What do you think?
Rate this book
Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems
This is a collection of poems for children illustrated by Caldecott Medal artists. They are divided into theme sections, each illustrated by a different artist - weather, spooky poems, story poems, animals, spirits, nonsense poems, haiku poems, and thoughts and feelings. The poems range from ancient to contemporary and poets include Robert Louis Stevenson, Emily Dickinson, Edward Lear and Ogden Nash.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1988
11 people are currently reading
1061 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
May 3, 2022
Updated and illustrated for use by families from the teacher's collection "Poems Children Will Sit Still For."
A broad enough selection that most readers will find something to love. I admire the editors for trying to avoid the commonplace but instead going back to the source to find each poet's other best poem.... But since these were collected, others have done the same, and also collected from here, and so now many of these are all too familiar, too. And of course many newer poets have published verses worth collecting.
In any case, if you're still looking for a collection for ages 3-9 or so, you could do worse than this.
The illustrations are captivating. And fans of Trina Schart Hyman will want to view a copy just for her contributions. I like how each illustrator got a section. For example Hyman got "Fun With Rhymes" and Marc Simont got "Mostly People."
One of my favorite new to me poems that I do think children would like is "Necks."
The swan has a neck that is curly and long.
The camel has one that is shaggy and strong.
But the spotted giraffe
Has a neck and a half.
It's by Rowena Bennett, of whom I've never heard... I'll investigate.
Ditto A.R. Ammons, for "Mirrorment"
Birds are flowers flying
and flowers perched birds.
---
Reread. Comments and ratings hold. I'll add that this time I thought a lot about which poems would be easy and fun to memorize, to "put in your pocket." Let's try Langston Hughes'
Winter Moon
How thin and sharp is the moon tonight!
How thin and sharp and ghostly white
Is the slim curved crook of the moon tonight!
Btw, upon this reread I read the preface more carefully and noted that the editors remind us to read aloud. In this collection that is especially important.
Also, I read this for Picture-Book club. While longer than traditional picture-books, there is an illustration for (almost?) every poem, and one could think of the book as an omnibus of 9 different short collections. Iow, it's totally suitable for rug rats on up.
A broad enough selection that most readers will find something to love. I admire the editors for trying to avoid the commonplace but instead going back to the source to find each poet's other best poem.... But since these were collected, others have done the same, and also collected from here, and so now many of these are all too familiar, too. And of course many newer poets have published verses worth collecting.
In any case, if you're still looking for a collection for ages 3-9 or so, you could do worse than this.
The illustrations are captivating. And fans of Trina Schart Hyman will want to view a copy just for her contributions. I like how each illustrator got a section. For example Hyman got "Fun With Rhymes" and Marc Simont got "Mostly People."
One of my favorite new to me poems that I do think children would like is "Necks."
The swan has a neck that is curly and long.
The camel has one that is shaggy and strong.
But the spotted giraffe
Has a neck and a half.
It's by Rowena Bennett, of whom I've never heard... I'll investigate.
Ditto A.R. Ammons, for "Mirrorment"
Birds are flowers flying
and flowers perched birds.
---
Reread. Comments and ratings hold. I'll add that this time I thought a lot about which poems would be easy and fun to memorize, to "put in your pocket." Let's try Langston Hughes'
Winter Moon
How thin and sharp is the moon tonight!
How thin and sharp and ghostly white
Is the slim curved crook of the moon tonight!
Btw, upon this reread I read the preface more carefully and noted that the editors remind us to read aloud. In this collection that is especially important.
Also, I read this for Picture-Book club. While longer than traditional picture-books, there is an illustration for (almost?) every poem, and one could think of the book as an omnibus of 9 different short collections. Iow, it's totally suitable for rug rats on up.
