The Children's Classic Poetry Collection

by Nicola Baxter

4to. dw has light score to rear.

Genres: Poetry, Childrens, Classics, Picture Books

96 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1996

About the author

Nicola Baxter has written or compiled over a hundred children's titles. She has developed ideas for a wide variety of international publishers and lives in Norfolk, England, surrounded by cats and computers.

Reviews

[Junie Draper]

One of my all time favorite children's books. This collection had a huge influence on me and my passion for poetry as a young child. I still pull this book out and read it regularly. I would highly recommend this for literally any age group, it's fantastic stuff! Everything from Brontë to Poe to Carroll in here. It's not poems /for/ children so much as it is poems that are /appropriate/ for children.

[Kerry Cullen]

This book raised me. I will love it forever.

[Samantha]

“The Children’s Classic Poetry Collection” is a collection of poetry compiled by Nicola Baxter and illustrated by Cathie Shuttleworth. This book is intended for children in the 3rd and 4th grade. This book is a collection of poetry written by various major authors that is suitable for children. The book features authors such as (but not limited to): William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Browning, John Keats, Robert Louis Stevenson and Walt Whitman. It also features a few popular poems that were written anonymously. At the end of the book, there is an 'About the Authors' section with information about all the authors featured. The poems are categorized into 8 sections. These sections are: animals and birds, weather and seasons, bright and beautiful, dreams and wonders, songs of the sea, childhood, at the end of the day and travel. This is a great book for introducing children to poetry. It features many authors so that children can get familiar with the styles of certain writers and figure out what kind of poems they enjoy or may want to write themselves. There is such a wide array of films that I believe any child would be able to find one in this book that they enjoy or one that resonates with them in some way. I rated this book a 4/5 because I really enjoyed reading a lot of these poems and found some new ones I had never heard before along with some of my old favorites. The illustrations were so beautiful and colorful which will definitely appeal to children. In my opinion, It’s the perfect book to use to introduce children to poetry.

[Ren Nadaraja]

It was a lovely children’s poems book to pick up. What a joy to read poems from authors I knew about but hadn’t read any of their work and authors I didn’t know at all.

An adult can pick up this book, even though it is illustrated for a child because the book holds the old and the contemporary in a playful, yet serious and exciting manner you wouldn’t expect.

Cheers to this being the first for 2025.

[Tandava Graham]

A good collection, if a bit heavily weighted towards Robert Louis Stevenson for my taste. (There were also a few that just seemed unnecessary, like the "it's raining it's pouring" rhyme and such.) The illustrations are quite nice.

[Stuart]

This really is the classics and a great resource for teachers - helpfully divides into themes probably worth taking a look at when planning topics.

[Laura]

A beautifully illustrated collection of classic poems, separated into a variety of themes. Sure to inspire children's imaginations.

[Chandra Miramontes]

This is a collection of classic poems, these are poems I remember from when I was a child. These poems are for children of all ages. This is a great book to add to any poetry collection.

[Jordan McCann]

This would be another good book for teaching poetry in the classroom. This book has a variety of different styles of poems and the illustrations are done really well.

[Angie]

Lots of favorites in this volume, as well as beautiful illustrations. The paper is thick and sturdy to hold up to related readings.

[JayD]

Absolutely gorgeous book—the kind of gift that becomes an heirloom. It’s a chocolate box, one of each kind of poem that a child might like, all tastefully presented with exquisite illustrations and plenty of white space. These are poems to carry through in memory for one’s whole life, not infant nursery rhymes or modern jingles.

Assuming an adult reader, at least the first time through, the easiest poems would enthrall a two-year-old and the collection as a whole would suit every age through early teens. I found only one poem that is written in heavy dialect (“Orphant Annie”), and the hardest were Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” and Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty”, but nothing that might distress a two-year-old or insult a twelve-year-old.

[Bryan]

The Children's Classic Poetry Collection is a good poetry book with 60 poems done by "the world's greatest writers." The book is split into different sections: animals and birds, weather and seasons, bright and beautiful, dreams and wonders, songs of the sea, tales of travel, childhood & at the end of the day. Some of the famous poets in the book include; Lewis Carroll, William Blake, Christina Rossetti, Henry Longfellow, William Shakespeare, John Keats and more. This poetry collection would be a great resource for teachers. My favorite poem in the book is Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe. "Gaily bedlight, a gallant knight, in sunshine and in shadow, had journeyed long, singing a song, in search of Eldorado."

[Sabrina Davis]

I think that I found this poetry book to be my favorite. The reason that I enjoyed this book so much is because it had poems that I had even heard of when I was growing up and brought back so good memories. I think that there was a good combination of serious and funny poems. I also was fascinated with the illustrations on the pages as well. I found that the poems were very imaginative and fun to read. I recommend this book to any one. Some of my favorite poems would be Jabberwocky and Beautiful Soup.

[Elizabeth]

This is the poetry collection I grew up reading and I still love it. The selection of poems is fantastic, with some of my favourite poems in it. The poems are separated by theme, so there's a mix of subjects, and they have a good mix of serious and humourous poems. Most of the poems are not so childish that they can't be enjoyed into adulthood. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and a joy to look at.

I would recommend this collection to anyone looking for a simple but fantastic selection of poems, either for themselves or their children.

[Emily Powers]

This book would probably be my favorite out of all the listed poetry books. I feel as though children would be familiar with all of the poems that are listed within this book. Pre-K students would love this! I would use it in a Pre-K class or even a Kindergarten class.

[Gabriella]

- 8 categories: animals and birds, weather and seasons, bright and beautiful, dreams and wonders, songs of the sea, childhood, tales of travel, at the end of the day
- Range of lengths of poems: appropriate for all levels
- Many have bold illustrations
- Known poets: Shakespeare, Blake, Bronte, Wordsworth
- For higher ability readers: extracts from plays (The Tempest)
- Rhyming couplet endings
- Repetition
- At the end information about all the poets and other suggested poetry