A Jar of Tiny Stars: Poems by NCTE Award-Winning Poets

by Bernice E. Cullinan (Editor)

In this lively, luminous anthology, Dr. Bernice Cullinan has gathered poems by winners of the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. All of the poems were classroom tested and handpicked by more than 2,500 children as their favorites. Beautifully complemented by pen-and-ink illustrations.

Contents:
David McCord. Every time I climb a tree ; The pickety fence ; Snowman ; The star in the pail ; I have a book --
Aileen Fisher. My puppy ; My cat and I ; Cricket jackets ; Out in the dark and daylight ; from Listen, rabbit! --
Karla Kuskin. Hughbert and the glue ; The meal ; I woke up this morning ; Winter clothes ; Lewis has a trumpet --
Myra Cohn Livingston. Kittens ; Lemonade stand ; Arthur thinks on Kennedy ; Shell ; Martin Luther King --
Eve Merriam. Gooseberry, juice berry, loose berry jam ; How to eat a poem ; Skip rope rhyme for our time ; Windshield wiper ; Umbilical --
John Ciardi. Mummy slept late and daddy fixed breakfast ; What did you learn at the zoo ; The happy family ; Sometimes I feel this way ; Summer song --
Lilian Moore. If you catch a firefly ; I left my head ; Mine ; Recess ; Construction --
Arnold Adoff. Flavors: Mama is chocolate ; Flavors: Daddy is vanilla ; Flavors: Me is better butter ; Coach says: Listen sonny ; from Black is brown is tan --
Valerie Worth. Dinosaurs ; Lawnmower ; Giraffe ; Safety pin ; Pebbles --
Barbara Esbensen. Bat ; Elephant ; My cat ; Pencils ; Snake.

Genres: Poetry, Realistic Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Poetry Plays, Picture Books

94 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1995

About the author

Bee is a professor emeritus of reading and children's literature at New York University, and since 1990 she has served as editor in chief of the Wordsong poetry imprint at Boyds Mills Press. She has served as president of the International Reading Association and on numerous award committees, including those for the Caldecott Award and the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award.

In addition, Bee has received many awards and honors of her own. In 1989 she was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame and received the Arbuthnot Award for Outstanding Teacher of Children's Literature. She is the 2003 recipient of the NCTE Outstanding Educator in Language Arts award. Bee is the author of the classic text Literature and the Child, as well as many other books, including Read to Me: Raising Kids Who Love to Read.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for the Poetry folder in the Children's Books group.

A Jar of Tiny Stars: Poems by NCTE Award-Winning Poets is a beautifully designed anthology for families to own and use often. Not only are there plenty of poems that are accessible to even young children, but there are fascinating author notes.

Of particular note:

David McCord's "The Pickety Fence" is one that many will want (and be able) to memorize. A poem to 'put in one's pocket' as the saying goes. http://bookish-ambition.blogspot.com/....

Barbara Esbensen is a name I don't recognize, but I particularly liked her imagery and metaphor in "Pencils" like:
---
Every word in your
pencil
is fearless ready to walk
the blue tightrope lines....
---
One of the surprises for me in this are the very short author bios, in which most spoke of what poetry means to them. I highly recommend this book to families, and at least the notes to educators and other adults.

Karla Kuskin speaks of a recipe with the ingredients "sounds, rhythm, description, feeling, memory, rhyme, and imagination. They can be put together a thousand different ways...."

Eve Merriam focuses on the "joy of the sounds of language."

John Ciardi says that "you can make language dance a bit."

Lilian Moore says "Poetry should be like fireworks, packed carefully and artfully, ready to explode with unpredictable effects."

Arnold Adoff reveals that "I want my poems to do more than prose can do.... I want my poems to sing as well as to say."

(I want to add that Myra Cohn Livingston mentions her poem "74th Street" but it is not in this anthology. It is avl. online and worth reading.)

[Olivia Fuchsluger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Jar of Tiny Stars by Bernice E. Cullinan. This book is a book of poetry. These poems are a NCTE award winning poets for children. This story has multiple poems written by many different poets. These poems are written about the weather, holidays, animals, significant people, emotions, and so much more. I would rate this book of poetry a 4. The reason I would rate it a 4 is because I like how it discusses a variety of topics and it has many poems by different poets. This will give a child a selection of poems to read and decide which poems they favor more than others. This whole book is written in black and white and has little illustrations under certain poems. This makes it different from many other children’s books because most books are written in color and have huge illustrations for each page. I think the age level this book is written for is the ages of 7 or 8 and older. The poems are not long. They are about a page long for each poem. I really liked how there are sketches of the poets and the poets name before their poems. This is important because this gives a child a visual of whose poems they are reading.