February 7, 2017
The first thing I noticed about this book was that I was read some its poems when I was a child. I didn't realize that I had been read any poems whatsoever until I read "What They Said" by Rose Fyleman (p. 7). When reading this, a scene popped into my head where I was sitting on the rub in the living room in my childhood home, and my mother was reading to me. I must've only been around 4 or 5 years old. Almost instantly I found this collection of poems interesting and fun to read because they allowed me to reminisce about me childhood.
I really enjoyed the different illustrations not only within the pages of the book, but also on it's cover. I feel the different illustrations on the cover would really help draw the attention of younger children, and spark excitement within them. One particular illustration within the book that I found really interesting is the illustration that goes along with Laura E. Richard's poem "Eletelephony" (p. 108). The illustration to accompany this poem is very fitting to the poem itself, and depicts an elephant squashed inside of a telephone booth. I think children would find this hilarious, I know I do, and would add that sense of excitement that children need to find interest in poetry. I found that I rather enjoyed that so many great artists help illustrate the poems in this book. Nine different Caldecott Award winning artists including Marcia Brown, Leo and Diana Dillion, Richard Egielski, Trina Schart Hyman, Arnold Lobel, Maurice Sendark, Marc Simont and Margot Zemach all have illustrations in this book, and you really get a sense of the different artistic styles each illustrator usues. I found this to be refreshing, and allowed me to stay interested in the book while reading.
In my opinion the poems in this book could be read to a wide variety of different children from all age groups and from different backgrounds. I book is broken up into 9 different sections. These sections are about different topics and are so titled; Fun With Rhymes, Mostly Weather, Spooky Poems, Story Poems, Mostly Animals, Mostly People, Mostly Nonsense, Seeing, Feeling, Thinking, and In a Few Words. With there being so many different topics of poetry to choose from, I think it would be safe to say that in the book it wouldn't be difficult to find a poem that any particular child could relate to or enjoy.
I have to admit that I have never really sat down and read a poetry book before this one. I also admit that I never really thought that poetry could be something that a young child may enjoy. This book completely changed that opinion. With all the different types of poems within this collection, and all the different illustrations, I can absolutely see this book being useful in and out of a classroom setting to help children get interested in not only poetry, but reading in general.
de Regniers, B. S. (1988). Sing a song of popcorn. New York: Scholastic INC.
I really enjoyed the different illustrations not only within the pages of the book, but also on it's cover. I feel the different illustrations on the cover would really help draw the attention of younger children, and spark excitement within them. One particular illustration within the book that I found really interesting is the illustration that goes along with Laura E. Richard's poem "Eletelephony" (p. 108). The illustration to accompany this poem is very fitting to the poem itself, and depicts an elephant squashed inside of a telephone booth. I think children would find this hilarious, I know I do, and would add that sense of excitement that children need to find interest in poetry. I found that I rather enjoyed that so many great artists help illustrate the poems in this book. Nine different Caldecott Award winning artists including Marcia Brown, Leo and Diana Dillion, Richard Egielski, Trina Schart Hyman, Arnold Lobel, Maurice Sendark, Marc Simont and Margot Zemach all have illustrations in this book, and you really get a sense of the different artistic styles each illustrator usues. I found this to be refreshing, and allowed me to stay interested in the book while reading.
In my opinion the poems in this book could be read to a wide variety of different children from all age groups and from different backgrounds. I book is broken up into 9 different sections. These sections are about different topics and are so titled; Fun With Rhymes, Mostly Weather, Spooky Poems, Story Poems, Mostly Animals, Mostly People, Mostly Nonsense, Seeing, Feeling, Thinking, and In a Few Words. With there being so many different topics of poetry to choose from, I think it would be safe to say that in the book it wouldn't be difficult to find a poem that any particular child could relate to or enjoy.
I have to admit that I have never really sat down and read a poetry book before this one. I also admit that I never really thought that poetry could be something that a young child may enjoy. This book completely changed that opinion. With all the different types of poems within this collection, and all the different illustrations, I can absolutely see this book being useful in and out of a classroom setting to help children get interested in not only poetry, but reading in general.
de Regniers, B. S. (1988). Sing a song of popcorn. New York: Scholastic INC.
