poetry

 I love reading poetry to my children, it is such a wonderful way to introduce them to a beautiful and rich word of vocabulary and show them how they can create a world that means nothing to must but everything to them.  My favorites to read to my children are the Shel Silverstien books I am a fan of all his writtings and to have them on the shelf for my children, this always takes me back to the times in my childhood that seemed to matter.  My favorite is Where The Sidewalk Ends and the poem Peanutbutter Sandwhich I grew up loving peanutbutter sandwhiches and this poem always makes me laugh and reading this to my kids is a blast.  My 5 year old is a fan of Don't Bump the Glump which is a strange book but is a world that a child quickly falls in love with.  The ability to take the view of what a child imagines from the creature that looks like a hat or an egg and give it a name and story.  I love this about poetry and childrens books.  I feel that poetry and childrens books go hand in hand, they can be very beautiful in their presentation both in words and pictuers so as to take the child into the pages and join the journey the auther has given.  Childrens books seem to flow like poetry, take Nancy Tillman her books have that flow and the art work gives the added structure to a childs imagination.  I think that poetry is a great way to introduce children into exploring their world by getting them to explain a setting or story they have in their head and helping them to expand on it and not worrying about the words or grammer, you can guide them in seeing that stories those that last in our minds are the ones that break the mold, the ones that touch us in our inner child. 
Until next time write a poem