Poetry Books

I gave this book to a high school graduate who I think "will go places."

This book is a perfect present for high school and college grads. The students grew up reading Dr. Seuss, so what an inspirational way to give them a view of the wonders to come.

This Classic Seuss book has some wonderful words - appropriate for a new graduate, whether they are in high school, or college, or middle school. It hints of new things to see and do, new vistas and experiences, new choices to make. A wonderful book to be enjoyed by all.

Deluxe edition in hard cardboard sleeve makes it easy to mail and light enough not to cost a fortune in postage. Excellent message to the recent grad.

This book was read and given to participants overcoming grief. I had it on my end table as a gentle reminder and would re-read whenever I felt overwhelmed (I had been widowed at a young age).

I highly recommend this book for anyone starting over, whether it be from the loss of a loved one, divorce or moving out for your first time.

As the author of a spiritually-themed book entitled "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude," I appreciate any book that opens the doors to spiritual understanding. There are few contemporary books that will do this for you in such a poetic way.

This is a book containing eternal truths. It was given to me as a high school graduation present many years ago. At the time, I found it beautiful, but I couldn't understand it. That is because I hadn't experienced life.

Selections from this book were read at my wedding. The sections on love speak of what it is truly about. Most of us never have an inkling of what true love is since we are caught up in a world of attachment to illusions and delusions. This book will help you to break through them.

This is a classic that will stand the mark of time such as the Bible has done. Kahlil Gibran is an old soul who speaks in a language that can be embraced by people of any faith.

The book is filled with metaphors and parables. It is almost as if Jesus himself is speaking through the author. Whether or not you will be able to comprehend what the author is speaking about, The Prophet will plant seeds that can bear good fruit.

Davis Aujourd'hui, author of "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude"

I evidently misread the writeup, I thought it was a hardback. It was a cheap paperback. I got it as a present so I couldn't send it back but I'm very dissapointed for the cost!

Gibran may be a poet, rather than a true prophet - but the simple truths in this book seem applicable to all religions. The short passages on love, children, pain, beauty, death and other timeless topics are full of insight and inspiration, but completely lacking in the politics and self-righteousness that pervade so many religions. This book is goodness, plain and simple, and it changed my life more than any other book I can recall reading.

the excellent condition and speedy receipt of this product will always encourage me to purchase items from Amazon and their providers.

WONDERFUL!!!!!!!

The author is way before his time. A true visionary with a pure and simplistic approach to the "Keys of Life". Hard to believe that all this was composed circa 1928. R. Steel

Nice size for toddlers and very sturdy.
Good book to introduce kids to farm animals.

Everything great about this book has already been mentioned. I just wanted to add another 5-star rating to this title.

At 10 months of age this is our daughter's favorite Boynton book. It has a great, memorable rhythm and puts a smile on her face when she hears "Stomp your feet! Clap your hands! Everybody ready for a barnyard dance!" and starts clapping everytime she hears these lines.

This was my first boynton book. I am purchasing books on amazon for my new baby and I am very pleased! This book is fun and it rhymes very well.

All of my kids love her books. We read them daily and own almost all of them. Our three and five year olds practice their 'reading' by reciting them over and over again to the baby. They are cute, happy and well done. As a parent, I never grow tired of reading them as with some other authors. Two thumbs up!

One of our very favorites. Such a cute story guaranteed to always bring a smile to my 18month olds face!

Dr. Seuss teaches us how critical it is to care for the environment in this riveting, rhyming masterpiece!

"The Lorax" is one book I always have in my teaching bag as I go from school to school, especially in the Spring, when Earth Day comes near. The other I always bring is "The Sneetches", that teaches brotherhood and fairness. I always read it to the kids at school for Dr. King's birthday. Many of Dr. Seuss's books hold a special life lesson for the readers, young and not so young. "Horton the Elephant" teaches us to keep our word and be steadfast, "The Butter Battle Book" shows the stupidity of war, for just two examples out of many.

One more I always have with me is "The Jester Has Lost His Jingle" by David Saltzman. The lesson is "It's Up To Us To Make A Difference, It's Up To Us To Care." Also," Laughter Is Hiding Inside Each Of Us". David wrote this beautiful, engaging picture book when he was suffering from non Hodgkins Lymphoma as a senior at Yale. After he died, his mother and dad had it published and started an amazing non profit, "The Jester and Pharley Phund". This organization benefits hospitalized children, promotes literacy at public and private schools, and imparts David's beautiful spirit and his lesson of love and laughter to every reader.

All of these books make us better people and a more beautiful society. They are all not to be missed in the education of our young.