April 20, 2020
Words, beautiful words 💜
March 11, 2021
The organization of this book is stellar. I love how it's divided into themes, so kids can pick which section they feel like reading from that day based on how their feeling, and the selection of authors is great as well. The unique illustrations for each poem add to the variety.
January 5, 2025
This volume introduced us to many entertaining, engaging poems that my boys now ask to hear again. :)
October 10, 2009
In my opinion, two features make this a special poetry book for students. First, this collection of poems is organized into themes (e.g., "Mostly Weather," "Seeing, Feeling, Thinking"), and each section is illustrated by a Caldecott Medal Artist. I find this organization and illustration to enhance the accessibility of the poetry to the reader--making it inviting to read and easier to comprehend. Second, it includes a wonderfully wide array of poets. William Butler Yeats, e.e. Cummings, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Emily Dickenson are included with notable children's poets, Jack Prelutsky, Shel Silverstein, and A.A. Milne. This opens opportunities for readers to hear many voices, and styles. It bridges a broad gap of interests and ages/grades. It does not underestimate or overestimate a student's capacity to relate to poetry and discover poets.
November 13, 2019
I grew up with this book so it has been fun to revisit some old classics that I remembered, as well as plenty of others that I didn't. I think my kids liked the "story poems" and "mostly nonsense" sections the best, as well as the "piggins" poem.
November 16, 2025
Four skilled children's book editors, nine Caldecott Medal-winning illustrators and sixty-one authors—some world famous and some more obscure—come together in this wonderful anthology of poetry for children. The 128 poems presented here are divided into nine thematic sections, each illustrated by a different artist: Fun With Rhymes illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman / Mostly Weather illustrated by Marcia Brown / Spooky Poems illustrated by Margot Zemach / Story Poems illustrated by Maurice Sendak / Mostly Animals illustrated by Arnold Lobel / Mostly People illustrated by Marc Simont / Mostly Nonsense illustrated by Richard Egielski / Seeing, Feeling, Thinking illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon / In a Few Word illustrated by Marcia Brown. The poems themselves vary in structure, subject matter and length. There are haikus from such masters as Issa and Buson, and longer story poems like The Jumblies from Edward Lear. There are authors who are most famous in the world of adult letters—Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Langston Hughes—and others known for their children's poetry—Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky. The book closes with an index of titles, an index of first lines, an index of authors, and a series of brief biographical notes about the illustrators...
Published in 1988, Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems is an expansion of an earlier anthology, Poems Children Will Sit Still For: A Selection for the Primary Grades , which was published in 1969, and which contained 106 poems. That earlier collection was edited by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, Eva Moore and Mary Michaels White, who were the staff of Scholastic's "Lucky Book Club," a paperback book program for grade schoolers, and it was designed for use by teachers in the classroom. Jan Carr came on as a fourth editor in the 1980s, working with Eva Moore to add additional poems for this expanded version, and commissioning artwork from the nine Caldecott medalists. Sing a Song of Popcorn wasn't just an expansion of the content and presentation of the original however, but was also envisioned as a title for an expanded audience. It would still be presented as an anthology for use in the classroom, but would also be aimed at individual children and their families, for enjoyment at home, in the personal and family circle. I think it would work admirably in both contexts, with its mix of poems and illustrative styles. I enjoy the work of all of these artists—Trina Schart Hyman and Margot Zemach are particular favorites—and I enjoyed seeing how their different styles matched up with the different themes. Although I read many, many children's books, I don't read enough poetry, so this was a welcome diversion, and I particularly enjoyed reading the selections aloud, as recommended by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers in her introduction. Recommended to anyone looking for a good general poetry anthology, one with a mix of styles and themes, for younger children.
