The Oxford Book of Poetry for Children

Edward Blishen's anthology, which was first published in 1963 and is a classic of its kind, has at last been issued in an amazing value-for-money paperback edition. In his introduction, addressed to the child reader, Edward Blishen describes the subject of poetry as 'whatever ... can be expressed by human beings with a sense of words and of rhythm, a sharp eye, a keen ear, an enquiring mind and an open heart.' His selection is drawn from the traditional mainstream of English poetry (all pre 1930s) but there is rich variety here and, as many children have found over twenty years, lots of signposts to further pleasure. (One quibble: children today consulting the Index of Authors may gain the impression that several well-known poets -- Masefield, Eleanor Farjeon, Eliot, for instance -- are amazingly long-lived!)