All the Small Poems and Fourteen More

My second grade students really enjoyed these poems. They were inspired to compose their own poems in our school's computer lab. Later, they illustrated their poems and we compiled them in a book for everyone to take home.

Valerie Worth's incredible perspective of finding beauty and interest in simple things is a great lesson for all of us. I use this book with my 10 and 4 year-olds and enjoy it as much myself as they do. If I take a moment to really bask in each poem's simplicity and attention to detail I glean much wisdom from the expertly chosen words. Porches, Zinnia's, Old Tom, Rosebush are just a few of my favorite.

The late Valerie Worth is well remembered in this volume of nature poems. They are short and sweet, with neat imagery. I used this book to help my daughter, a struggling reader, to read, by reading with her, and sometimes singing the poems as though they were lyrics. Simple titles like "Pie" and "Toad" evoke a simple life...yet the poems stir the imagination, too: "The watering can rusts among friends." Mm. Natalie Babbit's line drawings complement the poems without fail.

This book is a great collection of poems about nature. My children love these poems, and they are great to teach with.