Poems for the Very Young (Stories for the very young) by Michael J. Rosen

Poems for the Very Young (Stories for the very young) Reviews

• 
  Ashley Johnson

  This book compiles a range of poetry for children of all ages ranging from themes such as difficulties in getting dressed, to memories of childhood games, to the completely and utterly nonsensical rhymes such as Ping-Pong: an onomatopoeia poem depicting the physical interaction between four playful canines in a park until a much larger dog intervenes and scares the brood off.
  
  Michael Rosen’s selection of poems keeps the reader entertained for hours. Some of the poems are not rhythmical at all, which for a young reader negates the idea of the book being solely about poems. This then opens up the child's mind to all possibilities and interpretations of various texts, poetic or not. I for one was fascinated with the concept and immediately I begun attempting my own versions of poems.
  
  I would utilise this book during a KS2 English lesson to encourage children to write their own poems based on a topic of interest, for example; poems related to the highly televised events of the London 2012 Olympics. This would not only encourage children’s English language skills but would also make children aware of what is taking place in the media at present, subsequently encouraging them to become more active.
  
  ‘Poems for the very young’ is not a book just for the very young as the title implies, but for people who are young at heart!!!
  
• 
  Kim Cerri

  This book is an anthology of poems. It is full of various types of poems which are both funny and thoughtful. There are a wide range of poems which meet almost every aspect of poetry which makes this book a brilliant introduction into the poetry topic in literacy for year two children.
  
  The images in this book enable the reader to visualize the story being told within the poem.
  
  This book is also a good independent reader for children, especially those that have difficulties reading for longer periods. However, some of the words or language used may need explaining bu an adult.
  
  I would definitely recommend this book to any teacher as a resource for their literacy lessons.
  
• 
  Linda

  Some are Anon. Some are traditional. Some are by big people. This, my favourite, is by Ki Ellwood-Friery - Age 8.
  
  The moon out
  There.
  The sun out
  There.
  The world out
  There.
  The whole galaxy out
  There
  and me stuck in my bedroom.
• 
  Suzanne Moore

  In honor of National Poetry Month, a special reading was held at the library in April. My friend, Maureen and her little dog Roxy stopped in to read these poems aloud. There are traditional verses, nonsense rhymes, and poems by Jack Prelutsky, Stevie Smith, A.A. Milne, Eve Merriam, Margaret Mahy, Michael Rosen, and many more in this collection. Some poems are even authored by children.
  
  One anonymous poem, “Man Fat,” was a favorite of the listeners. The illustrations (by, Bob Graham) contribute greatly to each poem’s presentation. For instance, Man fat / Top hat / Fell flat/ Squashed hat … showed a rather large man lying across the bottom of a two-page spread. Next to the flat-on-his-back man was a flat-as-a-pancake hat. It is the sound of words, rhyming and repeating, that makes them so appealing to listeners and readers.
  
  Maureen even discovered a poem that she uses all the time on her husband, Tom. And she didn’t even know it was a poem! “Go to bed Tom,” is in fact an English nursery rhyme. As for Maureen, she uses this phrase fairly often when Tom falls asleep in front of the TV at night. She used a loud, annoyed tone of voice when reading this poem. With hilarious hind-sight, we later discovered that this rhyme has a very sweet melody.
  
  Roxy enjoyed all kinds of attention from the children at her debut poetry reading. She brought along “magic rocks” (crystals) to give everyone who attended the event. This collection, although targeting the very young, is fun for adults too. Especially when reading aloud with children!
• 
  Krysta McFarland

  This poetry book, perfect for grades kindergarten-3 has cute little pomes that ultimately tell different stories page by page but are all written by different authors. I love the way the book is pieced together and comes together in the end to have special themes on each page. I read this book to my niece before she went to bed and she kept begging me to read more and more poems because she just could not get enough and that made the book even better for me.
• 
  Morgan

  Genre: Poetry
  Recommended Grade Level: Early Primary/ Primary
  
  With over 60 pages filled with poems and bright illustrations, I can see this book being used over and over again. Included are poems of different lengths, styles, and reading abilities. I also liked that there was a section with poems about different holidays/seasons. I would use this book to do a poem a day in my classroom.
  
