The Riverside Anthology of Children S Literature

I purchased this book over two years ago, and find myself reading it again and again for it is such a useful compendium of children's literature. The book itself is beautifully bound and contains numerous black-and-white illustrations, as well as full color illustrations. It is divided into 6 parts, i. Children's poetry [Mother Goose, other nursery rhymes, singing games, jingles, chants, counting-out rhymes], riddles,puzzles, and tongue twisters, lullabies & folk songs, nonsense verse, the storytelling tradition [ballads, narrative poetry], poems of a child's world, poems of imagination, poems of nature, poems of reflection]. ii. Picture books [text, selection & history] iii. The oral tradition [ fables, folktales from different countries around the world, myths, legends, and sacred writings[Judeo-Christian, Islamic etc, epics and romances, story-telling] iv. Fiction [realistic & historical fiction, fantasy & science fiction] v. Nonfiction [ biography covering such famous people as Beatrix Potter, Gandhi, Anne Frank, also covering tracel & history, and science] vi. Readings on children's literature [the creators, the critics] and finally it ends with a very useful selected bibliography of children's lit, and has an appendix, and subject index, as well as an author, illustrator, and title index. This is a truly valuable resource for parents, teachers, and anyone interested in children's literature.

When I was a young, my mom was taking college classes and got this book for her class on children's lit. When the class was over, we would sit around and flip through the 1000s of poems, fairy tales and story excerpts from ya novels. Now the book is on my shelf, and I pull it down to find poems to read to my daughter. Completely enjoyable book for those looking for tons of poems/stories from around the world for children, and for those who want to learn more about the poems/stories themselves.

This book is quite a treasure for any parent, but especially for teachers! Some of the material available include: Mother Goose Rhymes (104); Singing Games, Jingles and Chants (130); Riddles, Puzzles, Tongue Twisters (21); Lullibies and Folk Songs (29); all kinds of stories according to voice, fiction, nonfiction, or biography; and a treasure of poetry. Any teacher who needs good resource material will love this book! The price is high, but the material is priceless.