Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Child's Garden of Verses
    A Child's Garden of Verses
    A Child's Garden of Verses
    Ebook146 pages35 minutes

    A Child's Garden of Verses

    By Myrtle Sheldon and R. L. Stevenson

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJan 1, 1948

    Related to A Child's Garden of Verses

    Related ebooks

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Nesting Instincts

      Apr 8, 2021

      Nesting Instincts
      6 min read

    • Article

      How Writing Began from to Alphabet

      Oct 1, 2022

      How Writing Began from to Alphabet
      1 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Party!

      Nov 1, 2023

      Let’s Party!
      1 min read

    • Article

      Doodlebug & Dandelion

      Jan 1, 2021

      Doodlebug & Dandelion
      3 min read

    • Article

      Nosy News

      Apr 1, 2021

      Nosy News
      1 min read

    • Article

      A Mole In A Hole

      Mar 1, 2021

      A Mole In A Hole
      1 min read

    • Article

      Dream Home for Earthworms

      Apr 1, 2022

      “What’s in your pocket, Oscar?” asked Rosie. “Did you catch another toad?” Mom came out of the garage, a pot of zinnias in each hand. “Oh, Oscar. Please be careful! I don’t want any of your little friends ending up in the washing machine!” Oscar rea

      3 min read

    • Article

      How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?

      Jul 1, 2020

      How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?
      3 min read

    • Article

      Pack Horse Librarians

      Oct 1, 2022

      Pack Horse Librarians
      1 min read

    • Article

      Up, Down, Up Win!

      Sep 20, 2021

      Up, Down, Up Win!
      1 min read

    • Article

      Take a Deep Breath

      Mar 1, 2021

      Take a Deep Breath
      1 min read

    • Article

      Doodlebug & Dandelion Fantastic Foodies

      Feb 1, 2024

      Doodlebug & Dandelion Fantastic Foodies
      3 min read

    • Article

      Per Gynt

      Oct 6, 2021

      Per Gynt
      3 min read

    • Article

      Born To Be Wild

      Jan 4, 2023

      Born To Be Wild
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Spaces In-between

      Jul 15, 2020

      We were just off South Cape when a voice came out of the long-wave radio and announced that Tasmania had closed its borders. Everyone stopped moving. Eyes like plates, jaws dropped to the floor. Coffee mugs suspended mid-flight. The whole catastrophe

      3 min read

    • Article

      Dust Horizon

      Aug 19, 2019

      Dust Horizon
      8 min read

    • Article

      My Great Escape: Ballooning Over The Valley Of The Kings

      Feb 14, 2023

      IT WAS STILL dark when we left our Nile cruiser, and the coffee served to us on the colourful craft that ferried us to the west bank was very welcome. Sunrise happens fast in that part of the world and, as we gunned our way across the river, the sky

      2 min read

    • Article

      Until The Sea Closed Over Us And The Light Was Gone

      Jul 1, 2020

      —Dante, Canto XXVI But if the truth is dreamed of toward the morning—El Paso Although it was really last summer’s song,all this summer Despacito played on as slower then I turned myself to gazeupon Juarez. The summer everything hurts my eyes, a dozen

      6 min read

    • Article

      Mountain Time

      Jan 1, 2021

      In the air you don’t know who you are or where My own self feels it is in wind being born These are currents a man made one eighth of smokeless fire fears but chooses A path south from Anchorage to a Mountain House Ungovern the northern land to pass

      10 min read

    • Article

      Four Poems

      Sep 4, 2018

      In London. England. Who knows why?Perhaps this rumpled guyFrom central casting or a page of Dickens.He’s taking ordinary usTo haunts of the illustrious,Where even dull pulse quickens. A red felt hat’s dark fingered brim,Food-spotted vest are—him.A mo

      4 min read

    • Article

      Where A Giant Walked

      Dec 8, 2021

      MY visit to the Quantocks (A walking life, November 10) sparked many thoughts about poetry and landscape, among which A Shropshire Lad, A. E. Housman’s famous collection of poems, features large. I often quote from it when I speak about beauty, drawi

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tessa Castro

      May 3, 2023

      IN COMPETITION No 292 you were invited to write a poem called The Walk. How good and numerous were your entries. Congratulations to those printed below, each of whom wins £25, with the bonus prize of The Chambers Dictionary going to Anthony Young. I'

      2 min read

    • Article

      Triangle of Light

      Aug 25, 2022

      Triangle of Light
      10 min read

    • Article

      To The Mountains

      May 27, 2022

      To The Mountains
      5 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Sep 1, 2019

      Big boy blue, when you were borndid you weigh ten pounds, or a dozen? And were youthe color of a summer skytill your big lungs took your firstFebruary first breath? The fire,this morning, looks like hair, growingfast motion and writhing. When you wer

      2 min read

    • Article

      Jumping the Rails

      Nov 16, 2020

      Jumping the Rails
      4 min read

    Reviews for A Child's Garden of Verses

    4/5

    582 ratings45 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This was given to me in 1977 by my good friend Melanie from Pittsburgh, who was replacing one of the few books I owned in childhood. The illustrations have been seared into my memory since I was five. Robert Louis Stevenson's poems are just right for children to wonder and to love. More than forty years later, I have to say--Thanks, Melanie!
    • 4/5
      Most of these poems were timeless. They were written for and about children from the 1800's, but can apply to children in 2018. Examples include poems about bed time, playing, imagination, and adventures. That being said, there are some poems that are not culturally acceptable in 2018. I think that this book of poetry can be used as a great teaching tool. It is also a great chance to show students how far we have come.
    • 5/5
      Delightful, a classic
    • 4/5
      I remember owning an abridged version of this book as a child. I later located a copy of the complete version in a library to read. I just re-read the complete version. The poems are age appropriate for children, but I suspect many of them are a bit dated for today's children. Still many of the poems stand the test of time. The edition I read was from 1905 with illustrations by Jessie Willcox Smith. These are watercolor plates chosen to illustration some of the poems. Most poems are accompanied by line drawings as well.
    • 4/5
      A great collection of children's poetry.
    • 5/5
      Stevenson can not simply sit quietly on a shelf. His works beg to be lifted and opened for new worlds to discover. As a child, he was lonely and ill and many of the poems in this collection for children exude that sense of isolation.

      I'm sure everyone has their favorites, but mine was always THE LAMPLIGHTER. At my school in Melbourne, we would have a midday break of tea and biscuits, and my teacher would recite the beginning of this poem. It was Stevenson's ode to a world quickly changing, as electricity replaced gaslamps in the late 19th century.

      My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky
    • 5/5
      i loved this book when i was a child and i love it just as much now
    • 2/5
      These poems are whimsical and easy for children to relate to. It was easy to understand the subjects of the poems. This book would be appropriate for children in 4th grade and up.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the first books I read while I was still in grade school. It was part of the reading of Robert Louis Stevenson that made him one of my lifetime favorite authors. "I have a little shadow". I still have the copy of this book that belonged to my mother when she was a young girl.
    • 5/5
      This book is a must and I love Gyo's beautiful, child-like illustrations. "The Land of Counterpane" is a particular favorite- this is childhood as it is meant to be, not stuck in front of a television or attached to a device. Children and parents alike will be transported to a sleepier, gentler land.
    • 5/5
      A hardcover version of this collection of poems written by Robert Louis Stevenson over 100 years ago entertained me and my siblings when we were children, and this version, with its watercolor illustrations by Tasha Tudor, brought back many memories. Stevenson's poems were among the first for children, and are all about simpler times, when children sent model sailboats down rivers, played in the garden until the lamplighters came out at dusk, and played with toy soldiers for hours on end. I think that these poems would be wonderful to share with a class as a read aloud, and could be compared with what children do often nowadays for entertainment and play. Because most of the poems are fairly simple, this collection might also be a vehicle for introducing students to writing their own poetry.
    • 5/5
      While trying to get some semblance of order for my books, I found this rare gem. Copyrighted in 1900, the paper is older and semi glossy; the illustrations are simple and lovely. My copy is in poor condition, but none of the pages are missing.It was incredibly delightful to spend time savoring each delightful poem. While simply written, each sentence paints a lush portrait of serenity and reminds the reader of a childhood of dreams and time spent exploring through the imagination. Many of the missives contain images of night and sleeping. Here is one of my favorites:North-West PassageWhen the bright lamp is carried in,The sunless ours again begin;O'er all without, in field and lane,The haunted night returns again.Now we behold the embers fleeAbout the firelit hearth; and seeOur faces painted as we pass,Like pictures, on the window-glass.Must we go to bed indeed? Well then,Let us arise and go like men,And face with an undaunted treadThe long black passage up to bed.Farewell, O brother, sister, sire!O pleasant party round the fire!The songs you sing, the tales you tell,Till far to-morrow, fare ye well!
    • 3/5
      A Child’s Garden of Verses (Ages 4-8) by Robert Louis Stevenson is an unabridged collection of 61 poems evoking the world and feelings of childhood based on Stevenson's earliest memories. The anthology includes seasonal verses, bedtime rhymes, and poems of make-believe adventures, as well as an index. The illustrations are antique pictures by twenty well-known children's book illustrators, published between 1896 (Charles Robinson) and 1940 (Ruth Mary Hallock) and include Jessie Willcox Smith, Henrietta Willebeek Le Mair, and Willy Pogany's enchanting cover/end papers. Most of the art work has more sentimental appeal to adults and may be less captivating to children. Perhaps since these poems are perennial classics, they do come off as clichéd and patronizing, approaching childhood by looking down on it in a sentimental and nostalgic way. The rhyme of many of the poems sounds contrived and cloying, and the rhythms can soporific in their monotony. Thus, A Child’s Garden of Verses is one of those classic poetry anthologies adults think children should read, but probably will have limited appeal for its young readers.
    • 4/5
      I enjoy this book more than the rating would imply. I had an abridged copy that I read for years, and this is my first crack at a larger version with different illustrations and more poems. I would say how much one enjoys this book is dependent on personal taste. The poems are calm, for the most part, and the settings are largely pastoral and idyllic. Many of the poems are based on a child's observations of the world, and how it might change from different physical perspectives, or imaginary ones. This is a collection that ultimately encourages imagination. It's good reading for bedtime, or to a quiet or calm child that likes to read or think.
    • 5/5
      Over the years, I have heard a number of authors mention the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, and none were more impressive than the mention and admiration of the renowned poet, W.S. Merwin. In an interview a few years ago with Bill Moyers, he recounted how his mother read to him every night. He especially loved A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. I have been coveting a copy of this collection for some time, but somehow, other things always got in the way. While wandering through the offerings of Amazon, I came across a copy illustrated by none other than the marvelous children’s book illustrator, Tasha Tudor. The book arrived today, and I dropped everything to read it aloud, as Merwin suggested. Some of these poems sounded vaguely familiar, although I cannot recall my mother reading me any poetry. She liked stories, and so did I.This simple and endearing collection is a wonderful way to introduce children to the magic and beauty of poetry. Here is an example of one I vaguely remember from my childhood, “Bed in Summer”:In winter I get up at nightAnd dress by yellow candle-light.In summer, quite the other way,I have to go to bed by day.I have to go to bed and seeThe birds still hoping on the tree,Or hear the grown-up people’s feetStill going past me in the street.And does it not seem hard to you,When all the sky is clear and blue,And I should like so much to play,To have to go to bed by day? (10).Another brief poem I especially liked was “Looking Forward”:When I am grown to man’s estateI shall be proud and very great,And tell the other girls and boysNot to meddle with my toys.” (18).Of course, I would make one minor change – the last word should now be “books.” Robert Louis Stevenson’s collection,A Child’s Garden of Verses is an enchanting source for reading to children and helping them understand the beauty and playfulness of verse. The delightful illustrations by Tasha Tudor, the renowned children’s book illustrator, only adds to the experience. 5 stars.--Chiron, 5/25/15
    • 5/5
      I'm glad I waited to review this one. I picked it up to read to my son, and his attention wandered, and he was just not up for it, and I was like "no wonder, Robert Louis Stevenson, your whole book is obviously aimed at Victorian grown-ups and their nostalgia for things like climbing trees and visiting the farm that baby Emmett hasn't even experienced yet." But my mum kept telling me how much I loved this book when I was small, and we kept reading, and over nights Stevenson worked his weirding way on both of us: Emmett (as I fancy it--let's face it, he can't even talk yet) feeling himself into the poems through the big, splashy, soft-focus fairy-pictures with their blues and greens and weird perspectives and distant horizons (and the fact is, if he doesn't know yet from farms or trees or penny-cannons, there are a lot of things here that are already part of his everyday: blocks, the rain, the moon, his little shadow, bedtime. And if the prescriptive intent behind all the "nursie" and fairyland and "ships at sea" stuff can get a little cloying--English childhood is an English garden, practice for when English children will leave to conquer and catalogue and administrate the earth!--it is certainly not that Stevenson was an overt imperialist, merely a man of his times. And the ships speak to me too, and remind me to be vigilant to the ways in which children open the door for their parents to embrace conservatism via halcyon-days sentimentality. And in fact, the overt prescriptiveness can be charming: in 2015 we are already more than primed for a statement of creed like "kids love blocks," it has moved from cliché to archetype and needs the merest oblique mention to activate our frames around it. In 1885? The sentimentalization of children as a whole was a relatively new thing; and Stevenson's way of talking about blocks as though no one has ever talked about blocks before in the history of childhood has a courtly formality: "What are you able to build with your blocks?" his opening gambit in the elaboration of the highly moral thesis "blocks are a tool of the imagination." Like, every time I get to the poem about the enigmatic rider I have to remind myself that he's not a headless horseman (although this does, of course, postdate Ichabod Crane); today he would have to be to get the kids to put down the ipad and listen, and the HH has become in fact a stock character, familiar/lovable/entirely unremarkable/not even scary. The fact that a mere headful horseguy riding by night can conjure up a world of mystery feels so fresh and sincere and simple, like drinking cold water, and if I didn't manage to avoid the curmudgeonly ipad grumbling entirely in this review, I will just say that horseman–ipad–starry night sky, it's all equally as new to my boy.And the ultimate point here is that now the soft trundling doggerel of it is the only book he has that actually puts him to sleep and doesn't stir up the blood like Go Dog Go! and suchlike, and when you read to him from A Child's Garden he cuddles up and looks at the pictures and drifts away and he is happy.
    • 5/5
      Summary: A Child’s Garden of Verses is a book comprised of many different short children’s poems about childhood. In this book there are sixty-six different poems that children all around the world can relate to. Many of the poems are about nature, the world and fantasy play. All written by Robert Louis Stevenson, he retells the stories of his childhood in poem form. There are poems about seasons, imaginary characters, traveling, boats, planes, bedtime, animals, nature, family, etc.Comments (opinions/arguments):I find this book to be very wonderful and useful because it’s simple and beautifully illustrated. Although it’s simple, the poems have a lot of depth, meaning and relation to childhood. I really like that the author wrote a wide variety of poems, ones that could be realistic and ones that are imaginary. I think this book could be really fun for children who are learning about poems because it offers poems that are very short and simple, as well as ones that are longer and more complicated. I think this book could serve as a good guide for children learning to write their own poems. I also like that all the poems are about different aspects of childhood and that they’re grouped together in different chapters. The wide variety of poems about nature, family, travel, imagination and childhood are great for children to learn about the world around them. I think this books central message is to help children become more familiar with poem styles of writing and to encourage children to use their creativity and imagination.
    • 5/5
      This is a book of poems that is suitable for children in the early childhood level. Kids will love the catchy poems and colorful pictures in this book.
    • 3/5
      Whether your child has difficulty falling asleep, or wants to escape into fairyland, this book will satisfy all those desires. Short poems to amuse, long ones to lull and quiet; poems about singing, swinging, and travelling - everything a child does in his young life are detailed in these poems. The illustrations are simple, but give the poem just enough visual detail to entrance the listening child, or reading child. Colours are expressive, and reflect the mood of the poem. Sneaking robbers hush howling dogs and swings soar into the wild blue to join the birds.Though this set of poems might be a bit old fashioned nowadays, they still have merit in lives. There are still swings, windy nights, forests and jungles (real and imaginary) and there is always bedtime.
    • 5/5
      Who wrote, "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings"? Did you guess Robert Louis Stevenson? Poetry is not my favorite form of literature. However, Stevenson is one of my best-loved authors, and I have always liked his poetry because, unlike some other poetry that I have read, it makes sense to me. One of my favorites is “The Swing”:How do you like to go up in a swing,Up in the air so blue?Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thingEver a child can do! Of course, one would buy this edition of A Child’s Garden of Verses not only for Stevenson’s poetry (this is not a complete version but a newly revised selection) but also for Brian Wildsmith’s gorgeous, whimsical illustrations. Wildsmith, born in 1931 at the mining village of Penistone in Yorkshire, England, has been called one of the greatest living children’s book illustrators. Stevenson’s poems perfectly capture the make-believe imagination of childhood. What child has not pretended at one time or another that his bed is a ship sailing the wide seas? And Wildsmith’s stunning, colorful paintings perfectly capture the joyful childhood innocence of Stevenson’s poetry. While the language may be upper class Victorian England, the appeal is universal. This would make a wonderful book for a parent to read aloud while the child gazes at the pictures.
    • 4/5
      I love this edition - a Dover hardback with beautiful dark green cover, vellum-like dust jacket and red satin bookmark ribbon. Looking forward to enjoying these poems - naive and playful, though tinged with some ominous subtle melancholy.
    • 4/5
      A Child's Garden of Verses is the epitome of poetry for and about children. The imagination of a child grows wild and free among the pages. Hopes and fears are expressed as only children can. The sense of wonder and innocence resonates as reminders to all adults about how the world once was.
    • 4/5
      A great collection of poetry for young children.The artwork is also very delightful.
    • 3/5
      This is the perfect first poetry book to add to a child's personal library. The poems range from very short to page long, with focus on nature, fantasy, make-believe, and other fun activities of childhood.
    • 4/5
      4PAge range: 4-8 years.Radical Change: I don't think radical change applies to this book.Selected poem: "Foreign Lands" (p. 22)
    • 5/5
      This is a very lovely little book - the poems are very pretty rhymes that delight the ear. I loved these poems as a child, and continue to adore them as an adult. Ever so often I get a 'craving' to read them over again, and again. They are full of the magic and whimsy of childhood.The world is so full of a number of things,I'm sure we should allbe as happy as kings.Rating: 5/5 Recommended: these are beautiful poems to read aloud to your children - a word of warning, though, they were written in 1885 and two or three are inappropriate in today's more enlightened society. 'Foreign Children' in particular, is quite offensive, but it's easy enough to skip one or two pages and enjoy the rest of the book.  
    • 5/5
      An amazing author puts together amazing poems! This is a wonderful book for any aged reader & makes poetry very fun. Shows how beautiful poetry can be!
    • 4/5
      The poems mostly have to do with going off to imaginary lands, utilizing common things in a playful fashion, and enjoying the wonderous time of childhood while it lasts. It's all touched very heavily by nostalgia - I don't know anything about Robert Louis Stevenson's life, but it seems he really wanted his adult life to be simpler and less soul-destroying, ha ha. I think it's kind of funny how adults wax nostalgic about the simpleness of childhood; quite clearly children don't feel it's simple or wonderous very much of the time. ;)The illustrations by Gyo Fujikawa are also sweetly nostalgic, full of cherubic boys and girls, lush grasses, delicately pretty flowers, butterflies, and birds, etc. I think the artwork was originally published in the 1950's and you can tell - very emblematic of that time. Quite a lovely gift book; some classics could serve as read alouds during a storytime.
    • 5/5
      I love Child's Garden of Verses and have several copies with different illustrations. This one is one of my favorites with illustrations by George Trimmer. My favorites are The Cow, The Swing, The Land of Counterpane, and My Shadow.
    • 4/5
      This is a must have book for every library. I recently purchased one for my own. I had this book read to me over and over again as a child and was told not too long ago that it was one of my mother's favorites. If an adult can read something to a child "over and over" and still keep it as a favorite, it must be great- right? My favorite poem is still "how I love to go up so high on my swing..."

    Book preview

    A Child's Garden of Verses - Myrtle Sheldon

    Mz1^book_preview_excerpt.html}VoF WXq4ZαKɐ phVN;Ew'z_E"G2uFeZ0gjfC|h\2kZ5ݳlR\7Rj@l/fk\ɔ\Z.1ҨC@Zrȩ Պ`GJSûZ ሲ0"I,pV#73P%$݀6@[DA>Q9w 96)o26&G;{*A* m;C  pԸB譖\@r+R?{PFlM)q!Yv*ӹTs%ѧO?޽K2J./84Z\EkW_t6MzD o-(B+6:rp-L/r]rHSƙ%B}mk^Hnjuj"V3ڰ%Sʢ:C\}~|\ozʼ0]x8gAO-IiJ>Z$p .g].Gi4!e:(FI|fH!"E4yp ƣ@1McOAZLonG78}Q4 mgu2܍YKoB``ъ1ЭjD](-9MC _W-f扮k#j,GIvp?v:Lǐ"ow)%56/FideE@ܕ4`GӃeY Yq&*R Qy.*4& %V)ܩ8,=+[ C+hIT`tch+\ mY)"Ѩ4%^Z_ JY0S!+_mecyrZK%JЍ]S[T"P_V! < XxkT |6Z*:56ݓ9xY[@$B((h 1$HwrM ( Ump4\"q^yP } jxrpwjP!LnJQw;;׽PRWO C?AWF>ph^8B~>BOw-b^sNkz|i-ːqG6}ut?
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1