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Poetry for Children

© Sue Reichard

Poetry is an often overlooked portion of children's literature. Most adults grew up learning the Mother Goose Rhymes and rhymes for games. Poetry for children is more than this.

Poetry for today's young reader should reflect on experience. Poetry should be enriching or humorous. Good poetry should be well crafted and explore or state a truth with depth. Poems should reflect positive emotions and be uplifting.

Children love poetry for rhyme. They love the rhythm, cadence and word play of poetry. They enjoy the humor, the twists and turns and clever unexpected conclusions.

Poetry for the youngest child lends itself to illustration. The illustration adds depth and can explain the text and compliment the words.

Middle grade children enjoy poetry about social issures, parents and often this is their first exposure to the topic of death in literature. Poetry becomes a means of expression for them. They still enjoy humor but feelings are universal.

Teen often times come to poetry with a great passion. It becomes an acceptable way to try to understand the world around them and an acceptable way to express themselves. This group often becomes attracted to the dysfunctional aspect of the lives of some poets.

As with any kind of writing for children, writing poetry is by no means an easy task. The quality must be the very best that the craft has to offer.

Publishing houses are highly selective when it comes to poetry. Some will not accept any poetry at all. There is often great opportunity however for the poet who offers the market what it demands at the moment. This requires skill and good timing.

Some poet websites you may wish to visit: Anastasia Suen: http://flash.net/~forsuens/

Kristen George: http://home.earthlink.net/~froggie1

Also visit these website to read about the awards for children poetry.

> > #1 NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Award for Excellence in > Poetry for Children recognizes a body of work and is given every three years. > List of award winners can be found at this site: > Award for > Excellence in Poetry for Children > NCTE Grants and Awards >

> #2 IRA (International Reading Association) / Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising > Poet Award is given every three years to a promising new poet of children's > poetry who has published no more than two books of children's poetry. Cash > award. Information available at this site: > International > Reading Association - About - W... > 1995 Deborah Chandra - Rich Lizard and Other Poems (Farrar Straus & Giroux)

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