Poetry Books

What a legacy this woman of God left before she went home to heaven. Her life was a life of the right priorities. This anointed book will draw many people closer to God as they read the insight she shares. Reading about the testimonies of others who have overcome encourages you in your walk with the Lord Jesus.

Another theme from Holy Scripture that she emphasizes throughout the book is love, i.e., love for God and for other people. In fact, love for God will cause these other matters to fall into place appropriately. The motivation, desire, and focus will naturally flow out of a heart that loves God.

This is an awesome book. Answers some basic question of how God can allow the horrible things to happen here on Earth. How to forgive those who have hurt you. A must read.

This book propelled me to go deeper in my personal walk with God. It was instrumental in my understanding on faith, surrender, forgivenss and love. Since then I have given this book out to many folks struggling in their faith and it has been such a blessing. Though written in 1961 it is as fresh as the day it was written.

It is amazing how God reveals divine healing power through Ms. Catherine's "Beyond Our Selves". Every time I feel down, God has used the book words to lift me - no - to let me soar up in the spirit. This treasure embraces divine healing power to emotional hurts, discouragement, confusion, depression, self-worthlessness, grieve. Truely, God's word never returns empty.

This book is so simply written, and views God so simply, that the whole thing really appealed to me. The simple concepts of prayers and how to reach God, as well as how to place God in your life are really easy. The many spiritual stories and accounts are very hard to quit reading. Very excellent! Very easy to read!

From the click-clack of mahjong tiles to the sizzle of hamburgers on the grill, Breathing Rice is a delightfully intimate look at marriage with its family introductions, acceptances, rejections and, above all, the deep love displayed between a husband from China and a wife born in the South. The reader will find this book easy to begin and hard to put aside, reflecting the graceful wisdom, humor and incandescence of a true poet

Jean Lin's poetry of courtship, marriage and family is a pearl of a book of poetry, warm and moving, glowing portraits drawn from life with enormous humor and tenderness.
Ariel Smart, author

Breathing Rice and Love
This beautiful collection of narrative poems portraying an "east-west love story" will take you on a journey that will capture your heart from beginning to end. From the first blush of young love to the comfort of a bond long secure, you will share in the poet's struggle to assimilate into another culture while maintaining her own identity. You will feel the pang of loneliness as she resorts to playing with the children at dinner parties and cheer when she is able to turn prejudice on its head. You will laugh at the funny tricks that language can play and admire the author for not being afraid to let the joke be on her. Most of all, you will feel the love Lin has for her family wrap around you like a warm blanket. These intimate snapshots of love and family life are indeed a double blessing--a delight to read and re-read. Perhaps the young Chinese student's observation says it best: "Your family is such kindness, maybe love can conquer all." Breathing Rice will make you a believer.

Breathing Rice is a delightful tale that spans decades of romance and laughter as they get sprinkled upon the nuanced architecture of a cross-cultural family. The magic of Lin's poetry lies in its ability to fluidly integrate insightfully observed quotidian details and that most otherworldly concept - love - into a precious little book bursting with surprise, humor, and joy.

Like many WASP type Americans I just assumed that any nationality would be proud to become one of us,through marriage, friendship, or any connection. What an eye opener to find that other "foreign" nationals had every bit as strong a feeling against their "foreigners" as we did. It was very interesting, educational, and comical, especially when Peter explains to his relatives in Formosa that he attended the University of Florida because of the "hot American chicks" I can picture their reaction. I strongly recommend reading and purchasing this book for your personal library.

I have read this book to my grandchildren who are now all in their 20's and I buy it for every child I know. My great grandchildren now hear Jeff Moss's butterfly jar when they come to spend the night. The favorite poem is "Grandma's Kisses" which they all love. Thanks Jeff Moss.

Love it! Great way to expose your kids to the beauty and fun of poetry. Highly recommend it!

I first recieved this book when I was 7 or 8 years-old, and I loved it I'm now 20 and still enjoy Jeffery Moss's poems just as much. Some poems are beauiful, some are fun, and some are just plain silly. This is a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to introduce their children to poety. Esspecially if they wish to enjoy the poems right along with their young ones (I know my parents did)!

Playful, childlike and nonsense verses can be some of the most enjoyable things to read. This book is a collection of verse written for children. The author was the head writer for "Sesame Street" and his talent is certainly displayed here. All of the verses are short and is accompanied by an illustration. These illustrations are very well done and many of the verses also contain a message. Some examples are:

Two Against One

Two against one
Isn't much fun
Especially if you
Aren't part of the two.