  
• 
  Hiba Yuki

  Some of them don't feel very appropriate for the "very young" as the title suggests. The layout of the book and illustrations were good though. It was overall a disappointing poetry anthology, maybe because I expected more substance from Rosen.
• 
  Elly Schultz

  Genre: Poetry Grade: 2-5
  I liked this Poetry book by their was a lot of rhyming for each poem. It had involved repeating words within and I had noticed it using differences between one another to have the poem flow more together.
• 
  Child960801

  An adequate book of poetry for children. Read it out loud to the kids.
• 
  Trish

  Lots of repetition. Short poems.
• 
  Liz

  Week 13: Poetry anthology
  Comprised of poems about almost everything, "Poems For The Very Young" will capture the attention of young readers. "There are traditional verses, nonsense rhymes, and poems by Jack Prelutsky, Stevie Smith, A.A. Milne, Eve Merriam, Margaret Mahy, Michael Rosen, and many more." All poems are brilliantly paired with illustrations that young children will love.
  
  "Poems For The Very Young" is appropriate for ages 3-5.
  
  As a young reader, one of my favorite books was "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein. I instantly connected with the humor and illustrations connected with each poem. I was expecting this book to have the same effect but it did not. Perhaps I was expecting to much. I found the poems very simple and void of humor. I think these poems will appeal more towards children who are beginning to read.
• 
  Jennifer (JenIsNotaBookSnob)

  This book is not much fun for adults. I really thought I would love it, but, at the halfway point I'm just not wild about it. I like silly, but, this book isn't really silly. The word 'fat' gets thrown around quite a bit in it. I could excuse this if it was at least amusing, but, it really isn't.
  
  There are a couple gems in it, some rhymes I'd forgotten that used to be part of clap games I once knew. It's not total rubbish. My 5 year old likes it and contentedly sat through half of the book in one sitting. Maybe she would have sat through the whole thing, but, I needed a break from this book.
  
  I could probably read a whole Shel Silverstein poetry book in one sitting, but, I couldn't read this one all in one go.
  
  Updated to add:
  Finally gave up on finishing it with Kairi. Sometimes a book is just not for you. She just couldn't be talked into sitting back down for this one.
• 
  Amanda

  Growing up I remember having books full of poems and other stories. I enjoyed these books very much and I was hopeful this book would be similar. It was not. The poems seemed off, very few were familiar, and some talked of things such as dead butterflies (page 17) or consuming wine (page 20), which is just out of place for "the very young" as the title calls the intended audience. The illustrations were fun, but not especially eye-catching. There seemed no real cohesiveness to this book and frankly some of the poems were so silly they weren't even worth a read.
  Stick with the tried and true poems or read a little Dr. Seuss if you are looking for that playful cadence. This is not a very good selection.
• 
  Hanne

  I liked that ethnical diversity was a natural part of the illustrations. I also liked the doublespreads which integrated all the different poems into one big illustration (for instance page 10/11 and 30/31), and the reference to the fable about the lion and the mouse on page 16. My favourite poem was 'The Moon' by Ki Ellwood-Friery (age 8).
  
  I did not like the lack of cohesion between the different doublespreads and poems. However, I realize that the aim of the anthology is to introduce children to poetry and playful language that increases their metalinguistic awareness and inspires them to play with language themselves. In that way, this diverse anthology is a great introduction to different kinds of poetry where any child is bound to find something that speaks to them.
• 
  Rachel

  My favorite poem was anonymous and went like this:
  
  Man Fat
  
  Man fat
  Top hat
  Fell flat
  Squashed hat.
• 
  Kena Kump

  Great poetry book for young. Focuses on sounds, rhythms and tones and the physical side of language.
• 
  Paul Hankins

  This is one of the books I found in the warehouse on Thursday afternoon. Pulled this one to go into our Room 407 Poetry Collection. Would work well as a sample of simple and children's verse.
• 
  Tammy

  It was nice to see a lot of different poems instead of the same old stuff.