What do you think of when you think of poetry?
Maybe rhythm and rhyme? Maybe free verse? Maybe limerick or haiku?
All of these are poetry, but there are also plenty more forms of poetry you may not be familiar with.
Let me introduce you to one I think you and your kids will enjoy.
The reverso was created by Marilyn Singer. The poems tend to tell a story, and they have just one rule. You must be able to flip it over and read the lines in reverse, often with a new meaning. The words in each line remain in order, but the punctuation may change. Confused? I’ve written a little sample reverso in the image for this post.
The artwork in these books does an amazing job of illustrating the split perspective of these poems.
I highly recommend reading these aloud with your kids to help them hear the difference in meaning (and you may want to pre-read in order to get it right).
These amazing books are best enjoyed by kids seven and older since they’ll be able to decipher the meaning better (especially if they are reading along with you).
These books are absolutely worth adding to your home library.
What is your favorite book of children’s poetry?
I’ve never heard of these books and will check them out! I just included another one of her poetry books “A Stick is an Excellent Thing” in a post I wrote today!
Ooo, I’ll have to check that one out! Sounds like a fun theme for a poetry book 🙂
We just check out “Mirror Mirror” a few weeks ago! My 8-year old definitely got the most out of it–well, besides me. I really got a kick out of how clever it was!
Glad you (and your 8-year old) enjoyed it! 🙂 Definitely check out the other two!
I don’t think I have heard of this type of poem before. It looks really interesting! I’m visiting from #LMMLinkup! Blessings to you!
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I just got Echo Echo out of the library — it looks like such a cool book! Thanks for this great post highlighting these books!
Thanks, Beth! I’d love to hear what you think of Echo Echo. 🙂
I love the poetry of Shel Silverstein. 🙂 Thanks for linking up with us at the #LMMLinkup.
Shel is one of my favorites! 🙂
Sounds like fun for kids! Visiting today from #LMMLinkup
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We had not yet seen Echo Echo! My middle son is going to love that book. We really enjoyed these reverso poem books and he just loves anything about Greek Myths. Heading to our library’s page to request that right now! Thank you.
Sounds like Echo Echo is the perfect fit for him! My kids love anything Greek myth related too (but at least partially because they are half Greek!) 🙂
Hi Carolyn! This book looks so wonderful. I keep seeing it here and there and it strikes me as really unique. It’s a bit in between audience-wise for my preschool son and middle school daughter, but I’m just going to have to read it for myself! 🙂
My daughter is nearly 11 and really likes the reverso books, so you might be surprised! I think older kids get the perspective change better. 🙂