A Child's Garden of Verses [Hardcover]

Robert Louis Stevenson (Author), Tasha Tudor (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: February 1, 1999 | Age Range: 4 and up

Here is a delightful look at childhood, written by master poet and storyteller Robert Louis Stevenson. In this collection of sixty-six poems, Stevenson recalls the joys of his childhood, from sailing boats down a river, to waiting for the lamplighter, to sailing off to foreign lands in his imagination. Tasha Tudor's watercolor paintings evoke a simpler time in the past, and celebrate two of the things she loves most -- children and nature. Her talents are the perfect match for these inspiring poems, making this a handsome gift edition that will be cherished by families for generations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Poems Stevenson originally wrote for his children are beautifully illustrated in this appealing volume. --Yellow Brick Road --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Robert Louis Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850. He spent his childhood in Edinburgh, Scotland, but traveled widely in the United States and throughout the South Seas. The author of many novels, including The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped, The Black Arrow, and Treasure Island, he died in 1894.

Tasha Tudor (1915–2008) was a Caldecott artist with more than ninety books to her credit. She was known across the world for her glowing watercolor depictions of the American rural scene of a century ago and for her exquisite paintings of children, flowers, and animals. Tasha Tudor was also the illustrator of A Child’s Garden of Verses, The Night Before Christmas, The Springs of Joy, A Time to Keep, The Dolls’ Christmas, All for Love, Pumpkin Moonshine, A is for Annabelle, and 1 is One, a Caldecott Honor Book.

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 67 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Revised edition (February 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689823827
• ISBN-13: 978-0689823824
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 0.5 x 12.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary Criticism & Collections

More About the Author

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a novelist, poet, short-story writer, and essayist. In 1883, while bedridden with tuberculosis, he wrote what would become one of the best known and most beloved collections of children's poetry in the English language, A Child's Garden of Verses. Block City is taken from that collection. Stevenson is also the author of such classics as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic for any child (or child at heart) July 9, 2002

By Catherine S. Vodrey

Format:Hardcover

This classic edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses" is justly famed because it so beautifully pairs Stevenson's sometimes exuberant, sometimes melancholy poems on childhood with the extraordinary illustrations of Tasha Tudor.

Tudor's delicate watercolors complement Stevenson's work almost to the point that you think the two, living in different centuries, must share some time-travel telepathy with each other. All the classic Stevenson pieces are here: "The Swing," "The Land of Counterpane," the terrific poem about a child's shadow. Tudor depicts only children and animals herein--as it should be--without the presence of shadow of adults anywhere. Both Stevenson and Tudor understand in their bones that no matter what grown-ups may think, children inhabit a world of their own. That world is mostly beautiful, but sometimes fraught with danger or questions. Those hints are present here, but the overwhelming impression any reader will have will be that of beauty--both in words and in pictures.

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I read this 30 years ago May 2, 2000

By A.Trendl HungarianBookstore.com VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Thirty years ago, I was taught to read with this. Different pictures, same poems. I learned to imagine and believe in ordinary, yet beautiful things. Even today, in my own writing, I smile realizing how and when I learned a technique ... just by listening to my mother whisper these poems nightly.

Aptly named, RLS has the reader remembering the wonderful days of playing alone and with friends, of delighting in the moment.

Your child will gain an understanding of classic children's poetry, of the rhythm and rhyme. They sound eloquent aloud, and read gentle at bedtime.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful poems that will stay with you June 16, 2000

By A. Creech

Format:Hardcover

Like many others, I first read these poems as a very young child. I didn't realise until rereading them just recently how many of them had stayed with me. The poems all deal with sounds, sights and emotions that will be familiar to most young children. And as an adult, the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson brings back that sense of wonder and amazement that many of us lose as we grow older. One of the poems that I will always remember deals with how difficult it is to go to bed when you are told in the summer when the days are long and the sun is still out. who doesn't remember this?

The illustrations in this particular edition, by Tasha Tudor, capture perfectly the childhood world of the poetry--the imagination in play is wonderfully portrayed. Remember when the space under the table became a cave, or a castle, or a spaceship? These poems and the accompanying illustrations deal with these imaginary adventures that all children share in.

Purchase this book and share it with other adults and with the children in your life. If it stays with you for the rest of your life, then you have gained a treasure.