Published in 1988, Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems is an expansion of an earlier anthology, Poems Children Will Sit Still For: A Selection for the Primary Grades , which was published in 1969, and which contained 106 poems. That earlier collection was edited by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, Eva Moore and Mary Michaels White, who were the staff of Scholastic's "Lucky Book Club," a paperback book program for grade schoolers, and it was designed for use by teachers in the classroom. Jan Carr came on as a fourth editor in the 1980s, working with Eva Moore to add additional poems for this expanded version, and commissioning artwork from the nine Caldecott medalists. Sing a Song of Popcorn wasn't just an expansion of the content and presentation of the original however, but was also envisioned as a title for an expanded audience. It would still be presented as an anthology for use in the classroom, but would also be aimed at individual children and their families, for enjoyment at home, in the personal and family circle. I think it would work admirably in both contexts, with its mix of poems and illustrative styles. I enjoy the work of all of these artists—Trina Schart Hyman and Margot Zemach are particular favorites—and I enjoyed seeing how their different styles matched up with the different themes. Although I read many, many children's books, I don't read enough poetry, so this was a welcome diversion, and I particularly enjoyed reading the selections aloud, as recommended by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers in her introduction. Recommended to anyone looking for a good general poetry anthology, one with a mix of styles and themes, for younger children.
October 24, 2020
An updated collection of the originally-titled “Poems Children Will Sit Still For: a Selection for the Primary Grades” with Caldecott Medal winning-artists illustrating each section:
“Fun with Rhymes” illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
“Mostly Weather” illustrated by Marcia Brown
“Spooky Poems” illustrated by Margot Zemach
“Story Poems” illustrated by Maurice Sendak
“Mostly Animals” illustrated by Arnold Lobel
“Mostly People” illustrated by Marc Simont
“Mostly Nonsense” illustrated by Richard Egielski
“Seeing, Feeling, Thinking” illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon
“In a Few Words” illustrated by Marcia Brown
The poems run the gamut from silly to intriguing; Pauline Clarke’s “My Name Is . . .” is sure to delight young readers with its silly names like Sluggery-wuggery, Jiggery-pokery, and Riddle-me-re while Robert Frost’s classic “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” will evoke thoughts of snowy days and winter woods. Some, like Langston Hughes’s “Winter Moon” or Carl Sandberg’s “Arithmetic” will be instantly recognizable to readers; others, like Karla Kuskin’s “I Have a Lion” or Richard Armour’s “Pachycephalosaurus” are sure to become a young reader’s new-found favorites.
Read it [aloud, please] for the words and the rhymes, explore the pictures . . . this is a book to return to again and again and again.
Several indexes follow the poems: Index of Titles, Index of First Lines, Index of Authors; a brief piece about each of the illustrators is also included.
Highly recommended.
“Fun with Rhymes” illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
“Mostly Weather” illustrated by Marcia Brown
“Spooky Poems” illustrated by Margot Zemach
“Story Poems” illustrated by Maurice Sendak
“Mostly Animals” illustrated by Arnold Lobel
“Mostly People” illustrated by Marc Simont
“Mostly Nonsense” illustrated by Richard Egielski
“Seeing, Feeling, Thinking” illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon
“In a Few Words” illustrated by Marcia Brown
The poems run the gamut from silly to intriguing; Pauline Clarke’s “My Name Is . . .” is sure to delight young readers with its silly names like Sluggery-wuggery, Jiggery-pokery, and Riddle-me-re while Robert Frost’s classic “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” will evoke thoughts of snowy days and winter woods. Some, like Langston Hughes’s “Winter Moon” or Carl Sandberg’s “Arithmetic” will be instantly recognizable to readers; others, like Karla Kuskin’s “I Have a Lion” or Richard Armour’s “Pachycephalosaurus” are sure to become a young reader’s new-found favorites.
Read it [aloud, please] for the words and the rhymes, explore the pictures . . . this is a book to return to again and again and again.
