A pantoum is not an easy poem to write — but it sure is a fun challenge! This Malay verse form, which became popular in Britain and France in the 1800s, has a set pattern of how to repeat specific lines. In the poem “If I Were a Blue Balloon,” the repeating lines add to the dreamlike quality of the scene. Can you hear the pattern?
Use these instructions and handy chart!
From Amazon:
Just one more before bedtime? Please?
It’s time for tuck-in, and your little one wants just one more moment with you–so fill it with something that will feed the imagination, fuel a love of reading, and send them off to sleep in a snap. Reach for a one-minute poem!
Former Children’s Poet Laureate Kenn Nesbitt presents a blockbuster collection of all-new poetry penned by some of the most beloved and celebrated poets of our time, including Jack Prelutsky, Jon Scieszka, Mary Ann Hoberman, Nikki Grimes, Lemony Snicket, Jane Yolen, and many more. Illuminated with dreamlike wit and whimsy by New York Times illustrator and award-winning artist Christoph Niemann, here is a new bedtime classic.
When the busy day is drawing to a close and the whole family is ready for rest, take a minute for poetry and send your little one off to sleep.
These pithy poetic observations and Niemann’s engaging illustrations prove at once antidote and anodyne for the sleep-averse child demanding just one more….A dreamy collection of bedtime poems and witty illustrations that’s anything but sleepy.
Nonsense poems, wordplay, nature, whimsy, and tenderness all mix together here in a collection that families with children from preschool through primary grades and beyond will enjoy reading together before bed.
With a broad range of voices and sentiments, the collection delivers poems to meet any mood.
This charming compendium holds a wide variety of poetic forms and emotions, from bits of “concrete” to slices of doggerel, from bursts of giggles to slathers of joy—and with a star-studded cast that includes the likes of Nikki Grimes, Marilyn Singer, Jon Scieszka, and more, it’s bound to be a lasting contribution to collections. All the pieces are rather short in length—perfect for those bedtime or read-aloud pleas of “just one more!” Poems where moon mice “know the moon is made of cheese,” seagulls throw parties “but never cook, ever,” and sleepy weeds “lean against each other” are sure to enchant adults and children alike. VERDICT Exuberant for the most part (with some serious musings to lend ballast) and in perfect harmony with its cartoonish, color-washed illustrations, this sleepy-time volume is just the thing for the rhyme-loving child who has graduated from Mother Goose.—Patricia Manning