topics: |  poetry | children

Children's poetry is always a joy to read!

Also see:

* The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky and James Stevenson (ill) (1984)

You may quarrel with centipedes, quibble with seals,
declaim to a duck in the park,
engage in disputes with cantankerous coots,
but never mince words with a shark. ...

* River of words: images and poetry in praise of water by Pamela Michael (ed) (2003)

The nap time rain
sings lullabies ...

* The Random House Book of Poetry for Children by Jack Prelutsky and Arnold Lobel (ill.) (1983)

Windrush down the timber chutes
between the mountain's knees --
a hiss of distant breathing,
a shouting in the trees
a recklessness of branches
a wilderness a-sway,
when suddenly
a silence
takes your breath away. ...

Excerpts

I Have No Trouble Sharing : Robert Scotellaro

	I have no trouble sharing—
	I’m good at it, you’ll find.
	When I eat watermelon,
	I always share the rind.
	When there's a chore like cleaning
	my filthy, dusty room —
	I’m never, ever stingy.
	I always share my broom.
	And if you share your cookies
	(I’m hoping that you do),
	the next time I eat walnuts
	I’ll share the shells with you.
	I think a kid like me is
	so very, very rare.
	A kid that has no trouble
	with knowing how to share.

Soon : Goldie Olszynko Gryn

Soon I’ll do the supper dishes,
sweep the carpet, feed the fishes,
clear the closet, take the dogs out,
do my homework, sort my rocks out,
clip my toenails, take a shower,
put away my two-foot tower,
file my records, clean my speakers,
shine my shoes and air my sneakers,
pick up socks and shirts and laces,
pack my cards in special cases,
dust my desk and all that's in it,
brush my teeth for one whole minute,
stack my comic-book collection,
call you in for room inspection.
But right now I’m really busy
and I’m starting to feel dizzy.
So I’ll do what you requested,
just as soon as I’m well rested.

How Dry I Am : Bruce Lansky

How dry I am,
how wet I’ll be,
if I don’t find
the bathroom key.
There's not much time.
I cannot wait.
It would be awful
if I’m late.
I found the key.
It's on the floor.
Whoops! I don’t need it
anymore.

Your Nose Is Running : Jeff Moss

	"Your nose is running," Mother said.
	I answered, "Wow! That's really neat!"
	"Why's that?" she asked. I said, "Because
	I never knew my nose had feet."

Mom's Diet : Bruce Lansky 21

	Whenever Mom goes on a diet,
	she cooks weird food and makes me try it.
	When she is hungry, she gets cranky.
	If I’m not perfect, she might spank me.
	She swims, she bikes, she runs, she dances.
	I hope she’ll soon fit in her pantses.

A Baby Brother : Geraldine Nicholas p.24

	I have a baby brother;
	they brought him home last week.
	He doesn’t talk or play with me . . .
	all he does is sleep.
	Mom said that I could hold him.
	I thought that might be fun;
	but all he does is stare at me . . .
	I think he's kind’a dumb.
	Some say he looks like daddy.
	Some say he looks like me.
	I think they all need glasses . . .
	he's bald as he can be.
	If this is what a baby's like,
	I think we’d be ahead
	to try and get a refund . . .
	and buy a dog instead.

My Baby Brother : Jack Prelutsky p.25

My baby brother is so small,
he hasn’t even learned to crawl.
He's only been around a week,
and all he seems to do is bawl
and wiggle, sleep . . . and leak.

Night Starvation or the Biter Bit : Carey Blyton

	At night, my Uncle Rufus
	(or so I’ve heard it said)
	would put his teeth into a glass
	of water by his bed.
	At three o’clock one morning,
	he woke up with a cough,
	and as he reached out for his teeth—
	they bit his hand right off.

Uncle Dave's Car : Helen Ksypka

I pleaded with my Uncle Dave
to take us for a ride.
My sisters grabbed a window seat.
I sat right by his side.
He zoomed across a garden
and knocked some hedges down,
then barreled over sidewalks
in a busy part of town.
He zipped along a winding road—
a siren made him stop.
My uncle got a ticket from
a very angry cop.
At home our mother asked us,
"Did all of you behave?"
We answered her, "Of course we did."
(Except for Uncle Dave!)

Hand-Me-Downs : Bob Zanger

I’m always wearing hand-me-downs.
I don’t get stuff that's new.
My mom won’t take me shopping.
I don’t know what to do.
The dresses always fit me fine,
but high heels give me blisters.
It's not that easy growing up,
a boy with older sisters.