Hi, how are you today

I'm feeling very horrible
And low and mean and mad
And dreadful and deplorable
And rotten, sick and sad
And nasty and unbearable
And hateful, vile and blue
But thanks a lot for asking
And please tell me ...
How are you?

Children in the early years of elementary school will really enjoy this book

This book of peoms will really touch you. I LOVED it. find it in your heart to BUY THIS BOOK!!!! =0p

I have read this book to my grandchildren who are now all in their 20's and I buy it for every child I know. My great grandchildren now hear Jeff Moss's butterfly jar when they come to spend the night. The favorite poem is "Grandma's Kisses" which they all love. Thanks Jeff Moss.

Love it! Great way to expose your kids to the beauty and fun of poetry. Highly recommend it!

I first recieved this book when I was 7 or 8 years-old, and I loved it I'm now 20 and still enjoy Jeffery Moss's poems just as much. Some poems are beauiful, some are fun, and some are just plain silly. This is a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to introduce their children to poety. Esspecially if they wish to enjoy the poems right along with their young ones (I know my parents did)!

Playful, childlike and nonsense verses can be some of the most enjoyable things to read. This book is a collection of verse written for children. The author was the head writer for "Sesame Street" and his talent is certainly displayed here. All of the verses are short and is accompanied by an illustration. These illustrations are very well done and many of the verses also contain a message. Some examples are:

Two Against One

Two against one
Isn't much fun
Especially if you
Aren't part of the two.

Hi, how are you today

I'm feeling very horrible
And low and mean and mad
And dreadful and deplorable
And rotten, sick and sad
And nasty and unbearable
And hateful, vile and blue
But thanks a lot for asking
And please tell me ...
How are you?

Children in the early years of elementary school will really enjoy this book

This book of peoms will really touch you. I LOVED it. find it in your heart to BUY THIS BOOK!!!! =0p

Great artwork combined with a good story makes this an all time favorite and makes Katy a hero. All of my kids (especially my boys) loved this book. There are always big smiles when I finish reading how "Katy did."

The Author Bill Peet has the gift to spark the imagination of all children. His stories are amazing. There are over 30 kids books by him and I recommend them all!The Caboose Who Got Loose (Sandpiper Books)

This is a children's book with a complete plot, in rhyming prose, like no other! It deserves to be a classic on every American boys list. Featuring a caboose that transforms above regretting her role, and then obtains her ideal. With a full double-page drawing of like say 10 workers rehabilitating a locomotive! How could it get better than that! Warning: my 2 year old Thomas-lover won't let us put him to bed without reading this book, too. 2nd Warning: the same 2-year-old is petrified of the picture of the searchlight shining on the moose on the second to last page. He makes me try to skip that page. Something about the expression of a moose in the headlights that bothers him, I suppose.

This is a book that is very close to my heart. As a child, I would always pick this book for my mother to read to me. I still have the book and have since introduced it to my nieces. The artwork is beautiful and the story is timeless. I highly recommend this book to anyone with children. I'll always remember the last line, "Yes indeed, oh indeed, oh indeed, Katie did".

This story is about Kate the Caboose. She is in the back of a long freight train, and she hates it. She hates the smoke, the bumps, the noise, and the ride. One day, she pulls into the station. While waiting for the engine to be refitted, a lonely signal tower tells Kate how it longs to be a caboose, so it can see the world. Kate leaves the station with a new attitude about her life. When the train hits a bump, Kate's coupling breaks. Find out what happens to her in this exciting book by Bill Peet.

Excellent for spotting the finer things in pictures. My 7 year old loves to look at these books over and over again.

I have the entire series of "Can You See What I See?" and my son at 4 1/2 really enjoys these. I bought his first book when he was about three. It has helped his visual skills so much that he can find some of the objects faster than I can.

Walter Wick books are a favorite of my 5-year old, and this one is a favorite of mine. The photos are absolutely beautiful and full of Christmas spirit. Although kids love the repetition of finding the same things over and over in hidden picture books, adults can get tired of it fast enough. But the photos in this book hold your attention like a coffee-table art book, making it a pleasure to find five Santas in the Gingerbread house for the umpteenth time.

We bought this for our three-year old daughter last year and she found it challenging. But at four she loves it. She insists we go through a few pages every night. I love how excited she gets when she finds something. My husband and I sit down and find items with her making for good family time.

