Wonderful Words: An Anthology

Poetry Book Review: A poetry collection compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Book Review: WONDERFUL WORDS POEMS ABOUT READING, WRITING, SPEAKING, AND LISTENING

Bibliography

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2004. WONDERFUL WORDS POEMS ABOUT READING, WRITING, SPEAKING AND LISTENING. Ill. By Barbour Karen. New York: Simon and Schuster, ISBN 0689835884.

This collection of fifteen poems was selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and features poems relating to reading, writing, speaking and listening. The collection celebrates words and how they influence our lives through their shear power. The selections include poems by authors Richard Armour, Emily Dickinson, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Karla Kuskin, Nikki Grimes, David McCord, Patricia and Fredrick McKissack, Eve Merriam, Pat Mora, Ann Whitford Paul, Heidi Roemer, Carl Sandburg, Alice Schertle, Tom Robert Shields, and the author who compiled the selections, Lee Bennett Hopkins.

Pat Mora’s “Words Free as Confetti" and David McCord’s “How to Say a Long Hard Word” integrate the sense of sound into words. Patricia and Fredrick McKissack’s "Share the Adventure" and Tom Robert Shields "I Am the Book" envision the experiences to be shared through the reading of a book.

Lee Bennett Hopkins is a distinguished poet, writer and anthologist. Other anthologies in this poetry series include Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems and Spectacular Science: A Book of Poems. He has received both the Christopher Award and a Golden Kite Award for his poetry autobiography Been to Yesterdays: Poems of a Life.

The book, illustrated by Karen Barbour, in gouache with water colors in bold bright colors that complement the text. A spectacular connection between speaking and listening is made on a double page spread connecting Rebecca Kai Dotlich’s "Let’s Talk" to Lee Bennett Hopkins’ "Listen". The colors are so bright and bold they seem to dwarf the poems at times.

Reading the poems aloud to listeners will give them the opportunity to imagine all the places the words might take the children and allow them to see how words influence our lives. Wonderful Words is sure to inspire the imagination of those who read it.