A Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing and Shout

A collection of lively rhymes and tricky tongue twisters, poems for more than one voice, bilingual poems – from classic Shakespeare and Lear to anonymous rhymes to contemporary riffs on everything under the sun. These poems just might inspire kids to memorize them!

The book provides the reader with a variety of themes and different kinds of poems: poems for one voice, tongue twisters, poems for two voices, bilingual poems, limericks, etc. The poem "Speak Up" is very relatable and is a very valuable poem that I know I will use with my future students. I can talk about culture, what it means to be an American, and what are things that are not appropriate to say. I enjoyed the poem title "The Poems I Like Best," it talks about the effect that poems can have on an individual and why they are valuable.

This is a very cute collection of poetry that I think children would have a lot of fun (as the title suggests) reading, speaking, singing, and shouting these. There were a few poems I didn't enjoy as much but there were many that I really loved such as "A Tomcat Is", "Pasta Parade", and "Speak Up." I also especially loved "The Lock Ness Monster's Song" and I'm excited over the idea of a group of children trying to read that one out loud. There are also a lot of poems in this book that would be really fun to act out. This book would be a great addition to any classroom, especially in elementary schools.

4Q, 2P: This is a wonderful collection of poems that feet the theme wonderfully (the theme being silly rhymes and nonsensical stories). You just can't help but read most of them out loud. The selection of the individual poems to be included was spot on! However, I don't find poetry to be a genre that appeals really easy to a whole lot of my patrons. So it would probably take considerable pushing to get them interested in this book.

This book is a short collection of different types of poems, for elementary children. The poems are written in different languages, in two person perspective, and many other types. This book is filled with colorful pictures and creative images, that go well with the poems.

I really enjoyed the creative imagery found within the book. I like that the poems are written in different styles and languages. My only issue is that I think some of the content is a little brash for elementary children, so I'd probably use this book for upper level elementary children and on to middle school.

Skipped a few of the poems because they had mature themes of war and death. Z was familiar with some of the others, while others were new. He really liked this anthology, though, mostly because of Chris Raschka's illustrations (he's a favorite around here).

A foot in the mouth is a short collection of different types of poems. The book features famous poems for elementary level children. There are poems in different languages, two person poems, limericks, and many of other types. This book can be used as a great tool for teaching children about poetry. Not to mention the book is filled with colorful creative pictures that are a unique as the poems themselves.