Humorous Children's Poetry

A bibliography, criteria for evaluation and links to humorous children's poetry from the Internet School Library Media Center. The ISLMC is a meta-site for librarians, teachers, parents and students. You can search this site, use an index or sitemap.

Related pages: Children's Poetry, Songs

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Evaluation

Laughter lifts my spirits. Being a lover of literature for children and young adults, I have read a great many wonderful books. I've enjoyed them. I've learned a great deal about the world from them. Why am I depressed? Perhaps I've read too many "problem" books.

One place I know to look for laughter is in humorous children's poetry books. What criteria do I use for evaluation? I look for a poem that makes me smile or laugh out loud. Otherwise, humorous children's poetry should meet the same criteria for excellence for any other poetic form. In rhyming poetry, the rhyme should not be forced. Neither should the internal rhythm be forced to meet the rhyming requirements. Although most humorous children's poetry uses rhyming verse, it doesn't have to rhyme, however. Humorous poetry is frequently fun because it causes us to look at even ordinary things in a different way. Like other poetic forms, the poetry may use literary devices such as repetition, simile, alliteration, or onomatopoeia creativly.

Chuck, a 16-year-old, in reviewing A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein said, "I really enjoyed reading the poems. Some of them just cracked me up laughing. I though that some of the poems were really touching. Some of the poems were nonsense, but I believe that some of them had to do with everyday problems." That's good poetry. If I'm selecting a poem for a child, rather than myself, I select poetry that the children have the understanding and language abilities required to "catch the humor." Nothing is more satisfying than providing children experiences which bring laughter.

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