The Best Poems Ever (Scholastic Classics) (original 2008; edition 2002)

Not even close. But now I know where the "fumerious bandersnatch" comes from. Not the best bathroom reading Langston Hughes had a good one. ( )

This is a collection of poems by some of the most famous authors and poets like Edgar Allan Poe and Shakespeare, but there are many that are written by authors whom I have never heard. Some of them are short, some are long, some are deep and thought-provoking and some are just nice and sweet. There are a variety of styles and formats of poems.

I am not a big fan of poetry, so I don't really relate to it as much as some of the other genres we have read and discussed. I took an intro to poetry class in college and I think I wrote just well enough to make a decent grade. Since you write about what you know, I had several football, Coke and Snickers poems when other women might have written about flowers and love.

I think this book would be appropriate for the middle school and high school level classes, so extensions would probably relate to writing assignments about the styles of poems or the emotions brought forth by particular poems. A student could pick out one or two favorite poems and tell why they appealed to him or her.

The Best Poems Ever is a moving compilation of poems by some of the worlds most famous poets. The small, light design makes this book ideal for carrying in a handbag or briefcase. As with any compilation, some of these poems were not to my taste, others (such as Wilfred Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est) took my breath away. This book may be small, but it is packed full of beautiful poetry and is well worth reading. ( )