I had forgotten just how good,..and sad this book was. I purchased it for my 3 year old because he loves Seuss but found that my 5 year old enjoyed it even more. I had forgotten the details of this story and bought it to add to our Seuss collection. It is a cautionary tale about greed and pollution but leaves room for hope if even one person takes action. This book is a classic but the message is more pertinent now then ever. It has become one of our favorites.

Dr. Seuss' best work is still, 'The Cat in the Hat'.

But this one is not too bad. On the one hand, it could
be taken to be an allegory about European Imperialism,
and the exploitation of Africa, for minerals, diamonds,
metals, and so forth, while the indigenous people are
treated with contempt. It could also be taken to be
a cautionary tale about overconsumption and the destruction
of the environment. One thing to note, especially if the
reader is Jewish, is that the Traffula trees bear fruit.
The Law of Moses allows for the cutting down of trees which
do NOT bare fruit. The Traffula trees however, bare fruit.
The trees are also used in the production of clothing, Thneed
suits. According to the Law of Moses, a tree which does not
bare fruit, may be used to make housing.

President George Washington, according to myth, is said to have
chopped down a cherry tree when he was a child, and is then said
to have claimed that he was incapable of telling a lie.

That said, the Traffula trees reminded me of cotton plantations.
Some economists have said that slavery in the US South ended,
only because it became too expensive to keep slaves. The machine
age, with cheap oil, made it possible to harvest cotton without
using too many labourers. And so, this story may also be seen
as being racist, in the sense that it suggests that expensive
oil, might lead to the return of the "brown bara-ballas (sp?).
"They" (Babylon) will use persons like light bulbs, a disposable
resource. Instead of killing people, "they" would rather enslave
them, keep them alive so long as they are productive. Economists
refer to slaves as "human capital".

I did not like this story, but it did provide some food for
thought. Wherefore, I recommend it for adults only. Yet, how
can you fight an enemy if you do not know the enemy exists?
When is the appropriate age, to tell a child, An Inconvenient
Truth? Such as, slavery and exploitation, what is called
"racism", exists?

Very cute book for elementary-early middle school-aged children. I use it in my 6th grade science class as a fun way to wrap up our environmental studies unit along with the movie version.

My students loved this book. It was a great introduction to our natural resources unit.

WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS by Shel Silverstein is a collection of quirky children's poetry written/illustrated by Shel Silverstein. I am a huge fan of multi-talented Shel Silverstein. He was amazingly gifted. If you haven't read his work, read it.

Like this amazing book actually needs any more praise showered on it. (Well, it's going to get it anyways, so it had better learn to live with it!) Can anyone say anything negative about this book? (well...other than the book banners, but we all know very well what humongous Delusionals they are.) Anyways, everyone's read this book (and if you haven't, then dear, I really do pity you and your lost childhood) and everyone knows how amazing it is. The second and third and fourth rereads only give you more adorable things to catch. It's funny--when I last read this book, I was much younger, and the poems that made me laugh most were the ones involving nose-picking and the like. Now, some of my reactions were the same, but others were completely different. The poem on which the title is based, Where the Sidewalk Ends, is now an amazing, new poem, as is Forgotten Language, which actually had me shed a few tears. But it's not all sentimental. SARAH CYNTHIA SYLVIA STOUT (yes, it has to be capitalized. Just doesn't have the same effect otherwise) is still as laugh-out-loud hilarious as it was when I had to memorize it for an elementary school poetry project. For Sale will still have me half shuddering, half laughing, as I remember my own brother shouting, "Sister for Sale, Sister for Sale!" after reading it. Some are just stories, some are wise outlooks on life. All of them are sure to guide children from a happy childhood into a happy adulthood, and it's one of the most worthwhile reads you'll ever find.

Rating: 5/5

I got this as a gift for a good friend. I especially liked that there was a CD of Shel Silverstein reading some of his poems.

I was amazed at the condition on the book I ordered. It said it was in fair shape and it looks brand new to me!!

Trully enjoyable collection that is enjoyed by the whole family. My [...] old son reads (and recites) to us at dinner and I sneek additional time with it in the evening. Great gift!

Bill

I love this kind of erudite, thoughtful, poetic, contemporary voice. Really a beautiful, complex look at contemporary concerns.

There are two duds in this book, the one about a college in the dessert, that I'm not sure even exists, but whatever, and the one about museums. But after that I think it's an intersting twist on what 'essays' mean. okay

Let me preface this by saying I was a classmate of John's at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in the mid-90's. I remember discussing several of the essays included in this collection, and being incredibly impressed with both the work and the author. The time, imagination, detail, obsession, intelligence, honesty and humble nature of both the essays and the essayist should at the very least inspire a more attentive read than several of the other negative reviewers chose to give.

