Speaking of children's verse, I strongly strongly strongly recommend the book A Great Big Ugly Man Came Up and Tied His Horse to Me. It's mostly nursery rhyme type stuff, just a few goofy lines, but the illustrations are priceless. I'm not sure my children ever enjoyed it as much as I did. And still do.
We had Wallace Tripp's Marguerite, Go Wash Your Feet, which we read until it fell to pieces. Those poems, all funny, supplied so many lines to our family language --- my daughter found a copy at Half-Price Books in Dallas and had to send me a picture of it, if that gives you any idea how central that book was to our shared life! I can still reel off many of its profundities from memory, such as:
I have known this poem by heart since childhood. I have no recollection of memorizing it though I do remember it being read to me by my mother and her mother.
Oh, my goodness, you brought my childhood back with this! We had a book of children's verse which included this, and I can recall loving it since I can remember. It's been too long since I've read it, though I did share it with some of the grandkids at some point.
Speaking of children's verse, I strongly strongly strongly recommend the book A Great Big Ugly Man Came Up and Tied His Horse to Me. It's mostly nursery rhyme type stuff, just a few goofy lines, but the illustrations are priceless. I'm not sure my children ever enjoyed it as much as I did. And still do.
We had Wallace Tripp's Marguerite, Go Wash Your Feet, which we read until it fell to pieces. Those poems, all funny, supplied so many lines to our family language --- my daughter found a copy at Half-Price Books in Dallas and had to send me a picture of it, if that gives you any idea how central that book was to our shared life! I can still reel off many of its profundities from memory, such as:
When I sat next the Duchess at tea,
It was just as I feared it would be.
Her rumblings abdominal
Were something phenomenal,
And everyone thought it was me.
I have known this poem by heart since childhood. I have no recollection of memorizing it though I do remember it being read to me by my mother and her mother.
I can still see the illustrations in The Bumper Book, which was where I encountered it so long ago I can't even remember the first time I heard it.
Oh, my goodness, you brought my childhood back with this! We had a book of children's verse which included this, and I can recall loving it since I can remember. It's been too long since I've read it, though I did share it with some of the grandkids at some point.