Today Is Not a Good Day : Rebecca Kai Dotlich

	Today is not a good day.
	I woke up sick in bed.
	My stomach has a stabbing pain
	that's spreading to my head.
	My knees are weak and achy.
	My eyes are full of flu.
	I fear I may contaminate;
	I have a fever too.
	I cannot see.
	I cannot breathe.
	I cannot read or write.
	My eyes are shut,
	my nose is blocked,
	I’m not a pretty sight.
	I cannot lift a finger
	or move a tired toe.
	My throat is hot and scratchy,
	the answer's simply NO . . .
	I cannot go to school today;
	I’m awfully sorry too,
	this had to happen on the day
	my book report was due.

English Is a Pain! (Pane?) : Shirlee Curlee Bingham

Rain, reign, rein,
English is a pain.
Although the words
sound just alike,
the spelling's not the same!
Bee, be, B,
I’d rather climb a tree,
than learn to spell
the same old word,
not just one way, but three!
Sight, site, cite,
I try with all my might.
No matter which
I finally choose,
it's not the one that's right!
There, their, they’re,
enough to make you swear.
Too many ways
to write one sound,
I just don’t think it's fair!
To, two, too,
so what's a kid to do?
I think I’ll go
to live on Mars,
and leave this mess with ewe!
(you?)


--Difficult Math Test : Robert Scotellaro
	Whoopie! A test! Whoopie! A test!
	We’re having a difficult test!
	We’d also enjoy being kicked by a mule,
	then dipped in a caldron of bubbling drool,
	but a difficult test is best!
	[...]

	Or baked in a pie in an oven too hot
	and having your fingers all tied in a knot,
	then using a chair made of porcupine quills,
	can also provide you a great deal of thrills,
	but a difficult test is best!

	Or put in a vise and then squeezed till you’re flat,
	or sharing your room with a twenty-foot rat,
	and then wearing some tight cactus underwear,
	but none of, no none of these things can compare
	to the joys of a difficult test!

Dinnertime : Mary Ann Hoberman

David asks for his dessert
Peggy wants to press her skirt
she has dance class and she's late
David says he cannot wait
Mike is giving him a ride
he’ll just go and wait outside
Father tells him he will not
David mutters thanks a lot

Ann says she expects a call
Benjamin won’t eat at all
Mother starts to serve the pie
Benjamin begins to cry
Mother asks him what is wrong
Father says the tea's too strong
Ann gets up to get the phone
Benjamin begins to moan

Peggy says her tights are torn
David says he hears a horn
Father says to finish first
David says that he will burst
Peggy says it isn’t fair
Ann has on her other pair
now she will be late for class
Benjamin upsets his glass
David's taking tiny bites
Ann is taking off the tights

David says the crust is tough
Mother says she's had enough
Father says it's not too bad
Mother says she's going mad
David wiggles like a mouse
that is dinner at our house

The Burp: Anonymous

Pardon me for being so rude.
It was not me, it was my food.
It got so lonely down below,
it just popped up to say hello.

Should I? : Joyce Armor p.57

	Would I, could I,
	should I try to
	eat a slug or
	would I die?
	Would it slide down
	sluggishly or
	wiggle, squiggle
	buggishly?
	Would it stick and
	slime my tongue or
	glide down swiftly
	to my lung?
	That might make me
	awful dead. Think I’ll
	eat a worm instead.

Mother Doesn’t Want a Dog : Judith Viorst p.62

	Mother doesn’t want a dog.
	Mother says they smell,
	and never sit when you say sit,
	or even when you yell.
	And when you come home late at night
	and there is ice and snow,
	you have to go back out because
	the dumb dog has to go.
	Mother doesn’t want a dog.
	Mother says they shed,
	and always let the strangers in
	and bark at friends instead,
	and do disgraceful things on rugs,
	and track mud on the floor,
	and flop upon your bed at night
	and snore their doggy snore.
	Mother doesn’t want a dog.
	She's making a mistake.
	Because, more than a dog, I think
	she will not want this snake.

A Very Stubborn Polar Bear : Linda Knaus

A very stubborn polar bear
got hold of my new underwear.
I warned him that they wouldn’t fit.
But did he listen? Not one bit.
He solved the problem well, instead,
by wearing them upon his head.

My Dog : Max Fatchen

My dog is such a gentle soul,
although he's big it's true.
He brings the paper in his mouth.
He brings the postman too.

Away Down South : Anonymous

Away down south where bananas grow,
a grasshopper stepped on an elephant's toe.
The elephant cried with tears in his eyes,
"Pick on someone your own size."

Little Birdie in the Sky : Anonymous

Little birdie in the sky
dropped some white stuff in my eye.
I’m not angry. I won’t cry.
I’m just glad that cows don’t fly.