It's time to give the Iowa Workshop a break. Just let it go. I mean, really, whether it's jealousy, or a rejected application, or just some strange anti-MFA vendetta, there seems to be a pervasive, generic attack on all who spent time at the school. People, it's just a school, good or bad. It's not some factory that automatically frankensteins each poetry student into some Jorie Graham/Michael Palmer avant-guardian. We actually have our own minds, styles, and ideas, and some of us even hold onto them well after we graduate. Imagine that.

I can assure you, there are few labels that would accurately portray all Iowa workshop students across the board, especially in the poetry program. You have no idea what it was like there unless you were there, and it varies from year to year. I would be uncomfortable judging people who've just graduated the program on the same standards, attitudes and practices I found during my '95-'97 term.

I'm not saying you have to like it, but review the work itself as it is given to you, not the Workshop or the writer's personal life. Why do people have to dismiss or attack writers and their works simply because they come out of a specific school, or because they are popular, or because the author has some success at an early age? Good writing has come out of Iowa, bad writing has come out of Iowa, just like every other MFA program, publishing house, school of thought, or geographical area.

This is an incredible work. Truly dazzling.

And to the reviewer who slams John for "plagiarizing" Dave Eggers, I can tell you that John had already written several of these essays, and published at least one of them in a journal (the Martha Graham piece)years before "A Heartbreaking Work..." was even published.

John is an exceptionally gifted writer and person, but even with all of his talent and imagination, I don't think he has the ability to steal work that didn't even exist at the time. To that reviewer, do your homework before you use serious words like "plagiarism" - John has clearly done his.

It seems pretty clear that the world has gone insane, since this is in fact the WORST book ever written in nonfiction, instead of what the insane reviews on here are calling the best. So from now on, every good review that this book gets I am going to counter with a negative one. It seems only fair for a book that is not only unreadable but that has copied better efforts by better writers, which has been camoflaged with lots of "experimental" techniques that are neither experimental nor very technically able. John D'Agata is overrated, untalented, and the least informed writer of his generation. These aren't essays, but just masterbatory effects.

Now that the hype is over, please can we finally agree that John D'Agata is 100% the worst writer this country has ever produced!

One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry! I am pretty certain I can recite this one by heart, having read it an unimaginable number of times to my twins, now age three. It's incredibly silly, fantastic (waffle trees anyone?) and the rhymes are super catchy and fun. The drawings are top notch, full of details. Look for the hints on each pair of pages, glimpses of what will come next in this wacky tale. Joyous and downright delicious.

I love the rhythm of the book and the pictures. I don't mind reading it over and over to the kids. The kids love it too. They can recite the whole thing, even though it's filled with nonsense words.

My first grader still enjoys this book. He follows the illustrations very well, with the sense of "what's coming next?" Littler children (much littler) are just enthralled by the book. The language is so appealing. Made up words and wonderful cadence take this boy on a berry-picking adventure with a bear over a waterfall, through strawberry fields, on the trackberry with the blackberry train, and into raspberry fair.

Simply wonderful -- we have read this many, many times.

I will not be coy. This is one of my favorite children books to read to my children. The illustrations are whimsical and invite your children to make sense of them and help tell the story. The story itself is a lovely mix of word play, and delightful imagery. We return to this one again and again. Appropriate for very young children as the just the sound of the story is delightful, up to well... I suppose adult as I'm still enjoying it.

As a new mom, I have been disappointed with some of the children's books I have come across. As a lover of literature, I find myself being very judgmental of everything I read for my son. Degen's Jamberry, however, is wonderful. Not only does my son enjoy the pictures and the rhymes, but I really enjoy reading it as well. This is what a young child's book should be: full of catchy and easy to remember rhymes and rife with terrific art work. I wish more of the books out there were like this one. Highly recommended for even the youngest of children.

Vincent Tyler is a remarkable person and poet. He breathes life into what seems to be ordinary words on a page. His writing affirm what sisaths are dying to know.... that there are brothas out there who understand our deepest desire and needs. This book also affirms that it is okay for a man be in touch with his sensual & romantic side and not be considered a whimp. After reading this book and hearing the cd, I have included some of Mr. Tyler's works in a pamper gift basket for my sistah friends. They are truly in for a treat!!!!

This is a wonderful book Vincent has open new doors for us to explore.We now know that men can be as sensual women.If you are looking for a good read this is one but don't let it get away from you because you will want to go back to this one.

