Tomie dePaola's Rhyme Time

by Tomie dePaola (Illustrator)

Take thirty or so wonderful poems for children, add Tomie dePaola's trademark artwork, and you have this charming poetry collection. It contains a variety of poetic styles-from silly narrative poems to quiet haikus-written by poets such as A.A. Milne, Dorothy Aldis, Eve Merriam, Tomie dePaola himself, and many others. A fun introduction to poetry for the youngest readers.

Genres: Poetry, Childrens, Picture Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2000

About the author

Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy da-POW-la) was best known for his books for children.

He had a five-decade writing and illustrating career during which he published more than 270 books, including 26 Fairmount Avenue, Strega Nona, and Meet the Barkers.

Tomie dePaola and his work have been recognized with the Caldecott Honor Award, the Newbery Honor Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure.

Reviews

[J9 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's one of those books that's part of your child's required reading curriculum and you wonder if they'll even understand it. Just another example of me underestimating my children again. My 5 yr old loved this book so much, he immediately asked to add it to our library. And because we read so much, he knows we can't do that often. I was so surprised, and here's why. While I myself loved this book, it was actually a book of poems, not by dePaola, but by various authors, many whom I recognized. Authors such as A.A. Milne, Langston Hughes, Robert Louis Stevenson, and of course dePaola, come together in a collection of poetry that delights children of all ages. While some of the wording is more adult-like or old fashioned, I thought for sure my 5 yr old would be bored, but instead, he leaned his head against my arm and was riveted. We talked about different kinds of poetry and he was fascinated that Haiku's only proponent are based on syllables. When I asked him why he liked this book so much he said he just really liked rhyming. So for his writing assignment today, I had him write a poem. He chose to write it about Lego, of course. Overall, a wonderful addition to any children's and even adult's library.

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gift from grandma when my son was 2, I used to read these poems to my son when he was very young as an "introduction to poetry".This book is filled with classic poems (by poets such as Blake, Hughes, Milne, etc.) that are just perfect for children. But all the while, I always realized that reading these poems to my child was more for me than for him, as I couldn't really hope that my son would be half as interested in words and lit as I am, and "good parents" share poetry with their children, right?

I couldn't believe what happened the other day: my almost 9-year-old boy was searching for his Encyclopedia of Star Wars to get the correct name for the home-planet of one of his action figures one minute, and 5 minutes later, he was reading this poetry book! He was giggling, reading aloud, calling me in to "listen to this one". He read the entire book, picked out his favorites, and shared them! I really didn't think this book would get any more mileage....

I think this is the best recommendation a child's poetry book could have, isn't it? More interesting than Star Wars?

Oh, and by the way, from an English teacher's point of view, these are high-quality poems!

[Taylor Hainley]

he poetry book I chose to do for this week's discussion was called Rhyme Time by Tomie DePaola. This poetry book is filled with several different poems that are age appropiate for younger children. There is poems to use in the classroom, at bedtime and many more. Some of the poems show rhyming and others show how different types of poems can be written. There are several different length poems in this book. Some are shorter and others are longer. Throughout this book there is an illustration that goes along with every poem. I really liked that there was a picture to go with every poem to show the children. I thought this would be a great poetry book to have in my classroom library.

[Alexis Smith-Gaddis · Rating 4 out of 5]

From silly, fun poems to make you laugh or more quiet, calm poems to read at bedtime, this collection of children's poems is a great read for young minds! I think this children's book is a great introduction to poetry for young students. I would have this book in my classroom library for the students to read on their own in a kindergarten classroom or I would read some of these poems to teach rhyming to a pre-kindergarten class.

[Kelsea Breedlove]

Tomie dePaola's Rhyme Time is a poetry book full of different collections of poems. Each poem tells a different story in a different format of poems. It gives readers the chance to explore different poems and use their imagination as well. This book would be great to use in the classroom when comparing different poems as well as learning how to write them. A class could take a poem and break it down and talk about the different elements that they found in the poem.

[Brittney Dermo]

This is a book full of many different collections of poems that are very appropriate for children. This book is also an excellent picture book of poetry. The poems in this book are fun, with nice illustration, and expand children's vocabulary. I would use this book in my classroom as a fun way to introduce poems.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would be fine for a sit down and read it a few times kind of thing, the on line school had us read one or two here and there, and it was not as fun as just sitting down and remembering all the little rhymes. My son's favorite in this book was "Alligator on the Escalator" by Eve Merriam.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent picture book of poetry! The poems are fun, with nice illustrations and I especially like how they stretch my kids' vocabulary.

[Alli Eidson]

This book contains different types of poetry that focuses on rhyming. I would use this book in my kindergarten or first grade class when they are learning to rhyme.