Poems That Sing to You

This anthology of poems celebrates lyricism and all things musical and contains selections from a wide range of poets, including Langston Hughes, Shel Silverstein, and Myra Cohn Livingston.

Grade 3 Up-A well laid out, eclectic, somewhat sophisticated book. Postulating that poems about music speak immediately to children, Strickland has gathered 55 short selections and arranged them in groups: "Poems That Dance," "Poems That Make Melodies," "Poems That Sing the Happies and the Blues," etc., with each section leading neatly into the next one. Entries range from rock-and pop-music lyrics and Native American chants to classic verse by poets as diverse as Ogden Nash, Carl Sandburg, Karla Kuskin, and Stevie Wonder. Black writers are well represented, and there is a sprinkling of new and lesser-known voices as well. Black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations that resemble woodcuts appear on almost every page. Although most of the offerings can be found in other collections, linking them together by their common theme is effective. Not essential, but pleasant.
Judy Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

``Dancing in the Street'' and ``I Hear American Singing'' are almost neighbors in a sassy collection of poems about pianos, CDs, cassettes, dancing, symphonies, and other topics musical. Eloise Greenfield (``Nathaniel's Rap'') and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (``On a Bad Singer'') sit side-by-side, while Wallace Stevens (an excerpt from ``The Man with the Blue Guitar'') and Robert Graves (``The Penny Fiddle'') are back-to-back. Brod Bagert comments on the synthesization of sound and miniaturization of technology; Felice Holman listens to instruments tuning up. Not every piece is distinctive, but there are rhythms, raps, or rat-a-tats for most readers. The b&w illustrations (they resemble woodcuts) are fine, but don't have the animation, syncopation, and celebration that many of the poems achieve solo, and that the collection achieves in concert. Index. (Poetry. 10+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.