Several indexes follow the poems: Index of Titles, Index of First Lines, Index of Authors; a brief piece about each of the illustrators is also included.
Highly recommended.
September 5, 2018
When I was reading through the fall 2018 reading list for a poetry book of my LIS510 college class, this book stood out to me and I immediately knew this is the one I wanted to read and write a review on. Decent find! I found it pretty easily at the library. Sing a Song of Popcorn is a poetic anthology, which includes an excess of poets and their diverse poetic styles. These poems are an easy read by a child in the upper elementary grades, and are appreciated best if read aloud by teacher or a grown up. I really enjoyed the different illustrations within the pages of the book, but also on the cover. I feel the different illustrations on the cover would really help draw the consideration of younger children, and trigger interest within them. The illustration is very fitting to the poem itself, and depicts an elephant squashed inside of a telephone booth. I think children would find this hilarious. This collection of poems is organized into themes, and each section is illustrated by a Caldecott Medal Artist. I find this organization and illustration to enhance the accessibility of the poetry to the reader which makes it fascinating to read and easily understandable. It is an excellent book to familiarize students to poetry and show all the different characteristics poetry has. This book would be a great addition to all classroom libraries.
September 5, 2018
Sign a Song of Popcorn is a collection of about 130 poems for children. They are great poems to be read to children or be read by children. Many of the poems vary in length. Some are only a few lines while others take up a whole page. This lets the reader choose how much they have to read for a single poem. Every page has an illustration to go with each poem. This helps the kids make connections and give them something to look at, it also makes great use of the white spaces these poems usually have. My favorite thing about this book is how the poems are divided up. The book groups poems with similar subjects or themes into chapter like sections. This way you can just pick what kind of things you’d like to read about and dive right in. The different sections are themes like: rhymes, weather, animals, people, scary poems, feelings, and many more. Because of the wide range of themes, the poems would work well with teaching kids simple things. Also, because most of the poems are no longer than a page and could be about anything, this book would make the perfect book to read before bed. You could open to any random page and just read. Then you could stop where ever you like and repeat the next night. Overall, I think this would be a great book to have for any child or teacher.
November 27, 2017
Sing a song of Popcorn: Every Childs Book of Poems incorporates about 130 poems categorized into different themes all illustrated by a Caldecott Medal artist. The book includes poems written by a large range of well-known poets. This wide range of poem topics give children a good sense of a variety of poem types and what poems can be about. Like many poem books, this book is consisted of unrelated poems grouped into themes such as rhymes, weather, spooky poems, story poems, animals, people, nonsense, senses, and poems with very few words. this is definitely a well-rounded piece due to its sheer number of varying poems. This book also utilizes the themes to draw in any reader so they can find a type of poem they love. The different topics, relatable characters, and just plain fun poems can be relatable to any audience. I love this book and the way it is laid out. It is an excellent book to introduce students to poetry and show all the different characteristics poetry has. Having such a broad choice in types and poem topics can help anyone build an appreciation of poetry.
November 20, 2017
This is a special book of poems that every classroom should have. This book has about 130 poems that are grouped into different themes and each poem has a picture illustrated by a Caldecott Medal artist. The poems are also a collection of well-known poets with a variety of different styles. This is a great poetry because there are poems grouped into themes such as spooky, story, animals, people, nonsense, senses, and very short poems. I especially loved the poems about weather as the poem and illustrations are depicted in a truly beautiful, realistic way. Having this range of subjects and styles give students who are new at poetry a sense of what all poetry can cover. This is a perfect book to use in a poetry genre lesson for students to flip through to get ideas on types of poems they want to create. Introducing this book to students provides them an opportunity to relate to at least a few of these poems and therefore build an appreciation of poetry.
