Customer Reviews

A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is absolutely beautiful...the variety and quality of Kennedy's selections is right on...the Muth paintings are brilliant and complement the words perfectly. I got chills flipping through it for the first time...will be a classic.

Because I have a jaundiced view of celebrity books, I'll admit that I was skeptical about an anthology compiled by Caroline Kennedy. But the fact is that Ms. Kennedy has done an admirable job with this young person's poetry collection. The poets are sometimes unexpected (Sylvia Plath has a charming bedtime poem here that I had never read) and the poems are not necessarily the obvious ones that one would expect to find in a book like this.

There are nonsense rhymes, but they seem to be the best ones; no doggerel here. And as you can see from this review's title, I was especially happy to see one particular poem represented. :)

I have about 20 anthologies of poetry for children, and this is clearly the best in my collection. The poems are beautifully crafted and many are fairly complex, yet they are all accessible and interesting to children (mine are finishing up 1st & 2nd grade). Plus the watercolor illustrations are absolutely exquisite.

The other thing I love about this book is its integrity. This does not appear to be a random selection of poems chosen by an unrelated committee of people (like some of my other anthologies). As diverse as the poetry selections are, there is still something coherent about them -- they fit together and work together in a very satisfying way.

I highly recommend this book.

I bought my copy in the child's section at my bookstore. I think a "Family" or an "All Ages" section needs to be created. This book of poetry, as well as the beautiful watercolor illustrations, are to be enjoyed by young and old. For older readers, the poems of youth are read with a warm smile and for the young readers, they can look forward to growing up with this book. Favorite Poems of Jackie Kennedy is also excellent. If you are interested in poetry and don't know where to start, either book is a great place to begin. (Off topic, Patriot's Handbook is terrific, too.) Caroline Kennedy is definitely on to something here. I hope it continues.

Caroline Kennedy kicks off this anthology by saying that there is "a world of word and feelings that poetry can help us understand" and her comprehensive and creative poem choice sets out to prove this. She collects some really interesting choices, from the "classics" like Robert Frost, Emily Dickenson, the Bible, and ee cummings to many excellent contemporary poems and poets. The book is clearly divided into seven sections: About Me, That's So Silly!, Animals, The Seasons, The Seashore, Adventure, and Bedtime that keep the anthology neatly organized. Each section is punctuated by events, stories, and recollections from Kennedy's own life, but they are kept to a minimum so it never feels like a "celebrity book". At the end is a useful index of the first lines of every poem and the non-English poems in their original form.

However this really is not Kennedy's book. It truly belongs to illustrator Jon J Muth, who raises the bar on this anthology beyond a simple collection and into a spectacular emotional experience. His watercolor illustrations are gorgeous in their simplicity, often showing the original pencil sketches through the paint, but with an impressive level of detail, such as the individual buckles on a suitcase the size of a thumb. His illustrations are not always sensical or realistic, often going with the emotional flow of the selected poems and incorporating whimsical abstractions, like a man with a crown made of ice cream cones on his head. Often the text and the paintings work together in brilliant symbiosis, such as in his dark sunset for "These Are the Days When Birds Come Back" or the simple and smudgy peacock feather. His work is also admirable for including so many people of color as a matter of course, and not just for poems by minority authors.

The New York Times calls his work "quietly life changing" and experiencing his complex butterfly wings or glowing Christmas tree or sparklingly translucent jellyfish moves the audience as much as the poems themselves.

We own several poetry books for children (Talking Like the Rain, 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury), and while we have enjoyed reading those with our children, this one truly outshines the others. The illustrations are what make this collection superior. They are bold and colorful without being a distraction. The selection of poems is superb and hopefully in reading this book with your children, they will fall in love with language and the imagery it evokes. This is a classic!

Caroline Kennedy has breathed new life into the classic poetry we have been reading our whole lives. Some of the poems will be familar to you because you read them and loved them in grammar and high school. Other poems you may have seen excperts of in movies, greeting cards, and children's songs. I also appreciate how the paintings compliment the pieces, while adding a new perspective and offering a greater capacity for imagination. I do love poetry and I found this book by simply looking through all the new poetry on the market. Another book I read that has poetry and short stories, that is similar to this one because old and young alike will find something for them, is Calling in the Night by Michele Geraldi. It has a good variety of children's poems, short stories, spiritual poems, and patriotic poems and stories, so I think readers who enjoy A Family of Poems might find interest in that book as well. Keep in mind that Calling in the Night is original work, though, where as A Family of Poems is mostly classics, so there is that difference there. Caroline Kennedy really has fabulous taste, and the Kennedy family in general can always be counted on to be classy and eloquent. This is a book that can fit right in with any child's or adult's poetry collection.

After reading the first installment (Best loved poems of JKO), I shared many of my favorites with my niece who's barely 10 yrs old. She fell in love with "Annabel Lee" by the great EAP. I was so intrigued by her interest. I then ordered a copy of "A Family of Poems", 2 copiesfor she and I. The illustrations are magical as well as the words the depict them.

I have found such pleasure in sharing them with my family, I never knew that they would respond with such enthusiasm. I truely believe that these are the things which can bring a family closer. I am so jealous of the fact that my family didn't grow up in this fashion. I will make it a priority to teach my children these works, and let them explore all of the great wonders that are brought to life byh them. I want my family to appreciate what words truely mean.

As spoken by Mrs. Kennedy giving a poem is like giving a gift, always read only the greats, and know that poetry can take you so many wonderful places. This is not verbatim, but it is the sentiment that I have taken and shared with all.

I now cannot go to sleep without going through the adventures of these great works.

Thank you Caroline for all the attention you put into collecting such great master pieces.

From the silly to the lovely, this book has it all! I LOVE Shel Silverstein's poems for kids (and for me!), but when teachers ask kids to study various poets and styles, this book provides the diversity you need. The book has saved me from searching favorite poets' works for ones a child/preteen would like or understand; they are already here. A great resource for the 5-12 year old set.

This is a great collection of poetry for children. It's all the best poetry in one book. It's like a "greatest hits" CD. Everything in it is good. Being a homeschool family, we use this book a lot!! I highly recommend it.