Celebrations

by Myra Cohn Livingston, Leonard Everett Fisher (Illustrator)

A collection of poems on the holidays of the year, from New Year's Day through Martin Luther King Day, Passover, Labor Day, Halloween, and others, to Christmas Eve.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Holiday, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1985

About the author

Myra Cohn Livingston was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Her family moved to California when she was 12 years old. She studied the French horn from age 12 to age 20, becoming so good that the Los Angeles Philharmonic invited her to join them when she was 16 years old. She had other plans. She knew she wanted to write.

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poems for holidays throughout the year, even a birthday one. We enjoyed all the poems and loved the illustrations. Here is the one for Halloween:

Halloween

Green cat eyes
In midnight gloom
fly with the witch
on her ragged broom
over dark hills
where bonfires loom.

There, where haunted
spirits groan,
crouched in the rubble
of rag and bone,
Old Halloween
unearths gray stone

counting souls
of the restless dead,
nodding her wizened,
shrouded head.
Then, with her bony fingers spread

she bids them dance
to a frenzied tune.
Thin bodies floating
circle the moon,
and Old Halloween
falls in a swoon....

Red embers die
as the hillside shakes.
A rooster crows.
The morning breaks.
The witch lies dead.
The cat awakes.

[Shanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains a different poem for many of the different celebrations we partake in each year. Would be a good excuse for another way to expose children to Poetry on designated days.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

April Fool - a poem about april fools day. This book has a poem for every holiday. It would be fun to post these poems through out the year.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poetry is simple but meaningful. The pictures are beautiful.