This series of of books is terrific! Fantastic art work, and the book can be enjoyed by many ages. A definite "must-buy" for Grandmothers!

This was a great childrens and family book. The prices for a family to share this treasure is outrageous, please reprint the book so others can enjoy the wonderful ..

I have been trying to buy this for my youngest child, lol [she is thirty] and for myself to read to seven grandkids. I bought this for said youngest when she was about ten, and it was her favorite book. Her nephew, my oldest grandchild now 19 ripped it when he was a baby. No fair prince is online for a copy. Hundreds of dollars is way out of line, reads 'gouge' to me. I agree with the writer that suggests we pursue the publishers to reprint, it would be about time. Join the party, how can we get started?

I have been looking for this book everywhere. My mom used to read it to us as kids, and now that I am a mother myself I would love nothing more than to share this wonderful book with my son. If anyone can help me get this book I would love it!!

I grew up reading this book along with others on Christmas Eve every year. My parents won't give up their copy for the same reasons I want one. I have a four year old now and can't wait to share the magic of this book with him. This book contributed to some of the best memories of my life.

Simon and Schuster, do you see these prices??? I am writing this not as a review, but as a sort of petition to the publisher, to get this book back in print. I hope that this works ... new generations of children deserve to love this book as much as ours has! If you agree, please select "Yes".

There are times in life when "stuff" comes from all directions and you are in a fight to stay on top. If a person is looking for something to inspire, encourage and motivate them then I highly recommend this collection of poems. You can tell Samuel writes from his heart and when you read, it seems as if the author was sitting by reminding of hope, to stand strong and was is important in life.
Samuel is an extraordinary writer and I look forward to reading more books from him.

I have never owed a book of poetry but I can see now how sharing these poems with others can stimulate conversation and an appreciation of the world around us. I really like that each poem has been preceded by a special dedication. I would recommend this book for anyone to share with friends or family as a gift or for themselves.

This book has touched me deeply that i see the author talking directly to me, and addressing thing that affects and influence our current generation, i feel so not alone and i have gained alot of encouragement and motivation from this book, Samuel you are talented keep them(books) coming.

Not usually a reader of poetry, I was lifted and inspired by this exceptional collection. Like taking a moment to view an incredible Pacific Ocean sunset or Mt. Rainier filling the horizon, Coin On A Hill is a work of art that gave me a greater appreciation for the richness of our surroundings and the gift of living in America. Reading through this work of passion will enrich your life and inspire you to pursue your dreams. Thank you Samuel!

This collection of poems plays out the relevant things of life. They made me think of things and values that we so often neglect. Thanks for caring enough to share your work with us.

There are three great editions of John Keats's complete poetry: Jack Stillinger's, John Barnard's (Penguin) and the beautiful hardcover edition of Everyman's Library. However, as far as scholarly accuracy goes, Professor Stillinger's edition is the definitive one. Professor Stillinger is a Keats expert who devoted much of his scholarly life in the textual compilation of John Keats's poetry based on printed editions as well as the mass of manuscript material. We can enjoy the fruits of his labor here.

This volume contains all of Keats's poems arranged chronologically, so the reader can trace Keats's dramatic development as a poet in his short life. The introduction offers balanced insights into Keats's style as well as ideas. The notes at the end attest to Professor Stillinger's status as a a fine critic.

There are two editions of Keats's Complete Poems which I
admire very much. This one edited by Jack Stillinger
and published by The Belknap Press of Harvard University
(ISBN: 0674154312) and the Penguin Classics, 3rd
edition, edited by John Barnard (ISBN: 0140422102).
I very much like the fuller notes and 6 Appendices
and the blunt, full, but suggestive chronology in
the Penguin, along with the complete writing and
publishing information fully written out rather
than abbreviated into initials one might have to
look up.

