Source: QuartoKnows
Hardcover, 48 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate
Poetry for Kids: Emily Dickinson edited by Susan Snively, PhD, and illustrated by Christine Davenier is ideally for ages 8-13, and the illustrations are gorgeous and can be appreciated by readers of any age. Davenier uses a watercolor technique to illustrate the 35 poems in this volume, which Snively curated. Some, if not all, of the poems included have been modified from the original poem. In some cases, the em dash is removed and replaced with other punctuation, and in other cases, words that she capitalized are not in these versions. Dickinson readers will notice these changes very easily, and if these changes bother you in a kids book, this is not the volume for you.
I loved how the poems were presented here, and although this is a little old for my daughter, she listened as I read. The terms she would not be familiar with are defined on the pages where the poems appear. She may not have understood everything I read, but the lines and words Dickinson used — especially as nature is front in center — are things that even younger kids can relate to. She really loved the colorful pictures. They’re wonderful.
Poetry for Kids: Emily Dickinson edited by Susan Snively, PhD, and illustrated by Christine Davenier breaks down the poems by season and in the back, there is a list of what Emily Dickinson might have been thinking at the time the poem was written. For the age group this book is curated for, it is well presented and could be a stepping stone for deeper discussion of Dickinson, her unconventional life and writing, and what she was “thinking” as she wrote.
RATING: Quatrain
About the Poet:
Emily Dickinson was an American poet who, despite the fact that less than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime, is widely considered one of the most original and influential poets of the 19th century.
About the Editor:
Susan Snively grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and now lives in New England where she is a guide, discussion leader, and film script writer for the Emily Dickinson Museum. She was the founder and first director of the Writing Center at Amherst College, where she worked from 1981 until 2008. She taught courses in writing and autobiographies of women, and has published four collections of poems: From This Distance (1981), Voices in the House (1988), The Undertow (1998), and Skeptic Traveler (2005). View her complete bibliography. Susan Snively has received numerous Prizes and Awards for her writing, and continues to lecture and give readings.
About the Illustrator:
Christine Davenier is an author and illustrator of children’s books. She has illustrated a large number of books, the authors of which include Jack Prelutsky, Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton, Madeleine L’Engle and Juanita Havill, and has received critical acclaim.