Little Jimmy Dawson : Robert Scotellaro

	Now Jimmy Dawson's hearing
	was surely most acute.
	He’d hear a lint piece falling
	from off his father's suit.
	He’d hear the flowers growing,
	and two cottonballs collide,
	the sound of puddles drying—
	it kept him occupied.
	When listening to a conch shell,
	he heard, not just the sea,
	but pearls in oysters forming,
	as clear as clear could be.
	He’d hear a pimple blossom
	upon his sister's face—
	and hear a new sun rising,
	light traveling through space.
	But then a strange thing happened—
	his mom called him in from play.
	Then Jimmy's perfect hearing
	completely went away.

Doing a Good Deed : John Ciardi

At the foot of the hill, the ice-cream truck
drove into a mudhole and got stuck.
We helped the driver back on the road.
But first we had to lighten the load.
When we had helped a gallon apiece,
the driver phoned the Chief of Police,
who drove a pole into the sludge
and measured five feet of chocolate fudge
that had to be lightened. Well, we turned to
and helped the man. What else could we do?
I even called my Boy Scout Troop.
By then there was nothing left but soup.
Still, ice-cream soup is very good.
And we wanted to help as much as we could.
It was our good deed for the day
to help the man get on his way.
At last we pulled him out of the muck,
and he drove away in his empty truck,
thanking us all for helping him out.
That made us happy. For there's no doubt
we must help our neighbor as much as we can.
Especially when he's the ice-cream man.

Tables Turned : Michael Dugan

The ghost of bold Ned Kelly
came to haunt my Auntie Nellie,
but when it saw her in the light
it was the ghost that got the fright.

Old Man : Anonymous

There was an old man from Peru
who dreamed he was eating his shoe,
he awoke in the night
in a terrible fright,
and found that his dream was quite true.

Ned Nott : Anonymous

	Ned Nott was shot
	and Sam Shott was not.
	So it is better to be Shott
	than Nott.
	Some say Nott
	was not shot.
	But Shott says
	he shot Nott.
	Either the shot Shott shot
	at Nott
	was not shot,
	or Nott was shot.
	If the shot Shott shot
	shot Nott,
	then Nott was shot,
	but if the shot Shott shot
	shot Shott,
	then Shott was shot, not Nott.
	However, the shot Shott shot
	shot not Shott, but Nott.

Alphabet Protest : Calvin Miller

Have you heard that Congress might soon pass a law
that would change Ks to Bs and all Bs to Ks?
I’ll tell you, I’m strictly opposed to such laws.
That would change everything that we must write or say.
Why, if all Bs were Ks and all Ks were Bs,
the parrots would sleep in Kanana trees,
and we’d go to the zoo to see Bangaroos,
ZeKras and yaBs with spots on their noses
and Boala Kears and wild Kuffaloes.
If this Kill is passed, our Krains will be corB,
the Statue of LiKerty will be in New YorB.
You’d better liBe eating your meals with a forB
and sandwiches made out of KarKeque porB.
Concerning vacations, I’ll only say yucB!
Would you go to Disney to see Donald DucB
or Minnie or MicBie Mouse? What rotten LucB!
This Kill would have mommies Biss KaKies goodnight
or rocB them in rocBing chairs till it was light.
Koys would sleep in KunB Keds in their Kedroom.
And Kig KlacB convertiKles sure would have headroom.
Do you see now why Congress must not pass this Kill?
ThinB of the poor souls who live in MilwauBee,
AlKuquerque or Bansas or those in BentucBee.
You must write to Congress on Capitol Hill
and say, "Leave our letters alone, if you will.
All Ks must be Ks and Bs must be Bs.
We voters demand that you listen up, please . . .
No federal tamp’ring with our ABCs!"

Mary Had a Little Lamb : Anonymous

	Mary had a little lamb,
	a lobster, and some prunes,
	a glass of milk, a piece of pie,
	and then some macaroons.
	It made the busy waiters grin
	to see her order so,
	and when they carried Mary out,
	her face was white as snow.

Toothpaste : Stan Lee Werlin

	There is toothpaste on my fingers.
	There is toothpaste in my nose.
	There is toothpaste on the mirror
	in a hundred squiggly rows.
	There is toothpaste on my pj's,
	how it got there you can guess.
	There are gobs of gooey toothpaste
	in the toilet, what a mess.
	There is toothpaste in the bathtub,
	overflowing on the floor.
	It's congealing on the ceiling
	and it's dripping down the door.
	Every time I squeeze the toothpaste,
	it sprays north and west and south.
	There is toothpaste almost everywhere,
	except inside my mouth!

