19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
poems for childhood remembered, November 22, 2002
Forget the smoke-filled coffee shop, the microphone on the podium and the beatnicks huddled around their coffees. The real test of a reader's poetic prowess is A.A. Milne, the living room couch and a handful of kids waiting for your renderings of growling bears and timelessl human characters.
It takes an extraordinary book to capture children's attention on the strength of words alone.
It's not that there are no illustrations here, just that each poem has just one or two small, original ink drawings; delightful, but bowing appropriately to the genius of words that can hold children spellbound. For instance, Milne takes a subject like sidewalks and transforms it into the stuff of playacting in Lines and Squares - an irresistible cadence to chant on a walk (or a lumbering gait):
And the masses of bears
Who wait at the corners all ready to eat the sillies who tread on the lines of the street
And I say to them, "BEARS.....
Just look how I'm walking in ALL of the squares!"
As I read I can now recall the precise inflection and finger-shaking combination from Disobedience that it took to elicit giggles from my sisters and me, now working its comedy on my four-year-old son:
James James SAID to his mother, "Mother", he said, said he;
"You Must Never Go Down To The End Of Town If You Don't Go Down With ME!"
When We Were Very Young is a collection of poems for children, about childhood, and for those who wish to remember its special magic view on the world. This book is a beloved tradition in my family, starting with those cozy evenings on my Grandmother's couch as we all snuggled up to hear about the brownie that lives behind the curtain, Jonathan Jo (who had a mouth like an O), the three foxes and Christopher Robin, who couldn't stop his hoppity hop. Your family is sure to find its own traditions in reading these poems to each other, young and old alike.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It reminds me of Dad, June 24, 2001
My father died 10 years ago when I was nineteen. I know he used to read "when we were very young" to me when I was a child, but it wasn't until I began to read the poems as bedtime stories to my 2 year old, that I began to remember my dad's emphasis and inflections. As I read my favourites to my son, I can almost hear Dad reading them to me.
I am thrilled that my son asks for Christopher Robin as his bedtime stories and "Hoppity" and "Market Square" have become his favourites too. He is an avid reader and I am just beginning to introduce him to poetry, what better way than A A Milne - It makes me feel like a child again and connects a grandson and a grandfather who never met each other.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like "A Child's Garden of Verses", May 9, 2000
Like "A Child's Garden of Verses," the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, A.A. Milnes' "When We Were Very Young," collects and reminds us of childhood bliss. However, unlike Stevenson, Milne has the whimsy of Edward Lear's limericks and verse. Milne captures the joy and gentleness of youth.
For example, Milne has a poem with a refrain:
Jonathon Jo
has a mouth like an 'O'
It is fun to say, and it almost means something. Another poem talks about halfway up and down the stairs, getting a child to see the difference and sameness of the situation, great for critical thinking.
If you want pure silly humor, go buy Silverstein, but for great writing and solid bedtime reading to teach your child wit and poetry, buy this tiny book. There's a good chance you will like it as well.
Anthony Trendl
http://anthonytrendl.blogspot.com
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