Reading Journal March 24, 2011

Small Talk: A Book of Short Poems
Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by Susan Gaber
Harcourt Brace & Company
Copyright 1995
48 pages
Illustrations done in watercolor and colored pencil on Strathmore Bristol board
Display type—Simoncini Garamond
Text type—Stempel Garamond

All the poems in this book are short—from 2 to 16 short lines, each poem fitting easily on a single page. Some of the poems are quite simple and some are thoughtful and resonant. All contain beautiful language. This collection will appeal to young children who enjoy words and to older children who will find the depth without struggling to read length. Most of the poets collected here are familiar—Carl Sandburg, Aileen Fisher, Eve Merriam, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Langston Hughes, et al.

Two of my favorites include:

WHAT ARE HEAVY? By Christina G. Rossetti

What are heavy? Sea-sand and sorrow.
What are brief? Today and tomorrow.
What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth.
What are deep? The ocean and truth.

And:

SUMMER COOLER by X. J. Kennedy

In the summer young Angus MQuade
Carried off to his castle of shade
Two cool soothing pillows,
The Wind in the Willows,
And an ocean of iced lemondade.