This exuberant celebration of poetry is an essential book for every young one's library and a gorgeous gift to be both shared and treasured. Sit back and savor a superb collection of more than sixty poems by a wide range of talented writers, from Margaret Wise Brown to Gertrude Stein, Langston Hughes to A. A. Milne. Greeting the morning, enjoying the adventures of the day, cuddling up to a cozy bedtime — these are poems that highlight the moments of a toddler's world from dawn to dusk. Carefully gathered by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters and delightfully illustrated by Polly Dunbar, Here's a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry offers a comprehensive introduction to some remarkable poets, even as it captures a very young child's intense delight in the experiences and rituals of every new day.

"Here are, actually, 61 little poems, which together provide a high-spirited, engaging introduction to poetry. Gleaned from various countries and representing a refreshing array of voices, the poems fall into four categories of high interest to youngsters: 'Me, Myself, and I,' 'Who Lives in My House?,' 'I Go Outside' and 'Time for Bed.' The selections include waggish nonsense verse, rambunctious action rhymes, quieter passages, and snippets of everyday life. Margaret Mahy's 'My Sister' typifies the collection's airiness and spunk: 'My sister's remarkably light,/ She can float to a fabulous height./ It's a troublesome thing,/ But we tie her with string,/ And we use her instead of a kite.' Other contributors include the volume's two anthologists, plus Langston Hughes, Margaret Wise Brown, Eve Merriam, Jack Prelutsky, Charlotte Pomerantz and Lilian Moore. Dunbar's signature cheery, mixed-media art injects new energy into even the most familiar poems; her interpretation of A.A. Milne's 'Halfway Down,' for instance, portrays a girl on a staircase that seems to spiral up to heaven, while the girl on 'The Swing' by Robert Louis Stevenson looks suspended from the clouds, over a collage countryside of textured cloth patterns. This elegant, oversize treasury features children as endearing as the verse they illustrate — well, except perhaps for 'The No-No Bird' perched in 'the Tantrum Tree,' a boy with wings aflame and mouth open in a scream. There's something for everyone here." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"[A] great way to introduce the youngest listeners to the genre." School Library Journal

"While it is designed as a book to read-aloud to toddlers, the engaging illustrations and approachable text will encourage emerging readers to explore the poems on their own." Children's Literature

More than 60 poems by such beloved writers as Margaret Wise Brown, Langston Hughes, and A.A. Milne are collected in this volume that captures a very young child's intense delight in the experiences and rituals of every new day.

Jane Yolen is the award-winning author of numerous books for children, including The Girl in the Golden Bower and Child of Faerie, Child of Earth, both illustrated by Jane Dyer. Jane Yolen and her husband divide their time between a one-hundred-year-old farmhouse in Hatfield, Massachusetts, and Wayside, a house in Scotland.