A Year Full of Poems

Now children may
Go out of doors,
Without their coats,
To candy stores.
The apple branches
And the pear
May float their blossoms
Through the air,
And Daddy may
Get out his hoe
To plant tomatoes
In a row,
And, afterwards,
May lazily
Look at some baseball
On TV.
--from "May" by John Updike

From January to December, Michael Harrison and Christopher Stuart-Clark trace all the months of the year in this rich collection of poems for children. Eight to twelve poems are chosen for each month to capture the essence of a particular time and season. Narrative poems, very short poems, funny poems, sad poems--each month offers quite a variety, chosen especially for children aged 9 to 14.

February boasts poems by Sara Teasdale and Walter de la Mare. April offers Langston Hughes and Tennyson. John Updike is a contributor to May and August. And the other months are made particularly memorable with poems from Emily Bronte, Longfellow, D. H. Lawrence, Rupert Brooke, Emily Dickinson, and many others. The poems are illustrated by a variety of artists in an open and easy-to-read format that blends the poetry with the artwork. Included are an index of authors and artists, and of titles and first lines.

The lavish design and the thoughtful, diverse selection of poems make this an ideal resource for classroom and library, a special gift for a young poet, or the perfect choice for beginning or adding to a child's first personal library.

Michael Harrison and Christopher Stuart-Clark have collaborated on several books for Oxford, including The Oxford Book of Story Poems and Peace and War: A Collection of Poems.