Bruce N H
Active Member
Hey all,
This is really a tangent, but in last week's class while talking about the "I sit beside the fire and think" poem, there was a brief digression on poetry in children's books. Corey mentioned really liking the book Boom Chicka Boom (I don't know that one, will have to look for it) and much of Sandra Boynton*. So I wanted to raise the question for the group. What is your favorite children's book poetry. I'll start with two:
Goodnight, Moon, of course. I think every parent has this one memorized, even after their kids have grown up and moved away.
The Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson. The general plot is that while the bear is hibernating, other animals come into his cave for warmth, start sharing their food, light a little fire, have a party, until the bear wakes up. He's initially upset, but then joins in the fun, and eventually all the other animals fall asleep and the bear is up. I particularly love this passage:
An itty-bitty mouse,
pitter-pat, tip-toe,
creep-crawls in the cave
from the fluff-cold snow.
The rhythm of that line and the alliteration just really make it fun to read aloud. The whole book is a delight, IMO, and was a regular part of our bedtime rotation of books. She wrote a few more, where the bear and his friends do different things, but I felt those other books suffered because she took the exact same poetic form and changed the words, so after reading a couple of them it got redundant.
So, what are your favorite lines of poetry from children's books?
Bruce
*My favorite Boynton is Moo, Baa, La la la.
This is really a tangent, but in last week's class while talking about the "I sit beside the fire and think" poem, there was a brief digression on poetry in children's books. Corey mentioned really liking the book Boom Chicka Boom (I don't know that one, will have to look for it) and much of Sandra Boynton*. So I wanted to raise the question for the group. What is your favorite children's book poetry. I'll start with two:
Goodnight, Moon, of course. I think every parent has this one memorized, even after their kids have grown up and moved away.
The Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson. The general plot is that while the bear is hibernating, other animals come into his cave for warmth, start sharing their food, light a little fire, have a party, until the bear wakes up. He's initially upset, but then joins in the fun, and eventually all the other animals fall asleep and the bear is up. I particularly love this passage:
An itty-bitty mouse,
pitter-pat, tip-toe,
creep-crawls in the cave
from the fluff-cold snow.
The rhythm of that line and the alliteration just really make it fun to read aloud. The whole book is a delight, IMO, and was a regular part of our bedtime rotation of books. She wrote a few more, where the bear and his friends do different things, but I felt those other books suffered because she took the exact same poetic form and changed the words, so after reading a couple of them it got redundant.
So, what are your favorite lines of poetry from children's books?
Bruce
*My favorite Boynton is Moo, Baa, La la la.