Saturday, November 25, 2006

Poetry Speaks to Children

The prompt over at Poetry Thursday asked us to go to a poetry reading or listen to to poets read. This provided a wonderful opportunity to look (and listen to the accompanying CD) Poetry Speaks to Children. There are 95 selected poems in the book and an audio cd with about half of the poems being read.

I knew I would love this book when I saw that poems from Naomi Shihab Nye, William Stafford and X. J. Kennedy were listed. But what I really love is the audio CD and being able to hear Roald Dahl read his "The Dentist and the Crocodile", Langston Huges read "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and Robert Frost read "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" along with the many other poets who read their work. What a gift to hear these voices, the dialects, and the intonations. It is like having a private poetry reading where ever you can play a cd. I am very sorry however that students will not be able to hear William Stafford read his poem "First Grade." Somewhere I have a tape of him reading other poetry. Can't wait to use it with my students.

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