Gladiola Garden

by Effie Lee Newsome, Lois Mailou Jones (Illustrations)

From the original foreword- “From time to time a letter from Mrs. Newsome has come to me, always with a little poem, and from time to time I have discovered other poems of hers, in the pages of anthologies and newspapers, and always they gave me such pleasure that I was happy to learn that her verse was to be presented in a book. She has written it especially for children, but it will have charm and significance for grown-ups. The spirit of kindness, of gentle insight, and of quiet understanding underlies even the gayest of her fantasies. I feel that she makes a very real contribution, not only to verse for children but to the spirit of our time.”—Mary Hastings Bradley.This edition is presented with all 77 of the original illustrations.

Genres: Poetry, Childrens

184 pages, Paperback

Published October 2, 2020

Reviews

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I love both poetry and children's books, I don't always love poetry for children. Yet, I found Gladiola Garden absolutely perfect. The copy I acquired through my library system is from 1944, and it is beautiful to handle--high quality paper with hardly any foxing, clear type, and letterpress illustrations that I can't even describe for their beauty.

Gladiola Garden contains nature and slice-of-life poems about childhood in the midcentury. Imagining dandelions as parasols in sun and umbrellas in rain, choosing a gingerbread man cookie at a local bakery, picturing snowflakes as ballet dancers. This is a truly special collection of poems that I am eager to add to my own library.

"When Miss Ladybird Went to Town" (18)
When Miss Ladybird went into the city
She put shellac all down her back
To make her clothes look pretty.

When Miss Ladybird went into the town
She put black spots, small polka dots,
All on her brown silk gown.

"Spirituals" (44)
I like to think of David's harp
With strings of shining gold,
Playing a tinkling little tune
Back in the days of old.

I know a song that tells of this,
And one of chariots.
I'd like to see them swinging low
Like weeping willows when they blow.

"Wild Roses" (112)
Wild roses washed their bonnets out
Last evening in the dew,
And now you'll notice every one
Quite pink and fresh and new.

"The Secret" (128)
I used to think the trees were bare
When leaves had blown away.
But I've found hosts of buds wait there
To open some spring day.

"The Gathering" (154)
I saw the snow one winter day
Come flurrying in a wild ballet.
There seemed no one to play a tune,
And yet I heard the wind's bassoon.
And though the sky was dull and gray,
I've never seen a sight so gay.

The snowflake folk kept coming on
Till every tree-top seat was gone
And every spot upon the ground
Had quite filled up without a sound.
I'm sure it pleased the wild ballet
With millions coming in that way.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t usually put our school books on Goodreads, but I loved this one so much that I want more people to read it. We read one poem a day from here for awhile during my oldest’s second grade year. These poems, written by a black woman in the 1930s, were just delightful. They described nature and everyday life in a unique, thoughtful, and beautiful way. This is my favorite children’s poetry collection so far and I plan to reread it with my kids another year.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I read this aloud to my kids during morning time before school each day, generally a page or two a day (which might just be one or two longer poems or several very short ones). There are a lot of really beautiful images in Newsome’s poems, but I think I might have liked it better reading by myself than to the kids, because they found a lot of the poems hard to understand. My 6yo was just too little to understand a lot of the figurative images, but even my 9yo struggled to follow the poems, I think because in addition to having some older English expressions they rely heavily on the nature available in a particular place. Where we live in a hot region outside North America, the flowers, birds, trees, and animals are simply not the same. So I didn’t just have to explain the image of the poem but also the original thing the image was even talking about.

I would like reading this again by myself; I think I would be able to enjoy it more that way.

[Shaun M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, warm, and whimsical collection that belongs in every child's library, right alongside classics like Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verse." The vast majority of the poems are built around the natural world, though a number also focus on the lives and experiences of children. The poems in this book are a gift that I'll return to often.

[Andrea (andreareadsalot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute poems for second graders. This book is written by a black woman intended for black children as the audience. The poems didn’t all age well. I enjoyed the illustrations a lot. This wasn’t my usual type of read.

Overall Rating: 3/5

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful collection of poetry for children.

[Marieke Desmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are gorgeous, nature-driven poems that are winsome and engaging. A lovely read for all ages - fabulous, un stuffy poetry.

[Desiree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book of poetry. I read it with my kids and we all enjoyed pulling this one out!

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to read a copy from the 1940s and the poems and illustrations were just so lovely.