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Illustrated Poetry
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From: Angela Reynolds <angelar>
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 09:20:38 -0700
Someone asked if this issue has to be either-or.... personally, I think not. I can think of many reasons to have illustrated poetry books, as long as the poetry is good. There are too many "pretty" books of poetry for kids, where the illustrations outshine the mundane and forced poems. But then there are the beautiful, cleverly illustrated books with pretty good poems, and those work well for even the pre-school audience. I've successfully used books such as Douglas Florian's "Insectlopedia" and "Mammalabilia" in storytimes
(one or two poems, no need to read the whole book). Young children will respond more to poetry if they have pictures--- they probably wont even know it is poetry.
But on the other hand......poetry for children doesn't have to be all cutesy and filled with images of flowers and puppies, as some books of poetry seem to imply. With my favorite puppet (a large green fuzzy lizard), "Lizzie" has read Shakespearean sonnets to pre-schoolers with success. The best
"children's" poetry is that which is written for the sake of poetry itself, not as a cute way to illustrate a picture. And many of our "children's" poets thankfully do that.
Angela J. Reynolds, Youth Services Librarian Washington County Cooperative Library Services 111 NE Lincoln MS58A Hillsboro, OR 97124 503F694 fax: 503a5f01 angelar at wccls.lib.or.us www.WILInet.wccls.lib.or.us
"With time and a kindly librarian, any unskilled person can learn how to build a replica of the Taj Mahal." Maya Angelou
Received on Wed 16 Apr 2003 11:20:38 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 09:20:38 -0700
Someone asked if this issue has to be either-or.... personally, I think not. I can think of many reasons to have illustrated poetry books, as long as the poetry is good. There are too many "pretty" books of poetry for kids, where the illustrations outshine the mundane and forced poems. But then there are the beautiful, cleverly illustrated books with pretty good poems, and those work well for even the pre-school audience. I've successfully used books such as Douglas Florian's "Insectlopedia" and "Mammalabilia" in storytimes
(one or two poems, no need to read the whole book). Young children will respond more to poetry if they have pictures--- they probably wont even know it is poetry.
But on the other hand......poetry for children doesn't have to be all cutesy and filled with images of flowers and puppies, as some books of poetry seem to imply. With my favorite puppet (a large green fuzzy lizard), "Lizzie" has read Shakespearean sonnets to pre-schoolers with success. The best
"children's" poetry is that which is written for the sake of poetry itself, not as a cute way to illustrate a picture. And many of our "children's" poets thankfully do that.
Angela J. Reynolds, Youth Services Librarian Washington County Cooperative Library Services 111 NE Lincoln MS58A Hillsboro, OR 97124 503F694 fax: 503a5f01 angelar at wccls.lib.or.us www.WILInet.wccls.lib.or.us
"With time and a kindly librarian, any unskilled person can learn how to build a replica of the Taj Mahal." Maya Angelou
Received on Wed 16 Apr 2003 11:20:38 AM CDT
