Wonderful Words: Poems About Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening
by
Lee Bennett Hopkins & Karen Barbour
Order:
USA
Can
Simon & Schuster, 2004 (2004)
Hardcover
Reviewed by Hilary Williamson
T
his
wonderful
book includes 15 poems that celebrate different aspects of words and language, ranging from Emily Dickinson's '
1212
' to '
Listen
' by Lee Bennett Hopkins, who compiled the collection. Karen Barbour's bold, exotic illustrations unleash the reader's imagination.
T
he poems open aptly with Dickinson's '
1212
' ... '
A word is dead / When it is said, / Some say. / I say it just / Begins to live / That day.
' Pat Mora sings of '
Words Free as Confetti
' - '
I'll say, say, say you, / taste you sweet as plump plums, /bitter as old lemons.
' Rebecca Kai Dotlich says '
Let's Talk
' ... '
about old dogs we love. / And speaking of love, / the turtledove.
' I especially enjoyed Heidi Roemer's '
Night Dance
' - '
Haiku dart about / like hummingbirds - asleep I / dream - exquisite words.
'
E
ve Merriam addresses '
Metaphor
' in her verses; David McCord explains '
How to Learn to Say a Long, Hard Word
'; Ann Whitford Paul constructs a '
Word Builder
'; Tom Robert Shields personifies '
I Am the Book
'; Patricia and Fredrick McKissack '
Share the Adventure
' of reading; Carl Sandburg gives a '
Primer Lesson
' on '
proud words
'; Karla Kuskin, Nikki Grimes and Alice Schertle explore the creative process in '
Finding a Poem
', '
The Dream
', and '
Writing Past Midnight
', respectively; and Richard Armour ends it all with '
The Period
'.
E
xplore the joy of reading and the creative process of writing together through this delightful verse collection of
Wonderful Words
.
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