My father loved to read out loud, and he was very good at it too. Thanks to him, I learned how to read Shakespeare, and I also learned that there is something special about sharing a story or a piece of poetry with someone else. For today's poetry title Paul B. Janeczko chose poems that are perfect for reading out loud. Many of them are also easy to memorize. Not long ago I found myself reciting one of the poems in this book, The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear. I learned the poem when I was eight years old, and it have been with me ever since.
Illustrated by Chris Raschka
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 7 to 10
Candlewick Press, 2009, 978-0-7636-6083-3
The amazing thing about the written word is that it can
be enjoyed in so many ways. We can read a book to ourselves, enjoying the
language and the story in solitude, or we can share what we are reading with
others. Reading out loud used to be something that many people did. As a family
sat around a fire or on a porch, one of their number would read out loud while
the others knitted, sewed, whittled wood, or simply sat and listened. Reading
to oneself is a wonderful way to spend some time, but reading to others is
special because you get to hear the beauty of the language and you get to share
it. There are some pieces of writing that come to life when someone lets the
words be heard aloud.
Many pieces of
poetry are like this. It is almost as if they were meant to be read out loud.
For this book Paul B. Janeczko has selected thirty-six poems that are perfect
for reading out loud. There are short ones, like Gigl, which is only six words long, and then there are others that
are longer and more complicated. Jabberwocky
by Lewis Carroll, for example, is full of words that most of us have never even
heard before. What on earth is a “borogove” or a Tumtum tree?” The great thing
about this poem is that is does not matter if we don’t know what all the words
mean. They sound delicious.
Some of the
poems have an almost musical feel to them. Certainly Us Two by A.A. Milne is just such a poem. The bouncing rhythm and
rhyming elements make this poem perfect for reading out loud.
Paul Janeczko
has even chosen some poems that two or more readers can read together. Fishes: Poem for Two Voices by Georgia
Heard is perfect for a two people to share, and an excerpt from Macbeth has three parts. Good Hot Dogs by Sandra Cisneros comes
in two flavors, English and Spanish. What a wonderful way for two people to
share the same poem!
Many of the
poems have one more thing to offer. They are perfect for memorizing. Sometimes
the story in the poem is so catchy that one cannot help learning the poem
quickly. Edward Lear’s The Owl and the
Pussycat is a good example of this. Then there are the ones that are funny.
Short and quirky limericks fit the bill for people who like to smile and laugh.
Other poems have such wonderful language that we welcome the opportunity to
take those words and tuck them into our memories so that we can pull them out
whenever we want. Walt Whitman’s I Hear
America Singing is the kind of poem that you want to keep in your head. It
will always be there, so you can take it out at will, dust it off, and stay it
loud.
This is a
splendid collection of poems that readers of all ages will enjoy exploring.