The importance of Jack Stillinger to Keats studies is cited
by both John Barnard (Penguin classics edition of -The
Complete Poems-) and Elizabeth Cook (Oxford World's
Classics edition of -The Major Poems-, ISBN:
0192840630). John Barnard says in his "Introduction":
"Jack Stillinger's -The Poems of John Keats- (Cambridge,
Mass., 1978) and his -The Text of John Keats- (Cambridge,
Mass., 1974) now give the fullest available account of
Keats's text, and are based on a comparision of the
printed texts with the wealth of manuscript material,
now mainly in American libraries."
And this edition compiled and edited by Jack
Stillinger has it glories, too. The first of these
is the excellent "Introduction," which has meaningful
insights in it concerning Keats, but which can also
be related to one's own experiences in life, though
Stillinger does not himself so relate them. A few
of these I like very much are: "Obviously Keats had
an exceptionally keen sensitivity to the minute
particulars of objects, sounds (as well as various
shades of silence), and motions in the world around
him." *** "He nursed his brother Tom in a lengthy
illness that ended in death on December 1st of this
year [1818], and as an added complication he met and
fell in love with Fanny Brawne. More than anything
else, I think, it is this combined experience of
suffering, death, and love all at once, against a
background of serious conversation, reading, and
thinking, that accounts for Keats's sudden rise to
excellence in his poetry."
There is no way, of course, to share Keats's
poetry in a review of this sort. To read it,
experience it, think about it, and realize
the Beauty -- and also the Truth -- in it
is the reward.
-- Robert Kilgore.

Keats not only rivals Shakespeare in the beauty of his verse and the enchanting pictures he conjures but he is a cut above Shakespeare in the value of his art. The two odes 'on a nightingale' and 'on a Grecian urn' surpasses any piece of English literature I have come across so far. In its conception and philosophy ,in its expression of the ephemeral and impermanent nature of human life,its exposition of the permanance of ideal art and in its realization of the principle of the identity of truth and beauty it takes poetic thought to a plane that has never been approached, before or hence in English literature.

One of the most musical of the great poets, whose language has a richness next to Shakespeare's, a most romantic soul whose annus mirabilis 1819 brought forth the five great odes, the tremendous long lines still memorable, Beauty is truth/Truth is Beauty' That is all ye know on earth And all ye need to know/ the pain of beauty or the beauty in pain in the nightingale's song, the lyric of the Grecian urn, the dying at twenty-six ' his name writ in water', much had he travelled in realms of gold, the great letters of negative capability, the ostler's son in a surgeon's hospital , Fanny Brawne, the alien corn of Ruth, all the music which would one day be heard again in the lines of Wallace Stevens, the complexity of beauty dying , hearing more than one voice as the page echoes on, one of the poets' poets surely , upon a peak in Darien, like all the great masters he only gains in rereading.

No personal library can be complete without at least a sampling of Keats, and this is the book that everyone should get. All the poems -- even the fragments -- are here, with line numbers included. The several appendices and letter excerpts make the collection even more valuable. If you are trying to decide which Keats collection to get, you have found the best.

James Whitcomb Riley is one of the few poets to deal with the death of youngsters and oldsters alike. His poems give comfort to any who have experienced loss. He is little known today for these poems but they appear throughout this magnificent book. In these complete works there are love poems, grief poems and humorous poems told with such lyrical expertise and wisdom from someone who has experienced every emotion he writes about. Although his style is old fashioned rhyming poetry it is truly delightful.
I applaud the publishers of this great book (I have three copies and send it to friends and family)and recommend it to ALL who love poetry whether it be contemporary or otherwise.

When I was a kid, we had a friend who would recite "Little Orphant Annie" to us before we went to bed. I'll be damned if that poem didn't scare me into being a good kid! I plan on reading it to my 3 year old tonight with the hopes of scaring her straight enough to start being nice to her baby brother! One can dream, right?.....

Folksy Hoosier James Whitcomb Riley (1849 - 1916) is America's premier poet of the sentimental. The Complete Poetical Works Of James Whitcomb Riley brings together over 1,000 touching, humorous, easy to read, and intelligent but non - intellectual poems, many filled with longing for irretrievable childhood innocence, freedom, and joy. Today's readers will find the volume a genuine time capsule into the past; these poems will evoke not only the reader's own memories of childhood, but also a simpler and perhaps more innocent and joyous America. The ambitions and expectations expressed by the speakers, narrators, and characters in the poems are humble, the horizons of their world near. One of the secrets of Riley's backward - glancing poems is that his reflections are only partially regretful; the joys of the past are equaled by the child - like joy still present in the adult poet's heart. Dozens of the pieces included here are suitable for reading to and sharing with children.

