This addition to the Poetry Speaks series aims at middle-grade readers with more than 100 strikingly diverse poems by writers including Poe, Frost, Nikki Giovanni, and Sandra Cisneros. The works are slotted together in mindful thematic order, beside occasional spot art. In Rosellen Brown's untitled poem, she reflects, “Nothing. They are for nothing, friends,/ I think. All they do in the end—they touch
you. They fill you like music.” Just opposite, is Langston Hughes's “I Loved My Friend”: “I loved my friend./ He went away from me./ There's nothing more to say./ The poem ends,/ Soft as it began—I loved my friend.” Pairing a contemporary poem like Toi Derricotte's “Fears of the Eighth Grade” alongside Keats's “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be,” results in a refreshing lack of literary hierarchy that enables disparate works to build and reflect upon one another. An accompanying CD features recordings of 44 of the poems, and blank lined pages at the end allow readers to integrate their voices into the chorus. A sound and rewarding introduction to the joys of poetry. Ages 9–12. (Mar.)
