A Children's Book of Verse

by Eric Kincaid

An anthology of poetry that covers the widest range of children's verse from classic, haunting, humorous, epic and magical.

Genres: Poetry, Childrens, Kids, Picture Books, Fantasy

64 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1987

About the author

Born in London in 1931, Eric studied illustration and design at Gravesend School of Art where Peter Blake was a contemporary and Quentin Crisp one of the life models. After two years national service and then working in advertising Eric became a comic strip artist where he drew the last Dan Dare story for the Eagle.

In 1971 Eric was offered the chance to fulfill his real ambition to illustrate children’s books when the publishing company, Brimax Books asked him to illustrate a book of Nursery Rhymes. There followed a long and successful relationship with Brimax who commissioned over 100 books from Eric over the next 30 years. These included Wind in the Willows, Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Oliver Twist, Alice in Wonderland, Aesop’s Fables and anthologies of poetry and nursery rhymes. Eric went on regular book signing tours of America and Canada and regularly attended the Frankfurt Book Fair. His titles have appeared in 14 languages and world-wide sales exceed 8 million copies.

Eric now lives in Dorset where he settled in 1990.

Reviews

[Friend of Pixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, which Logan enjoyed so much, we decided to try this one. Although I skipped around a bit, this was successful because the poems are all concerned with things to which children can relate. Other poetry collections I've tried have too many poems about grown-up stuff or are very modern, and those haven't been as well-received. These classic poems range from fantasy to adventure to daily childhood life. Kincaid's illustrations are lovely.

There's a review here from a teacher talking in educationalese about how this book could be "used" with (against?) children. It reminds me of exactly why kids grow up thinking they hate poetry. Here is a poem by one of my favorite poets, about the results of forcing kids to analyze poetry instead of allowing them to just enjoy it. (In fact, while this poet was Poet Laureate, he instituted a program in schools in which a poem was to be read every morning over the intercom. He specifically stated that there was to be no analysis or discussion of the poem; the kids were just to enjoy or not enjoy the readings. Those poems are anthologized in Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry) But I digress.

Introduction to Poetry
BY BILLY COLLINS

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

[Gail Sacharski · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite childhood books is A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. I practically memorized it. There are a few Stevenson poems in this book as well as some other famous & well-loved favorites with lovely Kincaid illustrations. Coming upon Stevenson's poems in this book was like greeting dear childhood friends.

[Tonk82 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hay varios libros con nombres similares, dentro de este ilustrador. Yo voy a hablar de "A Children's Book of Verse " que editó Brimax en 1996 (aunque creo que es una reedición de material anterior) en inglés. Desconozco si hubo edicion en España.

Mi principal razón para ir revisando estos libros es la labor de Eric Kincaid como pintor, pero cuando a eso uno le suma textos de la mas alta calidad, la combinación es increíble. Y de las cosas que he ido leyendo, este puede que sea el mejor.

Está formado por pequeños poemas, normalmente de una o dos páginas. En cada uno de ellos, hay una o varias ilustraciones que adquieren diferentes formas: a veces es una sola en vertical al lado del texto, otras veces son varias alrededor, y en algunas hasta se juega con el formato del poema colocandolo en diferentes posiciones conjuntandose muy bien con los dibujos. Hay algunas ilustraciones brillantes.

¿Y que tienen de especial los textos? Pues que es una selección de poemas realizados por buenos autores. Hay poemas de Lewis Carrol, Robert louis Stevenson, Emily Brönte... todos acreditados con el nombre del escritor al final. Hay bastantes de autores mas desconocidos (y anonimos) pero la calidad general es excelente.

He quedado muy satisfecho con el.

[Clover · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have the 1992 version from my childhood and am reading the poems to my 3 year old child who is enjoying it. Luckily for me a lot of it goes over his head.

There are numerous poems that are simply not suitable for children. Some of them I find it hard to imagine were ever suitable, others are unsuitable these days due to a reflection of our evolving recognition of racism and racist language.

For an older child, with the careful guidance of an adult, perhaps there could be some important lessons learnt by the evolution of what is and is not acceptable over time.

There are still lots of good poems in there that are suitable for children and with every page being well illustrated the poems are brought to life even for my pre-literate child.

I hope there is a more recent publication of this work that has been edited/curated with a modern audience in mind.

