A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children

nice library edition

Nice compilation. We bought it at the recommendation of our dyslexic daughter’s developmental psychologist. Reading short pieces of poetry really increased her confidence.

Caroline Kennedy knows how to compile an anthology of poems. I loved her book The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and A Family of Poems definitely belongs on the same shelf. This book is subtitled My Favorite Poetry for Children, but the wonderful thing about these poems is that they are for everyone. Adults can enjoy them and adults can share them with children. The poems are grouped into sections dealing with such topics as animals, bedtime, the seashore, and others. The section I liked best is the one on seasons, which includes page after page of personal favorites of mine, such as "Daffodils," "Pippa's Song," "Something Told the Wild Geese," "And What Is So Rare as a Day in June?" and "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening." Every page has a beautiful watercolor illustration by Jon J Muth, and the pictures capture not only the subject but also the spirit of the poems. If you love poetry, you will want to read this book. And then hopefully you will want to share it with a child.

Selection of poems by Caroline Kennedy along with her reasons for choosing them combined with those magical illustrations by Jon Muth make this a book for the ages. I have given it many times as a baby present. It is always well received.

A perfect pairing of an idea (have family members forgo birthday, mother's day, and other occasion cards and instead submit a favorite poem), favorite children's poems (which by the way adults will love also), and art work (Jon J. Muth is a master at pairing his drawings to achieve special effects with each of the poems he illustrates.) I came across this book in the library as a highly recommended book, and promptly fell in love with it. I bought one for myself and one for another adult. I think the idea of stimulating love of poetry among family members is terrific/ It would make a great book for families with children of all ages, including teens. Some of my favorites were "Mr. Mistoffelees", "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" and "Thoughts", the latter by Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy.

At first I was hesitant to buy this book because I'm not a great fan of poetry. I was looking for a special book for a newborn in a small bookstore on Amelia Island, Florida and this was suggested to me. Upon looking at the poems and illustrations chosen by Caroline Kennedy, I was sold. I paid full retail price and felt it was worth it. When I've needed special gifts for newborns in my own family or for Christenings, this is now my "go to" gift. Caroline has done her family name proud!

I really enjoyed this. It has a nice selection of classic poems and beautiful illustrations. The poems do range quite a bit in age, so it may not be completely suitable for any given kid, but it's a good family book or a book you could grow with. I'm really just getting started with poetry (in my old age) and it was a good introduction for me.One oddity is "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" by Wallace Stevens. It's included under "Nonsense Poems," so I read it in that light and took "dumb" to mean "stupid." Later, I discovered it's actually about a funeral (the "dumb" woman being silent because she is dead). So kind of a strange choice!

We love reading poetry with our kids. If you keep this book on a shelf near your dinner table, so will you.There are many excellent children's poets (Shel Silverstein  Where the Sidewalk Ends 30th Anniversary Edition (rpkg) , Jack Prelutsky, and others) and I urge you to buy books from all of them, but for variety this is my favorite collection. This book includes poems with the humorous whimsy and rhyme people associate with poetry for children, but also more sophisticated, sedate, and thoughtful poems from the present and the past.Some you'll want to read to your kids, others you'll want them to read to you. And the age range for this book is pretty much everyone from kindergarten to old age. These poems "for children" aren't just for kids at all.

This is an excellent addition to my collection.

As described. Nice product.

We were highly disappointed; not in the book, but in the delivery time. A poem in the book was NEEDED for a Friday performance. The book was to be delivered by Thursday at the absolute latest. The book ended up arriving on Friday when the performance was done. It caused a lot of frantic moments.

The book is beautiful and the poems are Delightful! A must for parents and grandparents of small children.