A First Poetry Book

by Chris Orr (Illustrator), John L. Foster (Compiler), Martin White (Illustrator)

Incorporating both traditional and contemporary forms and themes, this illustrated collection of exciting and humorous verse for youngsters includes works by Ian Serraillier, John Ciardi, Karla Kuskin, and Eleanor Farjeon

Genres: Poetry, Childrens

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1979

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Monty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was one of my favourites as a child. It contains a wealth of poetry on almost anything you can think of - siblings, centipedes, cats and trees to name a few. There are many contributions, many of them familiar names like Michael Rosen, Spike Milligan and Roald Dahl. It is a wonderful introduction to poetry for any child, and the poems vary in complexity so can be read to a child or an older child can read them alone. There is usually one poem on each page (some are longer) and beautiful illustrations accompany them. Children may find some of the pictures of people a little dated as it was first published in 1979, but this doesn't detract from the book. The paired poems on a page are often linked to a single illustration,creating a clear theme. There are lots of cross-curricular links because the books contains so many poems, so there is something for everyone. Poems could be selected to support children in their language comprehension.
How can anyone not love this book with poems that start like this one? "It's dark outside. It's dark inside. It's dark behind the door.I wonder if I'm brave enough to walk across the floor..."

[Jerrica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really good if you have multiple days to read because there are so many poems in this book. I feel that teachers can read this book in the span of a year by reading two or three poems after recess or lunch. The poems this book contained were also short and simple. Each poem was different from each other so there were different things going on.
The front cover really caught my eye because the sun is reading the exact same book and it keeps going on and on until it gets smaller. Some pages were black and white and some were colored. I think the illustrator did this on purpose due to each poem being a complete different one. I believe the illustrator used a sketch-like technique in the black and white pictures because the pictures were somewhat dotted. Overall, these poems are cute and short for children.

[Loopy Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great poems:)