Classic Poems for Girls

November 1, 2012

Gr 3-8-From the nonsense poems of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear through works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Christina Rossetti, and more, familiar and classic poems are ably performed by Roy McMillan, Laura Paton, Anne-Marie Piazza, and Benjamin Soames. There are poems about guinea pigs, kittens, and "tigers," and others about lost love and of tragedy. Classical musical interludes, which are identified and credited in the CD insert, separate poems every few performances, often segueing into poems of a different type; otherwise the magic is all in the reading, and the cadence of these rhyming tales. Especially entertaining is Anne-Marie Piazza's performance of "The Rock and the Bubble." All readers perform the poetry dramatically and expressively; occasional British and Scottish accents make the works more elegant. While some of the poems may be familiar as nursery rhymes ("Old Mother Hubbard," "The Owl and the Pussycat"), others are certainly more mature ("Birthday" by Christina Rossetti, "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe). The accompanying booklet lists the poems and authors and introduces some of the classic pieces and the performers. Why these particular poems were selected "for girls" is not explained. Listeners will want to replay this CD again and again.-MaryAnn Karre, West Middle School, Binghamton, NY

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.