This is a fair collection of children's poetry. It includes classics like "The Jabberwocky" and "Wynken, Blinken, and Nod" and some new ones. Many of the poems are humorous or tell a story, like children prefer in poetry. The illustrations are a little sparse, black pen and ink drawings.

Of all the poems that were new to me, my favorite was "Black." It tells how diamonds and stars would not look so brilliant if they did not have Black to lay up against. It is a nice metaphor for how the bad times in a life just make the good times more brilliant in our memories.

This book would, of course, be used in an introduction to poetry. There are many good examples of imagery and creative word use. The students could choose a poem in the collection that they liked and copy the style to write a poem of their own. It also makes a good read-aloud book. ( )