I cannot remember where I first heard about Favorite Poems Old and New, but I do recall the excitement when I finally found it somewhere, second-hand and affordable.
Favorite Poems Old and New For Children’s Poetry Study
What is Favorite Poems Old and New?
Favorite Poems Old and New consists of over 700 classic and modern poems written by poets from William Shakespeare to J. R. R. Tolkien, Emily Dickinson to Langston Hughes, and covering a range of favorite topics—pets, playtime, family, nature, and nonsense—ensure that there’s a poem to please every child. A truly comprehensive collection that is the ideal way of introducing children to the joys of reading poetry!
This sturdy volume of almost 600 pages is a treasure. Last night Miss 12 was wandering around aimlessly, so we grabbed the book and settled down on the verandah couch for half an hour of poetry. We chose the section on funny poetry (of course) and laughed and giggled our way through it, skipping the violent verses, until bed time. Then we just needed to dip into the rest of the book –for only a few minutes, of course—but they stretched on and on. Of course. Miss 12 went to bed much too late, but very happy.
Some years we’ve read large portions of Favorite Poems Old and New aloud. Other years it has disappeared, onto an obscure bookshelf or into someone’s bedroom to be enjoyed in dull moments. But it always comes back, as it has this year, for us to enjoy poetry about myself, my family, time, play, bugs, pets, travel, plants, birds, people, laughing, imagination, the world, and stories. Some of the poems are great, some silly, some startlingly violent, some beyond beautiful, and some inspiring.
What ages is it for?
Well, the full title of the book is Favorite Poems Old and New: Selected for Boys and Girls by Helen Ferris. So, yes, it’s for boys and girls, both those young in age and those young at heart, for anyone who enjoys the poetry of Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, and Robert Louis Stevenson and also appreciates new treasures.
Favorite Poems is a wonderful living introduction to poetry, language, and ideas. There’s no teaching about rhyme or rhythm or anything else. It’s just the poem and the reader…and that’s enough. Mind you, the book does begin with Helen Ferris’s happy recollections of poetry in her childhood home, but that only adds to the fun, encouraging mothers everywhere to build such memories for their children.
Not until children have heard and read hundreds of poems, often over and over, should there be any formal teaching of the mechanics of poetry. Of that I’m convinced. Otherwise, they, like many people, will think poetry is only about rhyme, rhythm, and schoolwork, and will learn to hate it.
So someone must read poetry to the children.
Helen Ferris has done an admirable job of collecting just the right kinds of poems to read aloud to children and to show them that poetry is both fun and deeply satisfying. Favorite Poems Old and New deserves a place in every family, especially every homeschooling family.
More Favorite Reading Resources For Your Homeschool
- Themed Book Lists for Your Homeschool
- Reading Made Easy – A Guide to Teach Your Child to Read
- Games for Reading: Playful Ways to Help Your Child Read
- Summer Reading Inspiration for Your Homeschool
- Five in a Row Art Activities: Literature Learning with Favorite Homeschool Books
- The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading
- Cultivate the Habit of Reading Nature Books
~ Originally published September 2012. Written by Annie Kate, a Christian homeschooling mom of five.
Annie Kate, thanks for this marvelous review! I’m ordering my own copy today. 🙂
I ordered my copy over the weekend! Thanks for a great review. Plus the simply descriptions of how you weave the readings – for pure pleasure – into your days.
This was the book from which I memorized many poems when I was a child. My children used it and I gave it to my daughter just last week for her to use as she homeschools my grandchildren. They too have spent lots of time reading “just one more.” It is a wonderful collection!
Hi! I have this book and would like my 8th grader to read it as part of her language arts (we homeschool). Do you know of any materials/resources to accompany it or any online worksheets/exercises that can be applied? I want to find something that will teach my daughter how to read and understand poems and to write her thoughts about it. Thanks for your help!
Hi Marian,
No, I do not know of such resources…and I highly recommend you just focus on the poetry itself at this age so that your child will learn to love it. Read it aloud, enjoy it, make it part of your life. For formal poetry studies we used Grammar of Poetry which is a great introduction to the analysis of poetry for all ages.