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for another awesome bookshelf. I want it! How awesome would that be in the middle of the children's section at the library?

After watching Waitress the other day I got it into my head that I wanted to bake a pie. So I made a cherry pie last night and I have to say, it turned out very pretty. I'm so proud I thought I'd post a picture.

From Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf

"Children who never have a story read to them, who never hear words that rhyme, who never imagine fighting with dragons or marrying a prince, have the odds overwhelmingly against them."

For Laura Purdie Salas of Wordy Girls

Laura asked for poems about guinea pigs and rock music. Let me say this: Poems about guinea pigs aren’t found in abundance in children’s poetry books.

Here’s A Guinea-pig Song (Anonymous 1773)

A GUINEA-PIG SONG
(Anonymous 1773)

There was a little guinea-pig,
Who, being little, was not big;
He always walked upon his feet,
And never fasted when he eat.

When from a place he run away,
He never at the place did stay;
And while he run, as I am told,
He ne’er stood still for young or old.

He often squeaked, and sometimes violent,
And when he squeaked he ne’er was silent.
Though ne’er instructed by a cat,
He knew a mouse was not a rat.

One day, as I am certified,
He took a whim and fairly died;
And as I am told by men of sense,
He never has been living since.

The poem above, which I can’t say I think is fine literature, can be found in the following book—which also includes an acrostic poem about a guinea pig written by a boy named Jake:

PET POEMS
Edited by Robert Foster
Illustrated by Sally Kindberg
Faber and Faber, 1989

There is also a brief rhyming poem about a child’s pet guinea pig entitled Lullabies written by Katie McAllaster Weaver that can be found in the following I Can Read Book:

A PET FOR ME: POEMS
Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by Jane Manning
HarperCollins, 2003

Laura, I also found a website where you can read some haikus and tankas—purportedly written by a pet guinea pig named Piggywig. Click here to go to Tomato Leaf and Other Notions of Love.

I highly recommend the following picture book, which is a story of two pet guinea pigs that escape from their cage and end up inside the “tunnels” of a pool table. It’s an excellent book to read aloud to young children.

JOHN WILLY AND FREDDY MCGEE
Written & illustrated by Holly Meade
Marshall Cavendish, 1998

Here are two poems about rock music. Both can be found in the following anthology:

CALL DOWN THE MOON: POEMS OF MUSIC
Selected by Myra Cohn Livingston
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1995

From NO STATIC
by Monica Kulling

dialing down the stations
tune in hot-shot rock
a compact sound companion
everywhere I walk…

walking with my radio
the city noises gone
the place between my ears
wall-to-wall song


From WAY DOWN IN THE MUSIC
by Eloise Greenfield

I get way down in the music
Down inside the music
I let it wake me
take me
Spin me around and make me
Uh-get down…


Way Down in the Music can also be found in the following poetry collection:

HONEY, I LOVE AND OTHER LOVE POEMS
Written by Eloise Greenfield
Illustrated by Diane and Leo Dillon
Harper & Row, 1978

Laura, you may also want to look for Jaime Adoff’s poetry book entitled THE SONG SHOOTS OUT OF MY MOUTH. This collection contains twenty-four free verse poems about all different types of music—including rock, jazz, hip hop, and reggae…as well as a poem praising Mozart’s work.

THE SONG SHOOTS OUT OF MY MOUTH: A CELEBRATION OF MUSIC
Written by Jaime Adoff
Illustrated by Martin French
Dutton Children’s Books, 2002

For Vivian of HipWriterMama

Vivian asked for a poem about the frustration of dealing with a crashed laptop and a ranting poem that would make someone feel better afterward.

Vivian, these poems are the closest I could come to finding the kinds you are looking for.

From COMPUTER
by Gwendolyn Brooks

A computer is a machine.
A computer is interesting.
A machine is useful.
I can study a computer.
I can use it…

I conduct a computer.
A computer does not conduct me.

Computer can be found in the following book:

THE PLACE MY WORDS ARE LOOKING FOR
Selected by Paul B. Janeczko
Bradbury Press, 1990

(I had two experiences in successive summers a few years back. My house got hit during lightning storms and my computer got zapped in both storms! Fortunately, a computer technician at my husband’s company was able to retrieve all my files. I know…I know! I should back up all my files.)

I have a ranting poem by Karla Kuskin that was one my students always enjoyed listening to me read aloud. I can’t type the poem exactly the way it appears in books with the text getting increasingly larger as you read it from beginning to end to show how much angrier the child keeps growing.