VINCENT TYLER HAS DONE A WONDERFUL JOB AS A POET AND WRITER. KEEP UP THE EXCELLENT WORK MR.TYLER ,YOU HAVE GIVEN ALOT OF WOMEN SOME REALLY GOOD ENJOYMENT !!

A Definite must for all women . Get a glass of wine, get in a bubble bath using your favorite scent, settle back and relax and enjoy a sensous journey provided by a live, alive, pleasure fulfilling man. Read what you wish your man would put into words. Its nice to know a man thinks about the pleasure he can give a woman and validates women in their sexuality and beauty. Men should read and learn, their fanatasies can come true by emulating Mr. Tyler

I received your book, "I thought about you today" and your CD "chocolatecoveredcherries",
from my boyfriend Deronti Milam tonight. I could not put it down until I finished the last page. I thought that it was very interesting. On the back cover it states that "this book is for adult women". Men need to read it as well so they can learn what is pleasing to a woman. If more men and women catered to each other needs, there probably would be more committed ralationship in the world today. Keep up the good work and thanks for the autograph.

God Bless

Barbara Walton

I'm debating what book pieces seem to define Christmas for me. Oddly this is up there, maybe the story I like the most to reacquaint me with a tear or two, I never can get through it dry.
On the surface the Grinch is impossibly unlikely to undergo transformation into a better and kinder being. He's so delightfully bad, glad to stop Christmas from coming. With his lively old Max and his clumsy old sacks this fellows a far cry from the Saint Nick he represents. How fascinating that this Grinch could be used to compare/contrast with Santa Claus, an interesting thing for a teacher to try with a class....anyway just for me when I raised my children it was the 1st book I gave to a three month old 1st daughter inscribing it "mom's favorite." And my favorite part would be Cindy Lou Who, not more than two, as well as the line, "maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more." A message of peace for one.

I would think anyone would enjoy this, but I often underestimate my ability to be wrong. It's a pretty nifty piece to me.

When I was a child, I found the Dr. Seuss books a bit scary because I didn't much like abstract or surreal stuff. Fast forward many years and I have a daughter who is just learning to read so after seeing that she enjoyed a Dr. Seuss book in the doctor's office I thought I would order this book and give it a spin. This particular edition comes in a nice metallic finish green and red cover. It feels like a quality book.
After reading it to her the first night, I had to read it two more nights after that in succession. It was great fun for me too because the rhyming prose allows the reader (who may not be a great thespian) to do some role playing and added intonation. The illustrations are both unusual and vivid which helps stimulate the young reader's imagination. Finally, the essential story message which is to have a heart is a good one particularly in times such as these. Highly recommended!

the product arrived in a timely manner...and was much more elegant than i thought a "deluxe"' edition would be...i'm very pleased !!!

This was one of my favorite holiday stories when I was a child. Now I share that classic with my children, and I hope someday they will pass that along to theirs.

It's a wonderful, funny, and heartwarming story.

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS!, by the incomparable Theodor Geisel - aka Dr. Seuss, is a true Christmas classic. It is a story of hope, faith, and epiphany, and of discovering the true meaning of Christmas. Who else but Seuss could tell such a story so entertainingly, in so few words, and all in rhyme?

That grumpy old Grinch thought Christmas was about presents... and food and decorations and things of that vane. But he stole everything, down to the crumbs too small for the mouses, and Christmas still came! It came joyfully, noisefully, loudy proclaimed! This made our grizzled old Grinch puzzle and puzzle until his puzzler was sore, and until he realized that Christmas was so much more. He returned all the presents and food for the feast, and then our grinny Grinch, himself, the Grinch carved the roast beast.

Only Dr. Seuss could spread the true, pure message of Christmas without any reference to religion. He communicated directly to children of all ages in his wonderfully wacky and wise rhyming, teaching us all about faith, hope, and love.

What a perfect book for this Christmas season. I introduced it this year to my 3 1/2 year old, who just loves it. As her new Christmas favorite, she requests it nightly. And I am happy to read it to her again and again.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Each page is a story in itself, in rhyme The drawings are really cute and the poems, or rhyming stories are really fun. It's the first time my 2 1/2 year old actually read along with me, repeating the story as I read it to him. We can play out some of the stories and each one is cuter than the next. I can't believe I didn't get this book sooner. We love it!!!!

Shel did a great job on this book and "the giving tree", the kids still love this book years later and a good message.

Shel Silverstein is one of my daughter's favorite authors and this book is a really well put together compilation of his material.

Mine don't get the poems just yet(4), but they love the silliness of it. and they will have it well into their school years too :+)

Love this edition. It includes twelve new poems. Favorite poem:Sarah Cynthia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out.