The Usborne book of Poetry collected by Sam Taplin illustrated by Kristina Swarner

Each year we complete a stocktake (or inventory) of our library collection. We complete the whole collection every two years which means every second year I focus on our Non Fiction.  This is a large section of our library and it can feel quite overwhelming as I begin so I like to start with my favourite shelves POETRY!

This year, as I do every year, I bought a few poetry anthologies home to read over the Summer.  One that caught my eye was The Usborne book of Poetry.  This book contains 75 poems. Some are very famous while others may be new to you.  I especially appreciate the inclusion of poem titles in the contents, an index of first lines and index of poets.  Here you will see famous names such as William Blake, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Edward Lear, Ogden Nash and Edgar Allan Poe.

This book has the most scrumptious illustrations and these along with the large font and bright colours make this anthology perfect for young children right through the Primary years and beyond.  Take time to look a some other work by this illustrator.

My two favourite poems in this collection appear side by side - Words I like by Steve Turner and The Word Party by Richard Edwards.

The Word Party by Richard Edwards

Loving words clutch crimson roses,
Rude words sniff and pick their noses, 
Sly words come dressed up as foxes,
Short words stand on cardboard boxes,
Common words tell jokes and gabble,
Complicated words play Scrabble,
Swear words stamp around and shout,
Hard words stare each other out,
Foreign words look lost and shrug,
Careless words trip on the rug,
Long words slouch with stooping shoulders,
Code words carry secret folders,
Silly words flick rubber bands,
Hyphenated words hold hands,
Strong words show off, bending metal,
Sweet words call each other 'petal',
Small words yawn and suck their thumbs
Till at last the morning comes.
Kind words give out farewell posies...

Snap! The dictionary closes.

The compiler sums up the power of poetry "Be careful when you open this book - it's stuffed with poems waiting to ambush you.  Some of the poems are funny, and some are sad, and some will make you feel exactly how the poet felt at a particular moment long, long ago."