The Random House Book of Poetry for Children: A Treasury of 572 Poems for Today's Child

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The Random House Book of Poetry for Children was recognized upon its publication in 1983 as an invaluable collection--a modern classic--and it has not since been surpassed. Five hundred poems, selected by poet and anthologist Jack Prelutsky, are divided into broad subject areas such as nature, seasons, living things, children, and home. The poems of Emily Dickinson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, and Gwendolyn Brooks populate the book's pages, while Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, and Shel Silverstein ensure that the collection delights even the most reluctant readers of rhyme. Playground chants, anonymous rhymes, scary poems, silly verse, and even some sad strains are carefully indexed by title, author, first line, and subject. With illustrations of cheerful, round-faced children and animals on every page, Arnold Lobel (a Caldecott medalist and creator of the Frog and Toad series) unifies the diverse poems to form a satisfying whole; Lobel can draw anything and make it funny--or poignant, if he chooses. This collection, one of the most varied and complete around, will carry any budding poetry lover through childhood and beyond. (Ages 5 to 11.)

Book Description
Illus. in color and full color. "A generous collection with a distinctly upbeat tone, this gives a taste of the best poets writing for children over the last several decades. Lobel's drawings imbue the whole with action and graphic images as inventive as the verse. Successfully geared to meet home, school, and library needs."--(starred) Booklist.

Card catalog description
More than 550 poems by American, English, and anonymous authors.

From the Inside Flap
"A generous collection with a distinctly upbeat tone, this gives a taste of the best poets writing for children over the last several decades. Lobel's drawings imbue the whole with action and graphic images as inventive as the verse. Successfully geared to meet home, school, and library needs."--(starred) Booklist.  

About the Author
Jack Prelutsky was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He attended New York City Public Schools and studied voice at the High School of Music and Art.  He enrolled in Hunter College in Manhattan but left soon after "to become a beatnik".  Jack has been a cab driver, a busboy, a photographer, a furniture mover, a potter, and a folk singer.  He enjoys bicycling, playing racquetball, woodworking and cooking.  He lives in Washington State with his wife Carolynn and a vast collection of poetry books and frogs in every shape, size, and form -- except living!  There was a time when Jack couldn't stand poetry.  In grade school he had a teacher who left him with the impression that poetry was the literary equivalent of liver.  He rediscovered poetry in his twenties, and he decided that he would write about things that kids really cared about, and that he would strive to make poetry delightful.  He has been writing poetry for more than twenty years and has published more than three dozen books for children.  


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The poems, two-thirds of which were published during the past four decades, are arranged by subject — nature, the four seasons, animals (especially dogs and cats) and other living things, city life, children, home, food, characters, nonsense verse, wordplay, ghosts and other strange creatures, and the unclassifiable.


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