Contents

Introduction ix
A Bad Case of the Giggles : Bruce Lansky x

All about Me

   I’m thankful : Jack Prelutsky 2
   Oh, Woe ith me! : Bruce Lansky 3
   I’m going to say I’m Sorry : Jeff Moss 4
   I have no trouble Sharing : Robert Scotellaro 5
   Soon : Goldie Olszynko Gryn 6
   Smart : Shel Silverstein 7
   Stinky feet shirlee : Curlee Bingham 8
   When your sucker sticks : Sheree Fitch 9
   Insides : Colin West 10
   Funny face : Calvin Miller 11
   Toes in my nose : Bruce Lansky 13
   How dry I am : Bruce Lansky 14
   Backbite : David Sudol 14

All in the Family

   Pick Up Your Room Mary : Ann Hoberman 16
   Your Nose Is Running : Jeff Moss 17
   Millicent's Mother : Jeff Moss 18
   Mom's Diet : Bruce Lansky 19
   I’m Telling! : Joyce Armor 21
   Living Doll : Larry Cohen and Steve Zweig 22
   My Noisy Brother : Bruce Lansky 23
   A Baby Brother : Geraldine Nicholas 24
   My Baby Brother : Jack Prelutsky 25
   My Three Aunts : Goldie Olszynko Gryn 26
   Night Starvation or the Biter Bit : Carey Blyton 28
   Uncle Dave's Car : Helen Ksypka 29
   Grandma's Kisses : Jeff Moss 30
   Grandpa's Whiskers : Anonymous 31
   Christmas Thank You's : Mick Gowar 32
   Hand-Me-Downs : Bob Zanger 34

Off to School We Go

   Today Is Not a Good Day : Rebecca Kai Dotlich 36
   Distracted, the Mother Said to Her Boy : Gregory Harrison 37
   Morning Announcements : Sylvia Andrews 38
   English Is a Pain! (Pane?) : Shirlee Curlee Bingham 39
   Difficult Math Test : Robert Scotellaro 40
   How to Eat a Bag Lunch : Delia Ephron 42
   Happy Hiccup to You : Kalli Dakos 44
   Public Speaking : Bill Dodds 45
   The Aliens Have Landed! : Kenn Nesbitt 46

What's for Dinner??

   Dinnertime : Mary Ann Hoberman 48
   The Spaghetti Challenge : Leslie D. Perkins 50
   I Ate a Ton of Sugar : Alice Gilbert 51
   If We Had Lunch at the White House : Kalli Dakos 52
   The Burp : Anonymous 54
   Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts : Anonymous 55
   Fast Food : Robert Scotellaro 56
   Should I? : Joyce Armor 57
   Bleezer's Ice Cream : Jack Prelutsky 58
   Recipe : Joyce Armor 60

Critters

   Mother Doesn’t Want a Dog : Judith Viorst 62
   A Very Stubborn Polar Bear : Linda Knaus 63
   My Dog : Max Fatchen 64
   Dumb Dog Shirlee : Curlee Bingham 65
   Dapple Gray : Robert Scotellaro 66
   Away Down South : Anonymous 67
   Little Birdie in the Sky : Anonymous 68

Tall Tales

   Molly Peters : Bill Dodds 70
   Little Jimmy Dawson : Robert Scotellaro 71
   Doing a Good Deed : John Ciardi 72
   Tables Turned : Michael Dugan 73
   Old Man : Anonymous 74
   Isaac Newton : Calvin Miller 75
   The Chap Who Disappeared : John Ciardi 76
   Say What? : Bruce Lansky 77
   The Baby Ate the Dog Food : Malia Haberman-Sperry 78
   Popeye the Sailor Man : Esther L. Nelson 81
   The Insult : Colin McNaughton 82
   I Love You Not : Bruce Lansky 83
   The Eyes Have It : Susan Stranks 84

Tongue Twisters

   Ned Nott : Anonymous 86
   Betty Botter : Anonymous 87
   Alphabet Protest : Calvin Miller 88
   I Thought a Thought : Anonymous 90

Mixed-Up Mother Goose

   Mary Had a Little Ham : Bruce Lansky 92
   Mary Had Some Bubble Gum : Anonymous 93
   Mary Had a Little Lamb : Anonymous 94
   There Was an Old Woman : Bill Dodds 95
   Yankee Doodle's Monkey Ride : Bruce Lansky 96
   Mrs. Doodle : Bruce Lansky 96
   Hickory, Dickory, Dock! : Robert Scotellaro 97
   Row, Row, Row Your Boat : Bill Dodds 98

Time for Bed

   Toothpaste : Stan Lee Werlin 100
   Bathtub Rules : Eileen Spinelli 102
   I Saw You : Anonymous 103
   How to Delay Your Bedtime : Bruce Lansky 104
   Knight Warning : Babs Bell Hajdusiewicz 106