Candy Corn: Poems

by James Stevenson

The author of Popcorn amasses a collection of short poems with titles such as "The Morning After Halloween," "Dumpsters," and "What Frogs Say To Each Other."

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction

56 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads databse.

Reviews

[Trent Clegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whimsical and moving, this is the poetry I should have been reading as a child. What insight! What keen observation! What fun and imagination!

[Steph Lovelady · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice collection of twenty-four poems for kids. The title and cover illustration might lead you to believe it's a Halloween-themed book, but it isn't. Not all the poems are seasonal but those ones are scattered through the book, ordered from early spring to mid-November and there are two post-Halloween poems. Here's the one that gives the book its title:

As morning comes,
You can see last night
The dragon lost
A lot of teeth.
Scattered
Along the sidewalk,
Yellow and orange they are,
Very much
Like candy corn

The illustration makes it clear the "dragon teeth" are actually spilled candy corn seen through a child's imagination on November 1. The illustrations often explain the poems this way, including one in which toads discuss the weather ("What's it like today-- hot?"/"Only when you first get out.") and another in which a parking lot of school buses discuss how poorly behaved their riders were that day.

Other poems contain wry observations: "There's a yellow chair/At the junkyard gate./Sometimes an old guy sits there/Just to make sure/Nobody swipes a crane."

Or touching ones: "The screen door screeches./The screen door slams./Coming or going,/Going or coming,/The sounds are the same./But what a difference/It makes to me--/Your going away,/Your coming home."

[Samantha Buchheit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these poems were moving, most were silly yet keen observations of the world, and others felt a bit out of place in this poetry collection. But overall, this was a fun and very quick read with beautiful water color illustrations on every page. This would be great for children but I found it in the adult non-fiction section at our library (I guess that's where we put poetry for some reason?) so it wasn't exactly what I was expecting.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

See my review of Corn-Fed for more information on this series of poetry titles.

Copyrighted in 1999 the early volumnes in this series have longer poems than those published in the 2000’s. There is a poem in this title for bird lover’s, one for school bus drivers, and one about screen doors all of which have unique perspectives. And also one about the two week left over Jack o’ lantern.
Definitely these poems will appeal to adults more than children.

[Nichole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute little poetry book. We have it marked Halloween in our library, which doesn't seem quite accurate.

[Ty Burns]

It's not really about candy corn

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of poems about everyday life, some funny, moving, even sad; along with watercolor illustrations. Great collection for grade school age students to experience poetry.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um I was expecting Halloween or candy this entire book. But random

[Angie Quantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the poems and artwork!

[Paula Greenfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of poems.

[Patricia Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Candy Corn is a 55 page book filled with a collection of different forms of poems. There is a variety of plots yet primarily they are all flat. This collection of poems are broad in range. Several poetic devices are used in the entire book including alliteration, assonance, free verse meter, imagery and simile. They include the themes about the beauty of the spring and summer incorporated in the poem Friendly, or the fact that the world is blessed with multiple daises in the June poem, and even still the story of two weeks later after Halloween when the pumpkins turn to mush. There are more titles like the Junkyard Guard, Main Street and Night. This book is for primary aged children up to advanced. This book reminds us that poems do not have to rhyme. The word choices help to enhance the meaning of some of the poems. Sentence formation may help the reader understand the poetic mood of the Junkyard Guard. The Early Spring poem is free verse as it speaks of the dogwoods blooming like white surf tumbling from a light green sea. Imagery is addressed in the poem Main Street because everybody carries something an umbrella, a chair, some shopping...., and alliteration is addressed in the poem What we're going to have when he talks about we're going to have burgers, we're going to have fries....that's what we'll have when Bob gets here. Some of the structures are circular like in the hats poem picture, cumulative in the peanuts picture and parallel in the Auto Parts poem picture. In the same poem artistic elements like balance are evident the way the tools are arranged and composition because the tools are united by that balance as well as repetition and variety of tools. Line is used in the Early Spring poem to show the tree trunks from the leaves and the knots on those trees. Last, in the Friendly poem the door is centered giving it emphasis.
Within the 24 poems all of the artistic elements are present. it is most obvious in the poem Early spring how the trees are defined. Also texture is shown in the trees with lines of pencil and spatial order is express in the poem Peanuts by the postponing of the nuts. I give this book a star rating of three.

[Crystal Lough]

Candy Corn is a book full of 24 poems. This book is targeted for primary to secondary aged children. The book includes poems such as, Bare Feet, peanuts and hats. The poems do not neccesarily rhyme but they flow. One poem is as short as, "Bare Feet? NEAT!" I gave this book 4 stars because I really liked how the book was designed. The text features such as font and colors were used to their full potential. For example, on one of the poems about a windy day the words are bent and they look flowy. The story will definitely be appealing to children considering it is Halloween themed. I think I could use this story around Halloween time in the classroom during a poetry lesson.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poems herein are whitty, whimsical, and pithy, by turn. Get all of Stevenson's "Corn" poetry collections about every day life as observed by one who has lived a long one. These are great to share in company, each immersed in a volume, sharing favorites, and passing the books person to person. Delightful way to spend an afternoon or evening.

My favorite? "The Morning After Halloween"
As morning comes,
You can see last night
The dragon lost
A lot of teeth.
Scattered
Along the sidewalk,
Yellow and orange they are,
Very much
Like candy corn.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter and I just read this book for her reading homework and we absolutly loved this one. James stevenson did a wonderful job on the different poems in this book. There were funny and sweet poems and we enjoyed our time reading this book. I would recommend this book to all families out there.

[Nakitah]

A collection of 24 short poems about ordinary things with a twist, including eating peanuts, frog's and bird's conversations, dumpster activities, and hats. This can be used to introduce a new perspective about an everyday thing and how to put it into a poetic format

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Stevenson's books of poems are beautiful, simple, heart-warming books with perfect illustrations.

[bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good collection of poetry, sure to be able to find a poem that can go along with a lesson.

[Nick Cherry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved this collection of poems. It would be perfect especially around Halloween.

[Miss Kious · Rating 5 out of 5]

formatting poetry - font, configuration of text, illustrations

art - pen and water color

[Jock Zollinger]

It's a poem book with poems of candy corn, peanuts, and junkyards. If you like poetry then read this book. I would rate this 3 stars because it was a good poem book, but it was really fast to read.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was a very short poetry book

[Angela De Groot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short poems - insightful, surprising, and laced with humor. A quiet and unexpected look at the usual. Fun poetry for all ages.

[Elle Belle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This cute book is great for October; planning to use it in my music class.

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the poems. They were funny because some had funny characters and stories like lots of tools and about the garbage dump. That was really fun.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was funny because everyone was supposed to hold something, but at the end someone wasn't.

[Taylor]

yes i love it

[Christina Bell]

Great poems that show poems can be long, short, or rhyme. The topics are board as well. Showing kids that writing poems can be about anything around them.