[Belladonna Raudvee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must have on a child’s bookshelf.
This book ticks box after box. Flick through and find shirt and fun poems for the very young. Traditional poems youth learn at school. Poems the length of short stories. Deep and emotional poems. Silly poems with gibberish. The most amazing illustrations on every page for both children’s and adult’s hungry eyes.
I was given this book while very young and at the age of 33, I still get lost in the illustrations and can still recite many of the poems, initially just because I loved the images so much.
I highly recommend this book of verse to encourage children’s love of literature.

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a staple book in my house growing up...I have vivid memories of poring over some of these poems and their illustrations.

Mostly, looking back at it as an adult after a long hiatus, I am blown away by the number and quality of the illustrations. Kincaid is imaginative, skilled, and prolific.

Some of the poems are problematic (I'm looking at you, "An Eskimo Baby") or are meaningless fluff, but many of them still have the power to move me to laughter, wistfulness, and thought. On the whole a well-curated and beautifully illustrated anthology.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much as a child, and it is where I found one of my favorite poems for the first time. I revisited it as an adult as part of a weekly poetry reading exercise, and I enjoyed it this time around too. It's a very well-rounded collection and has excellent illustrations. Children will definitely enjoy it, but there's plenty for adults to appreciate as well.

[Stephen Griffiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illustrations by Eric Kincaid are brilliant, with one or two misfires. There is a wide range of poems from thought-provoking to romantic (in the broad sense of the word) to nonsense which befits a collection of verse. Some of the anonymous poems could have been left out ("cigarette trees", "whiskey lakes", "you sure caught hell" etc) without loss!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably my favorite book of children's poetry ever. I absolutely love the sections and the illustrations. They don't feel childish or cartoony, I always felt so grown up and enchanted looking through this as a kid and I love sharing it with my own children.

[Usho · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the poems and I buyed the real book but something magical is in this book.i read all pages then some pages are getting replaced by new pagest.i read again I saw a new story every day.pls explain.i like the poems very much.

[Kay Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mix of old poems but may not be that child-interesting?

[Adina Caskey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations, classic selection, a delightful meandering read

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having grown up with this book, it was a delight to revisit it and marvel and the superb selection of verse and the gorgeous artwork.

[Abbie Witt · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. Identifying the appropriate genre: Poetry

2. Review/Summary: An anthology of poetry that covers the widest range of children's verse from classic, haunting, humorous, epic and magical.

3. Rating: 5 Stars

4. Writing Trait: A Children's Book of Verse includes the following writing traits:
a. Ideas: The poems have interesting details for young readers and these readers want to keep reading the rest of the collection.
b. Voice: The voice of this story is entertaining; images accompany the text to tell the story and paint a picture.
c. Word Choice: Effective and interesting; precise words are chosen. Figurative language and specificity are used in many of the poems.
d. Sentence Fluency: Some of the poems rhyme and some have a rhythmic flow; there are varying sentence patterns used in this collection (some poems are short while others are longer).
e. Conventions: Words are spelled consistently, grammar is used correctly. The poems are clear and make sense. The print is various in size (sometimes large, sometimes small). There are many colorful illustrations that help to tell the story.

5. Usage for Classroom Instruction: This book could be read at an independent reading level for student interest in the upper elementary school grades (Possibly 3, or 4). Students could create their own poem (as an assignment or project) by referring to this book. This book could also be studied by students in the younger elementary grades. These poems could be read aloud to younger students for poetry theme studies (classic, haunting, humorous, epic and magical). This book could be used to teach a mini lesson about poetry or different elements of poetry (for example, rhyme). Young students could also create their own poem by reading this collection or studying a poem from this set of poetry.

6. Interest Level: K-4

7. Reading Level: Not Available

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the staples of my childhood bookshelf. Detailed, but fun illustrations (more Disney than Warner Bros.) and lovely writing. A mixture of short poems, limericks, and more complicated pieces. Definitely for kids over seven or so, though, mostly due to the somewhat graphic nature of some of the illustrations (a woman is tied to a bedpost in a piece about the Revolutionary War.)

A far cry from the somewhat underwhelming kids' books being published today.

[W · Rating 5 out of 5]

My aunt used to own a copy of this book, and one of my favorite memories is flipping through the pages at her house. The illustrations are magical and shaped my dreams and fantasies as a child, and the poetry is some of the best children's poetry ever written. The first poems I ever memorized were in this book, including "The Sugar-Plum Tree" and "The Duel," both by Eugene Field.

[Karry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best of the best in classic childhood poetry! This book should be apart of every child's life.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book of children's poetry, with skill levels across the map for those who like to memorize.