From I WOKE UP THIS MORNING
by Karla Kuskin

I woke up this morning
at quarter past seven
I kicked up the covers
and stuck out my toe.
And ever since then
(that’s a quarter past seven)
they haven’t said anything
other than “no.”
They haven’t said anything
other than “Please, dear,
don’t do what you’re doing,”
or “Lower your voice.”
Whatever I’ve done
and however I’ve chosen,
I’ve done the wrong thing
and I’ve made the wrong choice…

I didn’t say sorry
I didn’t stand straighter.
I didn’t speak louder
when asked what I’d said.
Well, I said that tomorrow
at quarter past seven
they can
come in and get me.
I’m Staying In Bed.

This poem can be found in the following books:

MOON, HAVE YOU MET MY MOTHER: THE COLLECTED POEMS OF KARLA KUSKIN
Illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier
Laura Geringer/HarperCollins, 2003

TALKING LIKE THE RAIN: A FIRST BOOK OF POEMS
(TALKING LIKE THE RAIN: A READ-TO-ME BOOK OF POEMS)
Selected by X. J. and Dorothy Kennedy
Illustrated by Jane Dyer
Little, Brown, 1992

Another poem I found isn’t exactly a ranting poem—it’s a sulking poem:

From SULK
by Felice Holman

I scuff
And puff
And frown
And huff
And stamp
And pout
Till I forget
What it’s about

Sulk can be found in the following book:

THE RANDOM HOUSE BOOK OF POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Selected by Jack Prelutsky
Illustrated by Arnold Lobel
Random House, 1983

And here’s an excerpt from Mean Song:

From MEAN SONG
by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers

I’m warning you,
stay out of my way.
Today’s my day
for being mean mean mean!
So better stay clear.
Don’t even come near
or I’ll look at you mean
and you’ll wither away…

So better stay clear.
Keep out of my way.
I got up on the wrong
side of the bed today,
and I’m feeling mean—
and I mean mean.
Ve-ry MEAN!
Grrrowp!

I feel better already!

Mean Song can be found in the following book:

THE WAY I FEEL…SOMETIMES
Written by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
Illustrated by Susan Meddaugh
Clarion, 1988

Note to Laura and Vivian: If I find more poems for you, I’ll post them at Wild Rose Reader at a later date.

Alkelda, you asked for a poem that I would like to hear set to music.



A Great Poetry Video with Songs
First, let me suggest you check to see if a library in your area has a copy of the video/DVD/CD of ANTARCTIC ANTICS based on the fabulous book of penguin poems written by Judy Sierra. (I have a review of the video in my Singing and Swinging with Children’s Poetry post at Blue Rose Girls.) It is an absolutely delightful video in which most of the poems have been put to catchy melodies. The songs are infectious—even for adults!

Poems for Alkelda
One poem that my second grade students and I used to love to recite while snapping our fingers and “semi-singing” is Douglas Florian’s The Daddy Longlegs, which is included in his book INSECTLOPEDIA, one of my favorite collections of animal poems.

The poem begins:

O Daddy
Daddy O
How’d you get
Those legs to grow
So very long
And lean in size?

My students really enjoyed reciting that poem. In fact, one boy liked it so much that he wrote a poem modeled after it for his dad for Father’s Day. As best I can recall, his poem began like this:

O Daddy
Daddy O
You’re the best
Dad I know
Tall and thin…

Where to Find the Poem

INSECTLOPEDIA
Written & illustrated by Douglas Florian
Harcourt Brace, 1998

OMNIBEASTS
Written & illustrated by Douglas Florian
Harcourt, 2004

Another poem that I think would be fun to sing is David McCord’s Bananas and Cream. This is how the poem begins:

Bananas and cream,
Bananas and cream:
All we could say was
Bananas and cream.

We couldn’t say fruit,
We wouldn’t say cow,
We didn’t say sugar—
We don’t say it now.

It ends like this:

Bananas and cream,
Bananas and cream?
We yelled for bananas,
Bananas and scream!

Where to Find the Poem

EVERY TIME I CLIMB A TREE
Written by David McCord
Little, Brown, 1967

HERE’S A LITTLE POEM: A VERY FIRST BOOK OF POETRY
Collected by Jane Yolen & Andrew Fusek Peters
Candlewick, 2007

And yet another poem that I think would be fun set to music is Mary Ann Hoberman’s Hello and Good-by, which begins like this:

Hello and good-by
Hello and good-by

When I’m in a swing
Swinging low and then high,
Good-by to the ground
Hello to the sky.

Mary Ann Hoberman is a master of meter and rhyme. She writes poetry that truly appeals to young children. I think many of her poems would make fine song lyrics. In fact, Hoberman has published a number of books for which she adapted traditional poems as sing-alongs for children: BILL GROGAN'S GOAT, YANKEE DOODLE, MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB, and others. Check her website for further information about these books.

