Wonderful Words: Poems About Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening

by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Compiler)

Come, words, come in your every color.
Whether we are sharing poems or secrets, acting onstage, or just telling jokes, the words we use are our best friends. Join acclaimed poet Lee Bennett Hopkins in this glorious collection celebrating words in speech, reading, language, and drama and how they influence our lives. Works by Emily Dickinson, Eve Merriam, and Nikki Grimes make whispers, metaphors, and dreams come alive, while Karen Barbour's illustrations interpret the magic of language with vivid hues. This is a collection sure to inspire wordsmiths of all ages, over and over. And just maybe there's a poet who didn't know it in you!

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens, Writing

32 pages, Hardcover

First published February 24, 2004

About the author

Lee Bennett Hopkins was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2017. He holds a Guinness Book of Records citation for compiling the most anthologies for children. He has also received the Christopher Award, the Regina Medal, and the National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry for Children Award. He lives in Florida.

For more information, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ben...

Reviews

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to come back and reference these poems for book displays.

[Casey Strauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful Words is a poetry anthology with poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrations by Karen Barbour. All of the poems in this book are based around the themes of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The opening poem is “1212” by Emily Dickinson, accompanied by vibrant illustrations of flying birds. There is a wide range of poets included, both older and newer writers. Words Free as Confetti, by Pat Mora uses both Spanish and English words, with a translation provided. In total, fifteen poems are included with the illustrations varying to match the theme of the poem. In some poems the illustrations are lush and almost overwhelming, in others, like “The Dream”, by Nikki Grimes, the page is simply done with dark purples and blues.

As a language arts teacher, I was drawn to this book because of the themes of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. I also liked the varying selection of poets offered in this book. The illustrations are beautiful, but at times they almost overwhelm the poem. The colors are bright and vibrant or muted and calm depending on the message of the accompanying poem. Younger students would enjoy the images shared along with the poems. I would use this book with my seventh grade class, but not as a whole. I would use differing poems depending on what we are studying in class, and tie them in that way. For example, the book includes the poem “How to Learn to Say a Long, Hard Word” by David McCord. This would be an excellent poem to use when introducing new vocabulary to students. They could then write their own version of the poem, using a word from the lesson.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are wonderful poems for children. The theme that ties them together (reading, writing, speaking, listening) was what drew me to this collection, and the execution surpassed my expectations.

Some of the poems I enjoyed more than others. My favorite poem is probably I Am the Book because it captured exactly the way I felt about books when I was a child.

The illustrations are gorgeous and are a significant contribution to the collection.

This book would make a wonderful gift for elementary school students.

[Michelle Nero · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite line from the poem "Metaphor":

Morning is
a new sheet of paper
for you to write on.

[Kalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Genre: Poetry

Unique Feature: Each poem in the book related to words in some way. Like the title says they are about reading, writing, speaking, and listening. They are short and sweet, and surrounded by beautiful pictures! The order of the poems make them a story, so they can be used in order, or each poem could stand alone.

Grade Level:2nd - 4th grade

[Nicole Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Poetry
Grade: K-12th
Unique Characteristic: I bought this book not knowing it was full of poetry, but I'm so glad I did. This book has so many great poems that would be useful using with any grade. The poems all help with teaching Language Arts and they are engaging.

[Emily Orton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of poems is really good. It is full of poems by famous authors like Emily Dickinson, Eve Merriam, and more. I would read poems from this book to my students when discussing poetry In class.

[Ashlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Wonderful Words is a collection of poems about reading, writing, speaking and listening selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Karen Barour. The illustrations on the cover of this book and on the pages inside are incredibly vibrant and are created by water colors. The picture on the front cover is on a bright yellow background, with colorful flowers and someone laying down on some sort of chair. I don’t think this has to do anything specially with the book. On the first inside there are a lot of random colorful drawings, or what appear to be books coming from stems as if they are a type of flower, and pictures of other animals like a bird and an alligator. The pictures are extremely imaginative and not realistic. One of the poems I really liked in this book is called ‘Metaphor’ written by Eve Merriam. It says ‘Morning is a new sheet of paper for you to write one. Whatever you want it to say, all day, until night folds it up and flies it away. The bright words and the dark words are gone until dawn and a new day to write on.’. I like this a lot because to me it means that every day you have a new opportunity to make whatever you want out of that day. Good or bad the choice is yours, and if not, theres always tomorrow. The picture that goes along with this poem is a girl laying down next to her cat, her eyes are open so she is not asleep, and the sun is out, then on the other side of the page, the moon and stars are out and the same girl and her cat are flying though the sky on some magical flying carper made up on notebook paper like the poem says “Until it folds it up and flies it away”. The back cover of this book is on a green background and is pictures of a tree, grass, flowers, birds and a butterfly.

[sarafem · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful poetry book intended to "inspire wordsmiths of all ages, over and over." As much as I love poetry, I never would have thought to put together a collection of poems "about reading, writing, speaking, and listening." Very clever idea.

There are poems about words (beginning with 1212 by Emily Dickinson - I DETEST her but am willing to forgive the editors for starting the book with her), metaphors, foreign language, pronunciation, books, talking, listening, poems about poems, writing, punctuation...I think my favorite is a short one by Nikki Grimes - The Dream: Oh! To poet/Like a laser,/pierce darkness/with one word!.

Another poetry book with beautiful illustrations; this is a perfect book for use in a language arts classroom.

[Christine Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come, words, come in your every color. Whether we are sharing poems or secrets, acting onstage, or just telling jokes, the words we use are our best friends. Join acclaimed poet Lee Bennett Hopkins in this glorious collection celebrating words in speech, reading, language, and drama and how they influence our lives. Works by Emily Dickinson, Eve Merriam, and Nikki Grimes make whispers, metaphors, and dreams come alive, while Karen Barbour's illustrations interpret the magic of language with vivid hues. This is a collection sure to inspire wordsmiths of all ages, over and over. And just maybe there's a poet who didn't know it in you! www.hcpl.net

[Janet Squires]

I couldn't resist sharing this fun collection of poems that encourage creativity and invite readers to discover the power and fun of words. Hopkins' selected verses are by some of our best known poets and touch on a variety of topics both broad and specific: from finding your own creativity and embracing the joy of reading to works entitled "Metaphor" and "The Period."

Barbour's boldly colored illustrations are a delight to the eye.

Teachers will find multiple uses for this book as both an introduction to and inspiration for writing.

[Kelly Havens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent mentor text that can be used to celebrate words and inspire students to play with words in their writing. This book could be incorporated into your classroom by discussing colorful words and how they bring writing to life. You could also use this as an introduction to writing different adjectives from commonly used words, for instance, said, happy, sad, excited, etc.

[Ryan Fenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations used in this book are great for each poem. I also enjoyed the contrast in each poem. It wasn't a book of the same style of poem used over and over again, but the author chose to put different styles. I enjoyed reading each poem and would strongly recommend this book for children learning poetry.

[Marianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poems chosen by Lee Bennett Hopkins. As always a good, easy, accessible book of children's poetry.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poems about the power and beauty of words coupled with strikingly beautiful pictures. Some poems are funny too!

[Sandy D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book, full of intriguing word images. I didn't always care for the artwork, but I loved the poems, and I think they would be inspiring for kids of any age. And adults. :-)

[JoEllen Mccarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poems about reading, writing speaking and listening. Some goodies worth sharing for craft lessons and to support various minilessons too.

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good addition to poetry collections like BookSpeak (Sallas). Balance the demand for mechanics and analysis with these celebrations of words, sound, books, and reading.

[Mayra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend this jewel of a poem anthology to all elementary school teachers.