Hailstones and Halibut Bones

by Mary O'Neil and John Walner

This book has twelve poems describing color-white is hailstones and halibut bones.  It lists how colors look, feel, smell, and sound.  It even gives a time of day for each one.

Audience
I used this to teach personification to third graders.  I think all children (people) will be hipnotized by the rhythm of the poems.

What I Love:
1) Each poem appeals to every sense, including a sense of emotion.
2) There are a lot of philosophical points about anger, despair, hope, joy, and the journey of life in here.

Cautions:
If you read this to children, you will have to explain some of the words to them-they aren't big, just very specific

Where the Sidewalk Ends

by Shel Silverstien

This isn't a story, it's a collection of poems.  I grew up reading his books and I love them to this day.  The longest poems cover two pages, but that's including the illustrations, but many are only 10 lines long.

Audience
As soon as children know what poetry is.

What I Love:
1) The pencil illustrations are so funny and charming
2) Most of the poems are funny and relateable to children (ie Sister for Sale)
3) There are quite a few serious poems, like the one posted at the bottom.

Cautions:
1) All the poems are stand-alone, they don't relate to anything else in the book
2) There is implied nudity in one or two of the drawings (always from the back, not showing anything)
3) Silverstien has an irreverent sense of humor about teachers and parents.  Sometimes (not often) the joke is at their expense.

Series
Where the Sidewalk Ends
A Light in the Attic
Falling Up
Everything On It
Don't be a Bump in the Glump