COLLECTED POEMS FOR CHILDREN by Ted Hughes
This magnificent volume came out just last year. Ted Hughes was Poet Laureate of England, writing for adults and children alike. His poems describe the the natural world, mostly animals, and are arranged in this book by age level, with poetry for youngest readers first.
His poems can be silly or even scary, but they always bring a spark of recognition — yes, this animal is just like that! Here’s a poem about an old dog:
DOG
Asleep he wheezes at his ease. He only wakes to scratch his fleas.
He hogs the fire, he bakes his head, as if it were a loaf of bread.
He’s just a sack of snoring dog. You can lug him like a log.
You can roll him with your foot. He’ll stay snoring where he’s put.
Take him out for exercise, he’ll roll in cowclap up to his eyes.
He will not race, he will not romp, he saves his strength for gobble and chomp.
He’ll work as hard as you could wish, emptying the dinner dish.
Then he flops flat, and digs down deep, like a miner, into sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
If you’re someone who loves animals, wild ones and tame ones, zoo animals and pets and whales in the deep ocean, here’s a book for you! But there are more than just animal poems in this book.
Do you like the silly verses of Shel Silverstein? Then you’ll love the poems Ted Hughes writes about his family, Nessie the Mannerless Monster, and some very creepy and spooky moon poems.
Pick up the book and read it. Which poem is your favorite?
2 Comments
February 9, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Dogs are so funny and cute. Do you own the one in the picture?
February 12, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Nope! The picture is from a program we held in the library, Tales for Tails, where kids had a chance to read to therapy dogs. Go to the Pictures on the Kids Site and you can see more pictures of kids reading to dogs.