Poetic City: Sky Scrape/City Scape

Sky Scrape/City Scape: Poems of City Life is a collection of poems curated by Jane Yolen. Yolen includes several of her own poems but Langston Huges, Lucille Clifton, Leland B. Jacobs, Eve Merriam and many others. As you would except, the poems range in length and style and since they are (for the most part) arranged a few per page, parents can choose to read all of the poems or choose one at a time.

Poem subjects range all over the city from graffiti to subways to street cleaners and even the city dump. Yolen has chosen poems that are lively and positive. The poems make you excited about the city.  Many children's books end with some sort of ode to bedtime and Yolen chooses Norma Farmer's "Manhattan Lullaby," in which "city children sleep,/ lulled by rumble, babble, beep." It is a good choice.

Although the illustrations and some of the poems are obviously inspired by New York, it is not a collection which exists solely for residents of that city. Ken Conlon's chalk and oil pastel illustrations add color and vibrancy and successfully complement the lively poems.

If you like poetry, is a good selection for read aloud time.

Want More?
Visit Jane Yolen's website.
Read other city poems in A City Is and City I Love.

Big Kid says: Read the subway one again.
Little Kid says: Bus! Bus!