Give Yourself to the Rain: Poems for the Very Young [Hardcover]

Margaret Wise Brown (Author), Teri L. Weidner (Author)

Book Description

Margaret Wise Brown once observed, "To write well for children, one must love the things that children love." And write well for children she did -- with a deep love for and a keen perception of all things great and small in the world around us.

Collected here for the first time are twenty-four of Margaret Wise Brown's children's poems, which range in subject from jig-dancing pigs and the wild sound of the wind to the colors of a summer day and the joy of giving oneself to the rain.

With a foreword by noted children's literature scholar and Brown biographer Leonard S. Marcus, and illustrated with vibrant and sensitive paintings by Teri L. Weidner, Give Yourself to the Rain is a precious gift to be shared among children and adults everywhere.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The author of Goodnight Moon wrote scores of poems for children in her short lifetime, many of which were left unpublished until now. In this collection of 24 poems, Margaret Wise Brown's virtuosity shines through with verses about simple childhood pleasures and sorrows. Days later, readers young and old will find themselves muttering: "Hark to the sound / Of the sea-slung gong / Ding Dong Dong / Ding Dong Dong" or "Jig Big / jig little / jig little / Jig Big / Jig like a big PIG / dancing a jig." Some poems are clearly more refined than others; if Brown were alive, she undoubtedly would have smoothed the rougher edges in "Pussycat and the Pumpkin," for example. Teri L. Weidner's watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations in "Spring Madness" and "Colors" are sweet and natural, although "The Monkey Man" and "Christmas Song" are less appealing. When all is said and done, though, fans of the legendary Margaret Wise Brown will be pleased at another glimpse into her talented, imaginative world. (Ages 4 and older) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly

Although many of the previously unpublished poems in this posthumous collection demonstrate the lyricism of Brown's best work, others seem clunky, as if the poems needed further polishing to find the quiet rhythms and grace of language hidden inside. Marcus, Brown's biographer, provides an eloquent foreword and relates how Brown scribbled poems on the backs of envelopes, but was a "consummate craftsperson [who] might fiddle with a single line for years." Some verses in this padded volume could have used a bit more fiddling. On the other hand, Brown consistently conveys universal childhood experiences in clear language without complexity. She describes a first snowstorm as "White/ And quiet in the night," and dandelions as "Bright yellow/ Constellations/ Brave little lions/ Suns in the grass." The poems vary from the impish surprise of "Pussycat and the Pumpkin" to the wistful longing in "The Sound of the Wind Is a Wild Sound" to the raucous singsong sounds of "Pig Jig." Even with some static watercolor and pencil illustrations, Weidner (Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny) for the most part utilizes subtle textures and sensitively reflects the tone of the poems. While the painting for "In the Sugar Egg" does not quite match details in the poem, for instance, the illustration accompanying "Colors" interweaves selective images from the text to make a seek-and-find landscape of flowers and insects. A somewhat disappointing but nonetheless welcome collection for fans of Brown's Goodnight Moon. Ages 4-8.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068983344X
• ISBN-13: 978-0689833441
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #772,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Margaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of books and stories during her life, but she is best known for Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny. Even though she died over 45 years ago, her books still sell very well. Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have animals as characters in the story. She liked to write books that had a rhythm to them. Sometimes she would put a hard word into the story or poem. She thought this made children think harder when they are reading. She wrote all the time. There are many scraps of paper where she quickly wrote down a story idea or a poem. She said she dreamed stories and then had to write them down in the morning before she forgot them. She tried to write the way children wanted to hear a story, which often isn't the same way an adult would tell a story. She also taught illustrators to draw the way a child saw things. One time she gave two puppies to someone who was going to draw a book with that kind of dog. The illustrator painted many pictures one day and then fell asleep. When he woke up, the papers he painted on were bare. The puppies had licked all the paint off the paper. Margaret died after surgery for a bursting appendix while in France. She had many friends who still miss her. They say she was a creative genius who made a room come to life with her excitement. Margaret saw herself as something else - a writer of songs and nonsense.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poems perfect for the very young, March 13, 2002

By 

"rldahlen" (Mechanicsburg, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Give Yourself to the Rain: Poems for the Very Young (Hardcover)

Written with Margaret Wise Brown's uncanny knack for the ear of the youngest listeners and readers, these previously unpublished poems have found a match for their eyes with Teri Weidner's gentle, quietly glorious illustrations filling each page. For the title poem, a child looks wistfully out a rain-flecked window. "Never has the grass been so green" is more cheeringly adorned with smiling leonine dandelions. "Pig Jig" is genuinely funny in text and drawing. Adults won't be bored by the poetry or the pictures. The poems are short, set in short lines, not unlike "Goodnight Moon," comfortably reread often; the drawings are all a pleasure to view again; the size of the book (8 1/2 by 11) seems ideally suited to be held in chair or bed with children of the intended age -- "the very young." From our household, this charming volume gets an unqualifiedly favorable recommendation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect First Poetry Book, February 18, 2009

By 

Jamie Tadlock "The Bookie" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Give Yourself to the Rain: Poems for the Very Young (Hardcover)

Fantastic Poetry book for young readers. My two year old daughter stayed engaged through the entire thing and I loved being able to introduce her to poetry at such a young age. I LOVE Margaret Wise Brown and will buy this book again but next time as a gift!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ducky, April 4, 2007

By 

Jeannie C "Jeannie C" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Give Yourself to the Rain: Poems for the Very Young (Hardcover)

The artwork in this book is great and so is the story. I recommend it