Don’t freak out! We haven’t turned into a children’s picture book blog (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). At 5 Minutes for Books, we are still proud to feature books across many genres for children and adults. This week is all about highlighting children’s books, and we are also posting more frequently than you may be used to, for this week only.
Read the anchor post to find all of the Fall Festival of Children’s Books reviews and see how you can get involved as well.
If you’d prefer, search our archives for other books containing a good dose of Humor.
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Let’s Have a Bite!: A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes by Robert Forbes is a wonderful whimsical book of poetry sure to appeal to kids.
The illustrations by Ronald Searle have that sort of odd creepy feel, which perfectly complements the subject matter.
These poems all feature animals: “Baker Betty” (who happens to be a baboon), “The Turtle Dash,” “Ooh,Lala” (about a nasty-tempered koala named Lala), “The Story of Rory” (the rattler).
It’s a rather long collection, featuring 33 poems which each have a full two-page spread. My six-year-old son and I read a poem or two or three before bed each night. I absolutely love having a book of poems around for that purpose — a quick add-on to a picture book reading or simply a quick goodnight read of a poem or two to stand alone.
One thing that I really like about this collection is its diversity. All the poems are about animals, but they are all different. Most are silly, but they all have a different tone, and even better — a different form. Some collections offer poems that have the same ABBA or ABABAB rhyming scheme, or are all 14 lines long or whatever. Some of Forbes’ poems are 1 stanza of 5 lines, others are longer more free-formed poems, some have two stanzas, other have five. The variety keeps the collection from being too predictable, and also serves to teach children about the different forms a poem can take.
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Jennifer Donovan likes poetry a lot.
She thought she’d give this book a shot.
Jennifer blogs at Snapshot.
I’m a sucker for poetry – I love to read a few before bed too – works well as we grow into chapter books…
Sounds very cute. My 4-year-old is if-y on poetry. Sometimes he loves it (the book, Runny Babbit, comes to mind), but often he’ll pass. Maybe I just need to get more good poetry books into the house.
My three year old has been choosing books with poems recently. This one sounds right up her alley, so I have added to my Amazon wish list for Christmas gifts!
Heh, love your poem at the end. This looks like a great book with Halloween looming.
I have a hard time with poetry…if it doesn’t rhyme I am lost. I luv Jack Prelutsky Poems.
I think this book with it’s variety of poems would be good for all of us. lol
Most of these do rhyme, and have that easy to read (and understand!) sort of meter!
I’m always on the look out for good poetry books. Thanks for the review!
Thanks for this review. I’m trying to read more poetry with my children. I’ll add this book to our list.