom read with me all through my early years. This book is a great book to read to your kids, to help get them excited about poetry, creativity, and imagination. It's also great for those times when you don't have time to read to them, and just want to put on the CD and let them look at the pictures. There's a reason why this book is a New York Times Best Seller.