Knock at a Star : A Child's Introduction to Poetry

by Kennedy, X.J.; Kennedy, Dorothy M.; Baker, Karen Lee

• ISBN13: 9780316484367
• ISBN10: 0316484369
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-09-01
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co

Summary

A collection of poems arranged in such categories as poems that make you smile, send messages, or share feelings; poems that contain "beats that repeat" or "word play"; and special kinds of poems such as limericks, songs, and haiku.

Table of Contents

What do Poems do?	p. 1
Make You Smile	p. 3
Crunchy	p. 3
Commas	p. 3
My Mother Took Me Skating	p. 4
Learning	p. 5
There Was a Man	p. 6
Algy	p. 6
The Termite	p. 6
Spring is sprung	p. 7
The Ceiling	p. 7
Miss McGillicuddy	p. 8
Knitted Things	p. 9
Getting Together	p. 10
Tell Stories	p. 11
A Peanut sat on a railroad track	p. 11
The Knowledgeable Child	p. 12
The Purist	p. 13
What Has Happened to Lulu?	p. 13
Coyote Blue	p. 15
But Only the Breeze ...	p. 15
The Outlaw	p. 16
A Story That Could Be True	p. 16
Mummy Slept Late and Daddy Fixed Breakfast	p. 18
John Henry	p. 19
Send Messages	p. 22
Before Starting	p. 22
Smokescreen	p. 22
Subway Rush Hour	p. 23
The Golf Links	p. 23
Spectacular	p. 24
Childhood	p. 24
Poor	p. 25
Raccoon	p. 26
Landscape	p. 26
A word is dead	p. 27
Oh, God of dust and rainbows	p. 27
Time to Plant Trees	p. 27
Share Feelings	p. 28
Christmas morning i	p. 28
And Stands There Sighing	p. 29
My Brother	p. 30
Leave Me Alone	p. 30
Look Out!	p. 31
Zimmer in Grade School	p. 32
Losing Face	p. 33
The 1st	p. 34
Listening to grownups quarreling	p. 35
Hide and Seek	p. 36
The Hurt Doe	p. 37
An Historic Moment	p. 37
Country School	p. 38
While I Slept	p. 39
Help You Understand People	p. 40
People	p. 40
Puerto Ricans in New York	p. 41
Narcissa	p. 42
The Knowing One	p. 43
The Park People	p. 43
Myrtle	p. 44
Two People	p. 45
Mama's Bouquets	p. 46
My Mother	p. 47
Dad	p. 48
Sundays	p. 49
Grandmother	p. 50
Start You Wondering	p. 51
Magnet	p. 51
Key Ring	p. 52
The Magical Mouse	p. 53
Daniel Boone	p. 53
The White Horse	p. 54
The Child on the Shore	p. 54
A Boat	p. 55
Winter Song	p. 55
Green Candles	p. 56
The Old Stone House	p. 57
What's Inside a Poem?	p. 59
Images	p. 61
Good Hot Dogs	p. 63
My Fingers	p. 64
September	p. 65
Bull snake rattle	p. 66
Surprise	p. 66
Waiting for the Storm	p. 67
Snowy Benches	p. 67
Peach	p. 68
Spruce Woods	p. 68
The Runner	p. 68
This Is a Night	p. 69
Earthy Anecdote	p. 70
Word Music	p. 71
Winter Ocean	p. 71
Saying Dante Aloud	p. 71
Flittermice	p. 72
The Skaters	p. 73
Rain	p. 74
Julius Caesar	p. 75
The pickety fence	p. 76
Mice Are Nice	p. 77
My Old Cat	p. 78
Stories	p. 79
Analysis of Baseball	p. 80
Football	p. 81
Beats That Repeat	p. 82
We Real Cool	p. 83
The Ostrich Is a Silly Bird	p. 84
Windy Nights	p. 85
Windy Nights	p. 86
Windshield Wiper	p. 87
I am Rose	p. 87
Canis Major	p. 88
Paleface	p. 89
The opposite of kite, I'd say	p. 89
My Half	p. 90
Blackberry Sweet	p. 90
Triolet Against Sisters	p. 91
Likenesses	p. 92
Fireflies	p. 92
Porch Light	p. 93
Child Frightened by a Thunderstorm	p. 94
The house-wreckers	p. 94
Wind and Silver	p. 95
Dreams	p. 96
Stars	p. 96
Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog	p. 97
The Horses of the Sea	p. 98
The Eagle	p. 98
Splinter	p. 98
Dry Winter	p. 99
Spill	p. 99
The Wind	p. 100
Word Play	p. 101
Sing Me a Song of Teapots and Trumpets	p. 101
In Just-	p. 103
My auntie	p. 104
Plant Life	p. 104
Song of the Pop-bottlers	p. 105
Chess Nut	p. 105
Crickets	p. 106
Did you eever, iver, over?	p. 107
Auk Talk	p. 107
Notice to Myself	p. 108
I Wave Good-bye When Butter Flies	p. 109
Special Kinds of Poetry	p. 111
Limericks	p. 113
A bridge engineer, Mr. Crumpett	p. 113
There was an old person of Skye	p. 113
Well, it's partly the shape of the thing	p. 114
How awkward while playing with glue	p. 114
April Fool	p. 114
A piggish young person from Leeds	p. 115
There was a young lady from Lynn	p. 115
There was a Young Lady named Rose	p. 115
There was a young lady of Twickenham	p. 116
There was an old man from Peru	p. 116
Blessed Lord, what it is to be young	p. 117
Takeoffs	p. 118
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!	p. 118
This is lust to Say	p. 119
Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams	p. 119
Clementine	p. 121
In a cavern, in a canyon	p. 121
Sing a Song of Sixpence	p. 122
Sing a Song of Subways	p. 123
We four lads	p. 123
Songs	p. 124
Riddle Song	p. 125
I Had a Little Nut Tree	p. 126
On Top of Old Smoky	p. 127
Blowin' in the Wind	p. 129
Show-and-Spell Poems	p. 131
The Dancing Bear	p. 131
You Can Talk About Your Hummingbirds	p. 132
The Sidewalk Racer	p. 133
Waterwheels in whirl	p. 134
Fury said to a mouse	p. 135
Seashells	p. 136
For a Quick Exit	p. 137
Concrete Cat	p. 138
Handsawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww	p. 138
Finders-Keepers Poems	p. 139
Gate	p. 139
Yield	p. 140
The lake was covered all over	p. 140
4-Way Stop	p. 141
Genuine Poem, Found on a Blackboard in a Bowling Alley in Story City, Iowa	p. 142
Haiku	p. 143
Ancient pool	p. 143
A bantam rooster	p. 143
Now the swing is still	p. 144
Out after dark	p. 144
Midnight sirens	p. 144
Tunnel	p. 145
The green cockleburs	p. 145
After weeks of watching the roof leak	p. 145
Bang! the starter's gun	p. 145
August	p. 146
Do it Yourself	p. 147
Writing Your Own Poems	p. 149
Ideas	p. 151
Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around	p. 151
Rope Rhyme	p. 152
That Old Haunted House	p. 153
On the one-ton temple bell	p. 154
Do It Yourself	p. 155
Afterword to Adults	p. 157
About This Book	p. 157
Encouraging Children to Like Poetry	p. 158
When Kids Write Their Own Poems	p. 161
For People Who Work with Groups	p. 163
Index of Authors	p. 167
Index of Titles	p. 169
Index of First Lines	p. 173
Acknowledgments	p. 176
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