Oxford Book of Poetry for Children

Title: Oxford Book of Poetry for Children
Authors: Edward Blishen 
Illustrator: Brian Wildsmith

Summary: This book is a reprinted version of the older edition. This book is a collection of poetry from various English Poets. It contains poems varied from nursery rhymes to other kinds of verse—ballads, poems of mystery, delicate tales of fairies, songs of the sea—with a jingle or limerick mixed in here and there, and an element of surprise stories. (Barnes&Nobles, 2008)

Genre: Non-fiction/picture/poetry

Art: The art work in this reprinted was mostly done by Brian Wildsmith, the medium is oil paint on the canvas. The art work that was captured in this book can really stand out to you. The images often really can capture the essence of the poems that was recited on each pages. The mood and emotions that was conveyed through the words can also be observed from pictures that was painted on the page itself.

Literacy Element: This book is consisted of a collection of poem, and there is many way that any poems can be written, It have a lot of examples of personification, narratives, metaphors, similes, imagery, rhymes, rhythms and alliterations. There are a lot of elements that students can look for when they read through poems. 

Critical Element: This book is a collection, so there is a wide range of subjects that each poems are trying to speak or to show. So you would have to look up through each poems to find the connections between the poem and yourself. This book is really good when you want to look up a certain favorite; ex: Knight rescuing the damsel in the distress, you can really find a poem about that in this book. 

Personal Evaluation: The book itself is pretty lengthy for any students to read through, It often changes up on the readers when it comes down to reading from a poem to the next. So It might get confusing for new readers, unless they know what they are looking for. But the poems themselves are pretty well-done, and there is a lot of things that students can use or learn from them. This is a good book if students are aware of what they should look out for, and to pinpoint a poem that they want to analyze  Otherwise, this book will be better off being read to the students rather than shoved it into hands of new readers unless they are ambitious and enjoy poetry.