Where the Poem Can Be Found

THE LLAMA WHO HAD NO PAJAMA: 100 FAVORITE POEMS
Written by Mary Ann Hoberman
Browndeer/Harcourt Brace, 1998

Finally, the poetry anthology SONG AND DANCE includes a few poems that I think would be great to set to music: What Is Jazz? by Mary O’Neill; Birds’ Square Dance by Beverly McLoughland; and Dance by Eve Merriam.

This is how Birds’ Square Dance begins:

Swing your partner
Cockatoo
Bluefoot booby
Marabou

This is how it ends:

Flap your feathers
Curlew, crow
Pipit, tern, and
Do-si-do.

Where to Find the Poems

SONG AND DANCE
Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Simon & Schuster, 1997

In my I Am Looking for a Poem About... post last Friday, I told blog readers that they could ask me to locate a poem on a specific topic/subject for them. Here are the poems I selected for them.

Jules, Grace, and Vivian, I hope you like the poems I found for you.

A POEM FOR JULES
Jules, you requested my favorite poem about gratitude.

I chose the poem Prayer by the late Myra Cohn Livingston.
Here is how the poem Prayer begins:

Thank you for the sun,
the sky,
for all the things that like to fly,
the shining rain that turns grass green…

Where to Find the Poem
ON THE FARM
Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Little, Brown and Company, 1991
(The poem originally appeared in Myra Cohn Livingston’s book THE MOON AND A STAR AND OTHER POEMS.)


A POEM FOR GRACE
I think the poem you may be thinking of is The Question, which was written by Karla Kuskin. Does this sound like the poem that you’re looking for, Grace?

From The Question:

People always say to me
“What do you think you’d like to be
when you grow up?”
And I say “Why,
I think I’d like to be the sky…”

Where to Find the Poem

DOGS AND DRAGONS, TREES AND DREAMS
Written by Karla Kuskin
Harper & Row, 1980
MOON, HAVE YOU MET MY MOTHER: THE COLLECTED POEMS OF KARLA KUSKIN
Written by Karla Kuskin
Laura Geringer/HarperCollins, 2003


A POEM OR TWO OR THREE FOR HIPWRITERMAMA
Vivian, I am not sure I have found the kind of poem you are looking for—but see if these fit the bill:

From the poem Give Yourself a Hug by Grace Nichols:

Give yourself a hug
when you feel unloved…

Give yourself a hug—
a big big hug

And keep on singing,
‘Only one in a million like me
Only one in a million-billion-thrillion-zillion
Like me.’


Where to Find the Poem

POETRY BY HEART: A CHILD'S BOOK OF POEMS TO REMEMBER
Compiled by Liz Attenborough
The Chicken House/Scholastic, 2001

Each of the next two poems is about a child celebrating himself/herself.

From I Know Someone by Michael Rosen:

I know someone who can
take a mouthful of custard and blow it
down their nose…

I know someone who can
say the alphabet backward…

I know someone who can put their hands in
their armpits and blow raspberries…

I know someone who can
slide their top lip one way
and their bottom lip the other way.
And that someone is
ME.

Where to Find the Poem MY SONG IS BEAUTIFUL: POEMS AND PICTURES IN MANY VOICES
Selected by Mary Ann Hoberman
Little, Brown, 1994


From A Circle of Sun by Rebecca Kai Dotlich:

I’m dancing.
I’m leaping.
I’m skipping about.
I gallop.
I grin.
I giggle.
I shout…

I’m swinging.
I’m singing.
I wiggle.
I run.
I’m a piece of the sky
in a circle of sun.

Where to Find the Poem
HERE’S A LITTLE POEM: A VERY FIRST BOOK OF POETRY
Collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters
Candlewick, 2007
(You can read my review of the book here.)

A GIRAFFE POEM FOR GRACE

Grace, I know you didn't request a giraffe poem--but you commented on the giraffe poem I posted the other day. You said that you had a "soft spot" in your heart for these tallest of land mammals...so I found a poem entitled Giraffes for you. It was written by Mary Ann Hoberman.

From Giraffes:

I like them.
Ask me why.
Because they hold their heads so high.
Because their necks stretch to the sky…

Because they eat the tops of trees.
Because their legs have knobby knees.
Because.
Because.
Because. That’s why
I like giraffes.

Where to Find the PoemTHE LLAMA WHO HAD NO PAJAMA: 100 FAVORITE POEMS
Written by Mary Ann Hoberman
Browndeer/Harcourt Brace, 1998
ERIC CARLE’S ANIMALS ANIMALS
Compiled and illustrated by Eric Carle
Philomel, 1989