One day I was wondering what chapter book I should choose next to read aloud with my five year old daughter. I was scanning my memory of books I enjoyed as a child and remembered Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. We did enjoy it quite a bit. But that's not my recommendation. Everyone knows that book. I chose something perhaps a little less well known but a refreshing change of pace. This book of poetry is It's Raining Pigs and Noodles by Jack Prelutsky. A prolific writer of poetry for children, Jack Prelutsky also has a poetry anthology published by Random House. Poems are perfect for bedtime because you can read several or just one. Poems are perfect for the middle of the day for some quiet time reading. Poems are perfect for reading in the car while running errands. With poems you don't have to read two more pages just to get to the end of a chapter or a good stopping point. There are so many poetry collections now, it is fun to find one that correlates with your child's interests (food, bugs, Halloween, school, animals, family members, etc.) Jack has a knack for knowing what tickles a child's funny bone and his work is creative and personal. So next time you're at the library, go to the poetry section (811 on the Dewey Decimal system) and find a good collection of poems. Your kids will love them!
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Thanks for the recommendation, Marisa. My kids have also recently discovered the fun of poetry (thanks to a visit from Aunt Monica with "Where the Sidewalk Ends" in tow). After reading bedtime poems every night for several days, they were hooked. I discovered that our library had "Where the Sidewalk Ends" on CD, too, and it is read by the fun and quirky author himself! Dal and Kate listened to the CD every day for a couple weeks. When our renewals ran out and we had to take it back to the library, I discovered that they had several poems memorized. Just last week they performed "I Cannot Go to School Today" for our ward talent show and (if I do say so myself) totally STOLE THE SHOW!
We will be checking out Jack Prelutsky next!
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