Kennedy informs students about the purposes for poetry by the categories he's formed. The selections are appropriate for elementary school children and is an instructive collection for serious poetry reading for kids 7-13.

Kennedy's collection is accessible, informative and a pleasure to read and mull over.

As a teacher- I found this book to an incredible assest to have in the clasroom. This is a very exemplary eclectic collection. It contains a wide variety of poem forms, styles, and authors. Usefully organized into category chapters, it easy to find a poem relating to a topic. The book is organized into useful sections that have equally as useful subcategories. These divisions make it easy to use these poems during a unit on poetry. The wide variety of types of poems in the book also is useful to assimilate these poems into the curriculum, either as a transitional piece or within a topic discussion. The students LOVE hearing these poems!

This book is a great resource from Grammar. It outlines it in an easy to follow fashion. I would suggest having your own copy of it in order to take notes and study the really important areas. Other parts of the book are very helpful with writing. Please E-mail me if you know of any other great grammar books.

This is a beautiful book both visually and in content. The watercolor illustrations are in the realistic style painted in fine detail. My daughter loves to look at the pictures closely as we read the poems aloud.

The poems selected cover a wide range of topics, themes, and moods. There are funny poems like limericks, serious poems about the seasons, poems about how children sometimes feel (such as the one about the boy who didn't do anything right yesterday, so he's not getting out of bed today) bedtime poems, and poems about child play.

This book was a gift and I love it so much I've since given it to other parents and children to enjoy. Everyone has been enthusiastic about it. When my daughter selects this book (which is often) it's fun for us to browse through the pages and pick poems based on the illustrations or on our mood. We'll say, let's read about sleepytime poems, or let's read funny poems. She never tires of this book. There are hundreds of poems to choose from, but the scope is not overwhelming either.

I give this book my highest recommendation. Every home should have some poetry on the shelf!

Last night, my not-quite-three-year-old daughter spontaneously recited a couple dozen poems from this book to my wife and me. We were astounded. She's been requesting that we read TALKING LIKE THE RAIN to her day and night since I bought it last month, but we had no idea how deeply the poems had sunken in. What better endorsement can one give to such a book? We plan to buy several more copies as presents for my daughter's friends . . . and their parents.

X.J. Kennedy is a terrific poet as well as a top-notch editor. I highly recommend his own children's poetry books, particularly his irreverent BRATS, as well as his poetry books for adults, which include the excellent DARK HORSES and CROSS TIES.

This large, gorgeous picture book contains 123 poems perfectly suited for youthful excursions into the land of poetry. You will find many favorites here as well as bountiful opportunity to make new friends. Emily Dickinson, Rachel Field, David McCord, Jane Yolen, Christina Rossetti, Langston Hughes, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Robert Frost are just a few of the amazing talents that grace the pages of this book. From the very beginning where a qote from Isak Dinesen's "Out of Africa" explains the title of the book, we are swept up in a cavalcade of imagery, sound and experience that is a true delight and feast for the imagination. Not only is this a wonderful introduction to poetry for children it is a giant step forward toward learning about creative visualization and self-expression. It is a fortunate child who learns to evoke response from others through the mastery and selection of words. There is no better way to teach the art than to provide a child with the opportunity to experience the magic first-hand. The splendid illustrations in this book cheerily invite one to venture closer and then become the magic carpet that sweeps one from place to place within the book. The subject matter covers a broad range of topics, humorous and thoughtful, and can serve as a wonderful catalyst to further discussion about poetry and the use of the imagination. After a long and satisfying relationship with this book, may I suggest that you place a special magical pen and a blank tablet of paper in the hands of your child and discover the wonders it has helped to deliver. This book is truly an ambassador to creative expression.

My high school English class analyzes two essays from the book every grading period. I have seldom had an assignment that I enjoy so much; after analyzing the first essay assigned (Homeless), I sat back to think about what the writer had expressed. The essays are thought provoking and demand attention. The Bedford Reader is a book that I would recommend for the sheer enjoyment of exploring one's own mind and escaping to the world of another's.

I was required to get this book for an Intermediate Composition course in college and it has to be the best college textbook I have ever had. First there is a wide variety of stories to choose from and at least one will appeal to everyone. Even though it is a educational textbook I still read it in my leisure time, as well.

My college uses this book for English Comp and Rhetoric. It is an excellent reference book, and I really enjoyed the essays. The essays in this book and questions really get you thinking and using your mind. EXCELLENT

An excellent collection of stylistically important works. Very well-organized and informative as well as fun to read.

I purchased this book to use as a text for a composition course I teach. It features excellent sections on composition topics like cause and effect, narration, process analysis, classification, etc. The selections in the book really are "brief". Most are between three and five pages long. The topics and authors addressed are real-world, high interest issues that make great discussion pieces. Personally, I enjoyed reading the selections. They are excellent casual reading pieces.

The Irish American Family Album provides in it's too few pages, a spark of light on the intensely emotional history of Ireland and her children. One could hardly expect an absolute, exhaustive description of the countless people or events that are associated with this topic, yet everyone of Irish descent that I have shared this book with responds to it that same way. They slowly turn the pages with great anticipation. Always hoping that the next page shall help shed more light on their personal family's history of exil from Ireland to a new life here in America. I have even witnessed a tear from time to time in the eyes of these readers. It has been said that we are now witnessing a renaissance of the Celtic spirit and culture. If this is true, then much thanks is due to books such as The Irish American Family Album. For this book and others like it shall be the tools of education for our younger generations. They help to reveal and preserve our culture and history, a history so vast and long that it spands well into the darkness of time. Therefore, every spark of light is a true blessing.