Poetry for Young People: Edward Lear

I cannot think of a better way to introduce the poetry and stories of Edward Lear than this small volume. The selection is excellent and of interest you the young reader. The commentary is quite relevant as are the pictures which accompany it. I find that often now, our young people go all the way through the early grades in school and many of them have never heard of Edward Lear, much less read their poetry. This was the sort of stuff my generation and the generation before it grew up on and cut our teeth on. I do not feel I am any worse for the wear. I am fearful that we are bringing up an entire generation (rightfully or wrong, although I feel it is the later) of young folks who will have no appreciation to this great art form and will miss a lot. This book helps. This entire series helps, as a matter of fact and I certainly recommend you add this one and the others to your library. Actually, it is rather fun reading these with the young folk and then talking about them. Not only do you get to enjoy the work your self and perhaps bring back some great memories, but you have the opportunity to interact with your child or student. It is actually rather surprising what some of the kids come up with. I read these to my grandchildren and to the kids in my classes at school. For the most part, when I really get to discussing the work with them, they enjoy it. Recommend this one highly.

I had these stories read to me when I was a child and was thrilled to find this book for my son. The illustrations are wonderful and the stories are particularly fun to read aloud. For those of you not familiar, give them a try. I know that there are some terms in these stories that have other connotations to Americans, but the stories are pure, fantastical and innocent.

Edward Lear, what a talented man. Lear was born in 1812 in England. Though being born in England he spent most of his life away from his home land. This particular book that I read was a very good book that was interesting to me no matter my age. He showed great illustrations and they always found a way to make the picture match the story. Lear had great creativity in this book. It was full of rhythm and joy for all type of people.

Poetry for Young People is a wonderful series, and I have the whole series in my classroom, but I have to buy extra copies of Edward Lear's book all the time because everyone wants to read it, and I keep giving copies away. Students who have never cared for a book in their life go so crazy over this one that I just have to make it a present to them. The illustrations are fun and colorful and exciting, and the poetry is zany and silly and rhythmical. I like to read aloud from this book, and we can read these poems over and over (which promotes fluency). If you want to motivate your students or your children to read poetry, or if you want to introduce your kids to poetry so they'll develop a love for it, give them this book. And like I said, the whole series is great. The biographies provided at the beginning of each book are brief, but give a pretty comprehensive picture of the interesting events in each writer's life, and give insight into the works that follow.