Children's Poetry Book Reviews Where I and a 5-Year-Old Disagree On Which Is the Best

Poetry books: You are the Loveliest; Imagine!; Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright!; Marshmallow Clouds; not pictured: Zoobilations.

 

Once I again I am reviewing more poetry books with the help of my 5-year-old grandson. I thought I had it all figured out which book(s) he would like the best and which one(s) he wouldn't.  I was wrong again, or at least in words, though not in actions. Ian, my little grandson loves books and loves to snuggle up for a good read, but he is also five so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he also gets quickly bored, ready to move on to other activities. 

Before Ian joined me to read portions of each of these books I felt sure that he would love Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright and Zoobilations best because he loves animals and both of these books focus on animals exclusively. I especially love Tiger, Tiger because it is such a large collection, one animal poem for every day of the year, many by very famous poets. To my mind both Imagine! and You Are the Loveliest have problems, possibly with their translations. Imagine! deals with some rather dark themes, like depression in adults, and people drowning due to bad immigration policies. I didn't even want to read these poems to Ian. The book is translated from Italian. You are the Loveliest contains some pretty sweet poems, but I had issues with the rhyming schemes and meter. This book is translated from Dutch.

So what did Ian think?

He loved Imagine! because each poem proposes a new way of living or thinking and ends with a shout: IMAGINE! What five-year-old doesn't relish the idea of being allowed to participate what is being read by shouting? He insisted I read the parts of the book I was hoping to avoid. I explained that those poems made me sad. After I read them, he agreed they were sad, but didn't dwell on the subject or demand I explain them. Whew.

Ian was enraptured by You are the Loveliest. So what if all the rhymes aren't quite right or the meter a little off. The illustrations by Marit Tornqvist are so sweet and the poems on themes that concern kids, like spending the night at grandma's house, dreaming, and imaginative play. I confess his reaction caused me to take a second, more positive look at the book.

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright was the third book we picked up, and five-year-old-ants-in-pants were starting to set in. The book is big and heavy, a bit daunting. He was delighted with poems like "Anaconda" but other, longer poems didn't seem to interest him. Soon he just slammed the book shut, announcing he was done. When I explained that I had a few favorites to read him, he demurred and allowed me to flip to those poems. Then I asked if we could just leaf through the book and he could tell me to stop anywhere and I'd read out the poem(s) on that page. He agreed but he never allowed me to skip over any pages. He actually wanted me to read every poem, on every page we came to. We were somewhere in the month of March when we both decided we could judge the book fairly without reading on.

Zoobilations (unpictured) didn't get a fair examination by Ian. We read only a few poems when he decided he was done for real this time. I found the poems quite charming and funny but the book I thought he'd like the best, he gave only a cursory glance at before he turned back to Tiger, Tiger. (Ha, he did like that book!) He picked up Tiger, Tiger and carried it out of the room, wanting to show "Anaconda" to his dad. Later I noticed that he and his parents were looking through the book finding poems attached to birthdays and special events. Clearly, Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright has big-time potential, though Ian still insists that he likes Imagine! and Loveliest in a tie for the best.

Marshmallow Clouds was a reread for me and Ian hasn't had a chance to read and review it, yet. Another one of the Cybils judges exclaimed that she was quite taken with the book and asked my opinion. I hadn't reviewed it when I read it back in October and I had only the vaguest of memories of it. Therefore a reread was in order. This time around, I found this collection of free verse poems quite charming and often humorous. I am pretty eager to learn what Ian thinks of it. PBS placed it on their rather long "Best Books of 2022" list, one of only a few children's books. That alone makes it worthy of a look.

So how would I rank these five children's poetry books? Tiger, Tiger is my favorite, followed by Marshmallow Clouds, You are the Loveliest, Zoobilations, and Imagine! coming in last. Honestly I liked them all for different reasons and encourage you to look for them next time you are at a library.

-Anne