Nancy Larrick (1910–2004)

Many of these are old friends, but I really appreciate being reminded of them, having them all together like this. Some are humorous, some are poignant, some are paeans to nature; some are structured and rhyme, some are brimful of word-play, some are free verse. The line drawing illustrations are charming, too.

And then there are the poems that are new to me:

I copied "Little Talk" by [author:Aileen Fisher|83993] into my review of [book:Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals show more Are?|26530322].

from Marchette Chute's _*Spring Rain*_

My hair is wet, my feet are wet,
I couldn't be much wetter.
I fell into a river once
But this is even better.

Chute also sees snowflakes as 'baby stars.'

[author:Eleanor Farjeon|227924] is one of my favorite authors, so I'm thrilled to find:
_*The Night Will Never Stay*_

The night will never stay,
The night will still go by.
Though with a million stars
You pin it to the sky;
Though you bind it with the blowing wind
And buckle it with the moon,
The night will slip away
Like sorrow or a tune. show less

Even though I am fighting a mouse invasion, I couldn't pass up this book. The sepia colored watercolor illustrations by Ed Young are soft and luscious. The poems are classics and adorable. A lovely addition to any child's library.

The art is indeed lovely, but in the end rather bland. The poems, too, are mostly unmemorable. I totally respect the opinions of ppl for whom it worked better, but I was disappointed. Sorry.
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My college son just read it, and he asked me to read his favorites aloud to him, and I liked them more that way. Not enough to raise my star rating, but enough to recommend this all-ages picturebook to any of you who are interested.

My favorite is probably The Stray Cat by Eve Merriam.
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Third time show more through. Liked it a bit more this time, but unfortunately in the meantime I've seen many of these poems elsewhere, with more effective (to me) presentation.

This time I noticed that the best one to read aloud to younger children is probably *Sing a Song of Kittens* by Elizabeth Coatsworth. Older children would very likely enjoy hearing or reading aloud *The Cat Heard the Cat-bird.*

But honestly, my rating is not a dis-recommendation. If you have interest, and if your library has this, please check it out for yourself. And most especially, note that it is truly for All Ages, not just children! show less

I wore my copy of this out and keep it in a zip lock bag. I loved this book as a child and read in it constantly. I can still quote many of the poems from this book. A great introduction to a wide range of poety for children.