Titles 'The Swimming Hole,' 'The Noble Old Elm,' 'Company Manners,' 'When Mother Combed My Hair,' 'Us Farmers In The Country' 'My First Spectacles,' 'Blooms In May,' 'Two Sonnets To The June - Bug,' 'The Land Of Used - To - Be,' and 'Our Boyhood Haunts' offer a good indication of the book's content. There are numerous nature poems and celebrations of the seasons, summer meadows of "clover to the knee," August moons, lazy rivers, "the twitter of the bluebird and the wren," and, in one of Riley's most famous, the frost "on the punkin." There are tributes to William McKinley and Abraham Lincoln, to Tennyson, Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Joel Chandler Harris. Famous characters 'Little Orphant Annie' and 'The Raggedy Man' are here; Puck makes an appearance "under a low crescent moon" in a poem of his own, as do Pan, Santa Claus, pixies, and goblins in others. Odes to boyhood best friends abound. People lived on closer terms with death in Riley's time, and, appropriately, a number of the poems address the subject, all of which express either blissful faith in the afterlife or sadness for the living left behind.

Riley was endlessly inventive within the limited sphere of his talent, or, perhaps, within the limitations he purposefully set upon it. Oddly, there are relatively few poems celebrating romantic love and marriage. Riley, who never married, apparently held the adult world and women in particular in no little suspicion. In his poetry, eligible women are generally kept at what Riley must have felt was a safe distance, though there are numerous tributes to mothers, aunts, sisters, and little girls - even stepmothers are embraced lovingly. But when Riley wrote about single women and imagined wives, his poetic vision generally darkened.

In 'The Werewife,' the volume's 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci,' Riley portrays the speaker's "fluttering, moth - winged soul" helplessly caught and mesmerized by his wife, a white - skinned, red - cheeked seductress who is also a murderous vampire. In 'The Mad Lover,' the narrator lives in a state of grim emotional paralysis after falling in love with 'Miriam Wayne,' though whether "fate" or Miriam herself is the cause of the "evil" and the lover's madness is not made clear. In 'Oh, Her Beauty,' the poet sings the praises his beloved's transcendent loveliness, but the last lines find him on his knees in thanks to God for revealing her spiritual ugliness at the eleventh hour. The plucky woman in 'Her Choice' is asked by her lover to chose his "love or hate," and she chooses "your hate, my dear!" The cuckolded man in 'The Lovely Husband' fans his wife and cold creams her face upon command, ignores her plucky unfaithfulness, and is every way a "handy hubby" and "lovey - dovey" until he cheerfully takes a shot gun and shoots her. The lover of the imprisoned killer in 'Life Sentence' is "false, while he was true," "the mistress of all siren arts," and "the poor soulless heroine of a hundred hearts!"

Riley and Carl Sandburg were kindred souls; admirers of Sandburg will find that Sandburg's work was partially a progression of Riley's. Both poets' verse is filled with anecdotes, homey bits of wisdom, funny stories, songs, folk truisms, and legendary characters. Riley's poems are snippets of life, fireside tales, and reflections; unlike Sandburg, politics are occasionally touched upon but never the pivotal focus in Riley's work.

How readers react to John Whitcomb Riley will depend on how they respond to the overtly sentimental and the character of the times in which he wrote, for these poems effortlessly evoke it. Though warmly sentimental, Riley was also bright and witty and full of spark, a dreamy, reflective, pre - urban poet of the small town and the home, of the sun porch and the rocking chair, of back fence gossip and street corner news, and of the American dream as it was conceived in his era. Potential readers may think themselves too sophisticated, cynical, or highbrow to enjoy the happily middlebrow works of James Whitcomb Riley. But such readers may be pleasantly surprised at how completely they find themselves immersed in Riley's detailed, frequently timeless, invigorating, and ingenious work. Despite its overall simplicity, Riley's work comfortably rests within the grander tradition of American literature, and makes for visionary reading in its own unique, whimsical manner.

After mulling over volumes like the "Viking Portable Library" it is refreshing to have an entire volume of light-hearted, folksy fun. Of course, Riley's works aren't ALL in that vein, but favorites like Ragedy Man and Little Orphan Annie are, and that's why I like him. Being from California, I hardly know how to use the type of speech inflections and what-not that Riley hasn't written into these rhyming tales. But the closer I get to being able to master such speech the more it entertains my kids! Great collection, get it!

Twas struck with words as ne'r b'fore,
those gentle flowed from a poet of yore.
Each letter 'round our hearts was wrapt,
melodies of beauty lovely tapt.

Who'd er'er thunk that a pokety ole' man,
could know our thoughts and understan.
There ain't any we'd recomand as highly,
as Indyanna's James Whitcomb Riley.