You're never too young to love poetry. Teagan's name actually means 'little poet'. It's not that I'm versed in the classics or even know much about poetry but I do know that I love to read rhyming words and Teagan, ever since she was little, has loved listening. We started out simple which means Dr Suess - is he great or what! You just can't go wrong with any of his writing. We loved Hop on Pop, probably the most simple and have almost all of his books. One of my favorite to read is Horton Hatches an Egg.
As Teagan gets older I keep a look out for poetry books that are inviting and have found a few favorites. A.A. Milne - who you all know as Pooh Bear's creator wrote his very first children's poetry book in 1924. At this point poor ole' Pooh was still just plain 'Teddy Bear". This book, called When We Were Very Young, is magical! I found it at the MFA book store. Some of our favorites are: Lines and Squares (all about bears waiting to get you if you step on the lines) The Dormouse and the Doctor and Sand-Between-The-Toes (Teagan's Papa love to read her this one). Now Teagan leans to the dark side and LOVES anything scary or creepy. The book Don't Bump the Glump is perfect! It's written by Shel Sliverstein and it's fantastic. The poems involve a degree of subtle understanding that I'm not sure Teagan quite gets.. but she's getting there. We read these at breakfast and she can't get enough. The illustrations are fist rate too!! Here's an example for you:
SLITHERGADEE The Slithegadee has crawled out of the sea. He may catch all the others, but he won't catch me. No you won't catch me, old Slithergadee, You may catch all the others, but you wo___________
The other book I like is Around My Room by William Jay Smith. It's full of imagination and the illustrations are also great. I particularly like the one about the dragan who's job it is to toast the boys bread in the morning!
If you have any poetry books you can recommend I'd love to hear about them!
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