Category: Something Wonderful

Poetry is underappreciated. Perhaps it is because people had to struggle through interpreting poetry in high school literature classes and decided that it was too difficult, or perhaps it is because people simply prefer to be either informed or enthralled by their reading material. Whatever the case, I want to recommend three books of poetry — all excellent anthologies compiled for children, and all out of print. I owned these books as a child and paged through them again and again. I treasured them enough that I still have them today.

The oldest of the trio is The Big Golden Book of Poetry. It was originally published in 1947 and, judging from the inscription inside the book, it was probably my first book of poetry, since my grandmother gave it to me when I was an infant (this says a lot about my family). It’s possible the book belonged to my father before me, although my granny may have given me a new copy. I can’t resist sharing my grandmother’s message to me here:

To Kate on her first Christmas.

I know you’re going to love the ‘written word’ as much as most of your family.

I’ve taken the liberty of starring your father’s favorite poems which were first read to him — over and over! His choice is the very last poem, “There was once a puffin.” Hope you like it, too.

Among the poems she starred were Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Swing” and “The Little Land,” James Whitcomb Riley’s “Little Orphant Annie” and “The Raggedy Man,” and Rachel Field’s “The Animal Store,” a poem which also enchanted me. To this day, I still think of that poem and imagine going on a shopping spree for pets (though I’d need far more than the $100 mentioned in first line).

I also really loved Mildred Plew Meigs’ “Moon Song,” in part because of the mermaids and in part because of the sheer beauty of the language — the rhymes and rhythm of the poem.

Zoon, zoon, cuddle and croon–
Over the crinkling sea,
The moon man flings him a silvered net
Fashioned of moonbeams three.

The volume is beautifully illustrated and well worth chasing down.

The Golden Treasury of Poetry is enormous and is organized by theme, including poems about “Creatures of Every Kind,” poems about people, and poems that tell stories (my favorite section, which includes “True Thomas,” “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” and “The Tale of Custard the Dragon”). The book is one to grow into; there are poems that appeal to very young children, like “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod,” as well as excerpts from Shakespeare and the gruesome poem “The Inchcape Rock.” Like The Big Golden Book of Poetry it is illustrated. It also includes commentary by Louis Untermeyer. It was first published in 1959.

I went through a stage in childhood when I put a sticker from the National Wildlife Federation inside each of my favorite books, and this treasury was graced with one of those stickers.

My copy of Piping Down the Valleys Wild includes the blurb “Poetry for the Young of All Ages,” but most of the poems were probably selected to appeal to children in elementary school; it has fewer “grown up” poems than the Golden Treasury, though it does include poems like “Ariel’s Song” from The Tempest and Robert Frost’s “Acquainted With the Night.” Like the Golden Treasury, it is organized by topic. The most modern of the books (it was first published in 1968), it includes poets who are not in the other volumes I’ve recommended, such as Shel Silverstein and Gwendolyn Brooks. Although there are poems in this book that are also in the other ones, I keep it because of the many poems that aren’t in them.

What are your favorite poetry anthologies for children? Did you love them enough to hang onto them?

When I was a kid I devoured fantasy novels. I was thrilled whenever I ran across a good series, because then I could revisit my favorite characters in book after book. Among these series was Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain, five books set in a sort of pseudo-Wales. They are, in order, The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King. Two of the books won Newbery awards: The Black Cauldron is a Newbery honor book, and The High King received the 1969 Newbery Medal. Disney combined the first two books into their regrettable animated film The Black Cauldron. Apparently, they plan to tackle the series again, and I have high hopes that they will do a better job.

The books have plenty of fans, but I’m surprised at the number of people who are completely unaware of them. Alexander wrote ripping good stories with believable characters, and he did a marvelous job of developing the main character, Taran, throughout the series. The main female character, Eilonwy, is a strong princess whom I somehow forgot when I was putting together my list of strong princesses. Her only flaw as a female role model is her stereotypical response to Taran when he angers her: “I’m not talking to you.” Beyond that annoying characterization, Eilonwy is exactly the sort of princess who appeals to girls who dream of adventures.

“They’ve made me sleep in beds with goosefeather pillows enough to stifle you; I’m sure the geese needed them more than I did — the feathers, that is, not the pillows. And servitors to bring you exactly what you don’t want to eat. And washing your hair whether it needs it or not. And sewing and weaving and curtsying and all such I don’t even want to think about. I’ve not drawn a sword for I don’t know how long…” (Eilonwy in The High King)

Along with these characters is the bard-king, Fflewddur Fflam; Prince Gwydion, who reminds me a little of Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings; Gurgi, who reminds more than a little of a benevolent Gollum/Sméagol; Doli, the dwarf; Hen Wen, the oracular pig; Arawn, the chief villain (though by no means the only one); and many other colorful characters.

Although I did notice occasional similarities between The Chronicles of Prydain and The Lord of the Rings, the book that Alexander acknowledges as an influence on his work is a collection of medieval Welsh tales, The Mabinogion. For the most part, Alexander borrowed names from the tales, but he made the characters his own. Gwydion and Arawn both play roles in The Mabinogion, but they are very different from Alexander’s characters. Fflewddur Fflam’s name comes from a ridiculously long list of King Arthur’s warriors. Probably the biggest contribution the Welsh tales made to Alexander’s books was the black cauldron, which can be used to transform the dead into an army.

Alexander also borrowed from his own work: You can see the seeds of Eilonwy in one of the characters in his first children’s book, Time Cat.

In addition to the storylines and the characters, Alexander gifts his readers with occasional bits of wisdom that never come across as preachy. Among them is this nugget from The Black Cauldron:

“There is much to be known,” said Adaon, “and above all much to be loved, be it the turn of the seasons or the shape of a river pebble. Indeed, the more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts.”

Isn’t that enough to make you want to read the series?

Not all of these books are of the same quality. The Book of Three is the weakest of the bunch, but The Black Cauldron is excellent, so if you aren’t enchanted with the first book, please give Alexander a chance and read the second before you make your decision about the series.

There is one more Prydain book: The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain, a collection of short stories. The book has a very different feel from the novels — reading it is a lot like reading fairy tales — but the stories are lovely. I recommend reading it after, not before, you read the Chronicles.

Alexander was a prolific author, but somehow, even though I loved journeying to Prydain, I only remember reading one other book by him when I was a child: The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man. I read a few more in preparation for this post, and I was surprised to find his work was very uneven. I felt like the characters in Time Cat were flat compared to the well-fleshed out characters in the Prydain series. Likewise, when I read the first book in his Vesper Holly series, The Illyrian Adventure, I found the heroine too perfect. She also was annoyingly cheery, no matter what the circumstances. I had no desire to continue the series.

On the other hand, the Westmark trilogy has everything I loved about the Prydain novels — a gripping story and strong characters who grow and change throughout the book. The trilogy is excellent, but dark — for that matter, the Prydain books can be pretty grim, though Westmark is darker. It represents Alexander at his best.

If you love fantasy and good children’s literature, I encourage you to pick up the first two Prydain books and give them a try. If my guess is right, by the end of The Black Cauldron, you’ll be hooked.