The Oxford Book of Animal Poems

By Michael Harrison

Book Overview

From Oxford's acclaimed library of poetry for children comes a new anthology that combines the finest of verse with a survey of wildlife and human cultures of the earth. It begins with the oceans--whales, dolphins, sharks--and then circles the world, pausing to visit a host of animals who delight in their strengths, but are often all too aware of the fragility of the future.
Poets from each continent are represented and each reveals much about the human culture as well as the animals of their lands. A. B. Paterson writes of the Australian wombat, Weary Will. Hsu Pen describes the tigers of Asia. Traditional and contemporary African verses are included as well as European and American poets such as Ted Hughes, Carl Sandburg, Yeats, and Thomas Hardy. Meerkats of Africa, locusts, scorpions, hyenas, buffaloes, and even the Red-winged Lourie are honored in verse, and specially commissioned illustrations bring to life the beauty and variety of all the world and its animals.
This elegantly designed book also offers indexes of artists, authors, titles and first lines, and a special index of all the animals included in the collection--a particularly useful tool for learning. This superb addition to the Oxford family of children's verse will be treasured and enjoyed by teachers, librarians, and families for years to come.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192761056
• ISBN13: 9780192761057
• Release Date: November 1992
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 158 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.8" x 10.4"
• Age Range: 10 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 9

Customer Reviews

Wild about animals

Does your child (children) love animals and dinosaurs? Of course. Are you tired of reading the same dreary standards to them over and over? Of course. Try something very different. The Oxford Book of Animal Poems is a treat for reader and listener with poems long and short, easy and challenging, pictures that delight and that leave room for the imagination. I've had this book for years and am buying another for a gift. I may enjoy it more than my 9-year-old daughter, who wants to be a veterinarian. There are standards: Blake's "Tiger, Tiger" and there are surprises: Gavin Ewart's "Gondwanaland," which opens the book and is written in the form of an extended limerick. Its rollicking spirit and fanciful word play set the tone of the book throughout. Further adventures come from poems translated from folk songs and tribal chants. Great authors (Thomas Hardy, Ted Hughes, Carl Sandburg) are represented. But some of the finest, and fun-est, poems come from little-known authors who absolutely deserve their placement in this Oxford anthology if their poems here are indicative of their talent. Poetry lover or no, this wonderful book should be on any child reader's shelf, next to Stevenson's "Child's Garden of Verse."