Forget-Me-Nots: Poems to Learn by Heart

Former children’s poet laureate Hoberman compiles a broad range of poems for young readers—brief enough to invite memorization—from writers including Frost, Silverstein, Sandburg, Milne, and Grimes, among many more. The works are divided thematically into categories like “Sad and Sorrowful,” which features “Song” by Keats and “My Father” by Hoberman (“My father doesn’t live with us./ It doesn’t help to make a fuss;/ But still I feel unhappy, plus/ I miss him”); “Weather and Seasons”; and “Poems from Storybooks,” with excerpts from The Wind in the Willows, James and the Giant Peach, and The Fellowship of the Ring. Emberley offers cozy mixed-media cartoons, which warmly evoke the poems’ themes and images. A multidimensional and thoughtful cross section of verse with keepers on nearly every page. All ages. Agent: Gina Maccoby, Gina Maccoby Literary Agency. (Apr.)