Small Talk: A Book of Short Poems

by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Lee Bennett Hopkins

A collection of short poems by such writers as Richard Wilbur, Langston Hughes, and X. J. Kennedy.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books

Library Binding

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

Lee Bennett Hopkins was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2017. He holds a Guinness Book of Records citation for compiling the most anthologies for children. He has also received the Christopher Award, the Regina Medal, and the National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry for Children Award. He lives in Florida.

For more information, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ben...

Reviews

[Paul Hankins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Special insight into this collection offered by Lee Bennett Hopkins: It is in this collection that he first met Rebecca Kai Dotlich and included one of her poems ("Ballooning Spiders") within a collection. Later, Dotlich would be/is a staple in the Hopkins collections. Both are a treasure in the genre of children's poetry.

Looking through this collection is like a wonderful blending of classic/canon and the contemporary children's poets in the time of publishing of SMALL TALK. Today, it reads like a Who's Who of NCTE Excellence in Poetry for Children Award Winners to include this year's winner, J. Patrick Lewis ("Robin").

Langston Hughes finds himself juxtaposed with Lilian Moore while Robert Frost nestles up against a piece offered by Lillian M. Fisher and. . .if you are keeping score. . .our friend Jane Yolen offers a piece within the collection (I'll never read them all) and how appropriate that her piece would be placed close enough to Christina J. Rossetti so as to display the timelessness of both poets.

[Nielson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poem: "Change" pg. 29. Good poem. All of the poems in this book are short and quick to read. This poem is written so that each of the preceding lines are shorter than the previous one. It gives it kind of a blowing, changing feel.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What are Heavy?" I loved the poem's true essence of what really matters in life. This poem had deep analogy which I loved.

[Danielle Miskin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poem: What are heavy?

I liked this poem because it was thought provoking and made you think of things you hadn't thought before but are true.