[Vanessa Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book of student favorite poems. There were several different artists highlighted in this book. I loved that the students got to pick their favorites and those were the ones highlighted in the book. I loved that every artist had a different style. There was one that did not have a capital letter to begin the titles. There was another that had a picture on most of the page, some with no pictures, and some with words everywhere on the page. I thought this was a great way to show students that poems are not always the same and that everyone can have a different style of writing, and how they want their page to look.
Author: Bernice E. Cullinan
Illustrator: authors highlighted in the book
Publisher: WordSong December 1, 1995

[Hailey Licata · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I will admit I read a lot of these poems but not all, some I skimmed and most of all of them I read. There is a lot, it is very lengthy, but the poems are short. I could see this implemented at many grade levels, and used each and every day. I am more aimed towards middle level as of right now, so I could imagine letting kids create a rotation, and act day a few can skim though and pick a poem to read out loud every day. I love that these are both teacher and student picked, I love that the kids got a choice!

[Libby Forgues · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illustrator: authors highlighted in the book
Publisher: WordSong December 1, 1995
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1563970872

The book is full of poems from the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry. This story has multiple poems written by many different poets. These poems encompass themes such as weather, holidays, animals, significant people, emotions, and so much more. This would be good to pair with a lesson on poems where students can compare the ones within this book. Students are able to see the different styles and word style.

[Jo Hackett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Poetry
Grade: 3-6
Poetry is always a good thing focus on for students. Many teachers do not like poetry or don’t present it in a way where the students will like it. Poetry should be experienced. Some students haven’t even looked at a moon to experience how it shines. One activity I had my students do was to look at the moon at night before they go to bed and describe in adjectives to see how many adjectives they could come up with. Maybe you should try it for yourself.

[Heather Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Jar of Tiny Stars: Poems by NCTE Award-Winning PoetsBernice E. Cullinan This book was really good I liked the poems

[Brittney Cayford]

This book a filled with actual poems written by students in various elementary schools. This book has poems written in all different forms to capture each student's interests in poems and topics. This poem book teaches students about different topics and teaches students about characters and relationships. This is realistic fiction because the writers are from real schools and students and the poems are realistic.

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great way to expose students to poems and get them excited about reading. The illustrations are amazing and the stars seem to jump out at you off the pages. The poems are great for students who are not that interested in the idea of poems. Overall, an amazing read for students and a captivating story.

[Zoe Austin]

Illustrator: Andi Arnovitz
Publisher: Wordsong (an imprint of Boyds Mills Press)
ISBN: 978-1590782878

A Jar of Tiny Stars: Poems by NCTE Award-Winning Poets offers a diverse collection of poems curated by Bernice E. Cullinan. Teachers might find it useful for introducing students to different styles of poetry and fostering discussions on creativity and expression.

[Elise Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Jar Of Tiny Stars is a book that holds a handful of different poems. The illustrations are beautifully designed and bring the stories to life. As you flip the page a new poem is featured waiting to be read.

[Lauren Hay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book that contains various poems. The poems are written by a variety of different authors, and the book also contains cute pictures to go with them. I think teachers could use this book to read a poem to their class each morning to get them thinking and ready to learn.

[Ashlyn Littlefield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love how this poem book has illustrations to go along with it. There are multiple poems written by different authors, which makes it interesting. You can see how different each person writes.

[Alyssa Doughty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because it was full of different award winning poetry. The illustrations were also very pretty and simple. I also like how the poems vary from page to page giving students many different types of stories.

[Abbie Kane]

I loved the different poems that were in this book, we had a few people read them out loud to the class and I thought they sounded better being read to me then how I had originally read them in my head. overall I think students would love this book!

[Keann Moncrieffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

One thing I enjoyed about this book is its multiple author's poems in one book. I also like how some poems are shorter and others are longer. Another thing I like about this book is if you were to share it with others, you could choose a few, which would be great.

[Nicole Thiboutot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains a bunch of different poems. this would be a great book to share with the class and to read a poem a day. the poems within the book are all different in their own ways with some being fun to some having an important message behind it.

[Sydney Kalacinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of poetry and poems from all different poets. This isn’t a book I would put on my shelf for the students but I may pull a poem out to share and take a deeper dive into with my students.

[Kaylee Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Editor: Bernice E. Cullinan
Illustrator:
ISBN-13: 9781563970870

Summary: A collection of poems written by winners of the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children.

[Devynn Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really awesome poetry book! I could definitely read one of these each day to brighten up the mood.

[Emili]

This is a collection of poems that might inspire some kiddos. They are different styles and authors, so I am sure there is something for everyone in this book.

[Ashlyn Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked reading poems that were hand picked by children, especially since they were tested in classrooms.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book of a variety of poems for children. Has poems sectioned off by their authors. Nice book to read to introduce poetry and different styles of poems.

[Bella Herrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute collection of poems. It was very neat that they were picked out by children as their favorites.

[Katelyn Douglass · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of poems from multiple award-winning poets. Each of the poems was picked by children as their favorites.

[Julia Reny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was very easy to understand and offered a variety of entertaining and funny poems from different authors.

[Sydney Huntington-Strohm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a collection of poems from different poets. It’s is very long and it would be better if it had more color. It would be good to use after recess and could be used to teach about poetry.

[Emily Riggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of different poems for different ages. This collection of student and teacher favorites would fit perfectly on any classroom bookshelf.

[Chloe Bolduc · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has so many great poems, and I loved how author descriptions were included throughout the book.

[Mercedes Dorr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the different styles that were used to create each poem.