(image taken from angusrobertson.com.au, retrieved January 30, 2013)

Wonderful Words: Poems About Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening

Selected by:  Lee Bennett Hopkins

Illustrated by:  Karen Barbour

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Year: 2004

This anthology of fifteen poems compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins contains a variety of poems from poets such as Emily Dickinson, Nikki Grimes, and Karla Kuskin. Coupled with the vibrant illustrations of Karen Barbour this anthology entices young readers to explore the world of reading, writing and listening.         

It is full of figurative language, creative imagery and a sense of sound that teases the ears of readers while creating word pictures that are fun, bold and vivid. The illustrations add a sense of color, fun, and whimsy that adds to the sensory appeal. The following poem by Karla Kuskin is a wonderful example of how figurative language and sense imagery create an emotional impact on the reader.

Finding a Poem

Dig deep in you.

Keeping everything you find.

Sketch the ever changing views,

dappled behind your eyes,

rustling in your mind.

Unlock the weather

in your heart.

Unleash a thousand whispers,

let them shout.

Then

when you feel

the presence of a poem

waiting to spring

to sting

within you,

bewitch it

into words

and sing it out.

While each poem in this anthology reinforces the purpose of the book, poems such as Share the Adventure by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack, I Am The Book by Tom Robert Shields, and Metaphor by Eve Merriam are particularly effective and would be excellent introductions to lessons on literary concepts.

 Primarily geared towards children that have some experience with language arts, this picture book of poetry still offers brilliant illustrations to entice the eye of the younger reader while poems like Word Builder contains subject matter that is familiar enough to capture the attention of a less experienced audience.

The book contains a table of contents that allows the reader to easily find a particular poem. They are also arranged rather loosely to introduce the reader first to words and then books and then the process of writing. It aptly ends with the poem The Period by Richard Armour thus ending in a humorous but appropriate manner.

This anthology would be a perfect introduction to a writing workshop for older elementary grades although Word Builder by Ann Whitford Paul lends itself to introducing the concept of writing to younger students.  Reading this particular poem before beginning a writing project is a perfect way to introduce the concept of putting words together to make sentences, then paragraphs, and finally an entire story.