It’s Poetry Friday, and today we’re diving deep in the animal kingdom with a startlingly illustrated anthology of beastly poems featuring some of our favourite furred, feathered and scaled friends.
Poetry and children belong together, and for a long time, the music and playfulness of verse wove itself through children’s days and lives. Beastly Verse aims to help return the wonder of poetry to children’s lives through sixteen exquisitely illustrated poems, four of which have the surprise and pleasure of being foldouts. Consisting of playful as well as powerfully memorable poems, Beastly Verse transports the reader into a richly worded world of tigers, hummingbirds, owls, elephants, pelicans, yaks, snails, and even telephones! A playful romp through verse, rhyme, and gorgeous images, this book carries children into the poetic realm in a way that is not only fun and inviting, but inspiring as well! Representing poems from Anonymous, as well as some lesser well-known poets, this volume also includes poems from Lewis Carroll, William Blake, Robert Desnos, Hilaire Belloc, William Cowper, Christina Rossetti, and D.H. Lawrence. Both short and long, these poems can be read and reread, committed to memory and enjoyed all life long.
The poems in this anthology range from famous, long-beloved classics like William Blake’s The Tiger to lesser known poems that are sure to become fast favourites. Each poem is paired with strange, wondrous, startlingly vivid illustrations by Joohee Yoon that explode off the page in a riot of colour.
This collection is incredible, and offers a powerful antidote to the belief that poetry, along with the books in which poems are house, is dusty, dreary and dull. Because those three adjectives most certainly do not apply to this brilliant display of colour and life!
Yoon’s art is definitely not going to be to everyone’s taste, but there’s a childlike quality to it, a deceptive simplicity that will likely appeal to young children, who will be drawn in my the crazy shapes, strange faces and bright colours.
Beastly Verse is a fantastic anthology, with a wide range of poetic styles and themes represented and given fresh new life thanks to Yoon’s distinctive creative talent. If you haven’t seen this collection yet, I highly recommend taking a look for yourself!
Anxious to see this one. I love the art and the sample poems you shared today. Thanks!
oooh! I missed this one. And, I need to get it. Thanks for the great review.
It seems as if I know the title, but the illustrations don’t look familiar. Thanks for sharing this, Jane. It sounds wonderful.
The illustrations remind me of books from my childhood. They have kind of a retro feel to them. Looks like another winner! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
oh wow! This looks great. I love the illustrations. So glad to see that my local library has a copy. Hooray! Thanks for sharing.
I love those brilliant illustrations. This looks like a fun book! Thanks for sharing.
A great review. I like that it is a mixture of some of our beloved favorites with new illustrations as well as new poems. Thanks for sharing, Jane!
The art looks amazing, and I’m sure that paired with these incredible poems, this book is a treasure. I’m going to add it to my list. Thanks for sharing.
I recognize the author/illustrator, but I don’t think I’ve seen this particular book, looks beastily enchanting both the poems and art, thanks for sharing it with us Jane!
I haven’t seen it! Thanks for the recommendation, Jane.
It’s great that Yoon includes challenging poems in there, like DH Lawrence’s. I love the art for The Pelican.
The art in “Beastly Verse” is spectacular. I can see children loving it. It’s fabulous that the collection has classic and contemporary poems.
The illustrations are gorgeous and it looks like an intriguing assortment of poems. I like that it’s a combination of well-known and lesser known works. Thanks for sharing!
The illustrations are bright, vivid, and full of energy. I can see why this book would delight children. Thanks for sharing this book, Jane.