Read
October 10, 2020This book has illustration by nine Caldecott-winning artists, but has not won any awards in and of itself. It is appropriate for grade levels K-3 at varying levels from a guided read-aloud to totally independent reading. It is a complilation of 115 poems by various authors. The poems are divided into different sections, and cover themes such as animals, rhyming schemes, and narrative poetry. In my opinion, this is a good mix of classic and modern poetry for kids to enjoy. One possible in-class use is to use in a rhyming lesson to teach kids about rhyme schemes.
April 18, 2022
This is a very nicely done collection. The target age group is a bit younger than what I’m looking for, but it’s a fine selection of poems. What really makes it great, though, are the illustrations. Lots of award-winning illustrators did a beautiful job on it, with each one taking ownership of a complete thematic section. That was nice, since you could really settle in and enjoy each one’s style. Trina Schart Hyman and Maurice Sendak were two fantastic ones I already knew, with the duo of Leo and Diane Dillon being my favorite of the ones who were new to me.
October 30, 2018
This is a great collection of poems for children. It includes many different kinds of poems, from haiku, to silly rhyme to concrete poems, to free verse to... you name it. The book is also beautifully illustrated by nine Caldecott Medal artists. I love so many of the poems in this book, I love the way it is laid out and the way it is illustrated. Other than adding a bit more diversity to the characters portrayed in the illustrations, there isn't much I would do to improve this book.
April 3, 2019
This book of poems offers some great poems that I am sure that almost everyone has heard of either in their childhood or in their past. This book offers a great resource of poems for parents and teachers. I gave the book 4 stars because I really liked how the book was categorized so if a teacher for example were looking for a poem to go along with a lesson plan this would be a perfect tool to use.
October 23, 2017
Genre: Poetry
Grade Range: 2-3
Review:
I loved this collection of poems! I liked how it separated them by themes so if you want to read a certain one to the class it is easy to find. My favorite section was the nonsense poems! I'm sure those will be the students' favorite as well!
Grade Range: 2-3
Review:
I loved this collection of poems! I liked how it separated them by themes so if you want to read a certain one to the class it is easy to find. My favorite section was the nonsense poems! I'm sure those will be the students' favorite as well!
July 27, 2018
Not my favorite collection -- just okay.
Some of my favorite poems: Where do these words come from? (11), Furry Bear (22), Sunflakes (26), Four Seasons (27), Who has seen the Wind? (31), The Gingerbread Man (50), What in the World? (63), Eletelephony (108).
Some of my favorite poems: Where do these words come from? (11), Furry Bear (22), Sunflakes (26), Four Seasons (27), Who has seen the Wind? (31), The Gingerbread Man (50), What in the World? (63), Eletelephony (108).
December 9, 2020
Children's poem anthologies always include a few that leave me scratching my head. What are they doing in there? But the illustrations in this are delightful, and my boys kept begging for just one more.
September 13, 2024
I finished reading another poetry book to my kids today and noticed I hadn’t marked this one yet. We finished it earlier this year! Some great fun inside but a few content warnings I’ll get up here eventually.
November 10, 2017
We liked *most* of the poems in this book. There were a few that were just plain weird. Otherwise, the kids really enjoyed hearing the poems and were sad when we finished it.
August 14, 2020
A beautiful collection, illustrated by a who's who of beloved children's illustrators. So fun to read with our little one.
November 15, 2021
reRead over the course of two weeks to curate collection for 7th grade poetry project.
March 16, 2022
Satisfying collection. Much nostalgia. A bit too many author repeats and a bit too dated, occasionally in awkward ways. But an entire extra star for the beautiful beautiful illustrations.
December 27, 2023
Fun book.
May 20, 2024
We enjoyed this collection, but there were a lot of duds.
August 31, 2024
I enjoyed the illustrations even more than necessarily the selection of poems. Great library choice
January 1, 2025
Favorite from my childhood now forced upon my daughter. How can you go wrong with the top poets set to abstract watercolors?
June 20, 2025
Fun little collection of kid-friendly poetry.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews