Songs in Poetry Books for Young People

The link between songs and poetry is very close, with lyrics and poems sharing rhythm, rhyme, and emotional content. Singing songs and performing poems can also share similarities in maximizing the oral medium, incorporating musical or percussion instruments, and using gesture and movement. From lullabies to parodies, here are a few examples of songs, lyrics, and poems in book form.

            The list begins:

            Andrews, Julie and Hamilton, Emma Watson. Eds. 2009. Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies. Ill. by James McMullan. New York: Little, Brown.

Bates, Katherine L. 1994. O Beautiful for Spacious Skies. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Bruchac, Joseph. 1996. Four Ancestors: Stories, Songs, and Poems from Native North America. Mahwah, NJ: BridgeWater Books.

Bryan, Ashley. 1991. All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African-American Spirituals. New York: Atheneum.

Fox, Dan. Ed. 2003. A Treasury of Children’s Songs: Forty Favorites to Sing and Play. New York: Henry Holt.

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