RHYME TIME
April is National Poetry Month. It is also National Child Abuse Prevention Month, International Guitar Month, Keep America Beautiful Month, National Anxiety Month (do we actually need to designate a month in order to be anxious?), National Humor Month (okay, maybe having an anxiety month is really just a humorous joke), National Welding Month, National Garden Month and, last but certainly not least, Uh- Oh Month. Let's just stick with poetry for this column.

Poetry comes naturally to children. Most children's books are written in verse. Mother Goose was very often a child's first book before bookstores were on every street corner and the Internet was in every household. However, shopping at your local bookstore is still the way to go! Children are drawn to rhyming just like a nose is drawn to a rose.

Since children are already thinking in rhymes, it's a good time to reinforce that talent. Reading poems to your child is a wonderful activity that can take as long (an entire book) or as short (one poem) as your child decides. "Here's A Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry" collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters and illustrated by Polly Dunbar, is a large hardcover book that is a great present for any child. In fact, as an aside to you grandparents out there, Jane Yolen dedicates the book to her grandchildren! The book is split up into four categories: Me, Myself and I, Who Lives in My House?, I Go Outside and Time for Bed. The illustrations are whimsical and colorful. In Me, Myself and I, your child will be introduced to "The NO-NO Bird" who lives up in the Tantrum Tree. The illustration is a wonderful rendition of a toddler having a fit. That poem and illustration is worth the price of the book alone!

The good thing about this book is that it will inspire children to write their own poems. As a wonderful activity, read the poem titled "My Puppy," then write a poem about your own dog with your child. There are also poems about hamsters, chicks and cat kisses. Don't worry about writing a large tome to your family pet - have fun with it!

As your children grow, introduce them to more mainstream poets. Emily Dickinson's poems are very short and imagistic. If you want to make an entire weekend out of it, take the family to Amherst and visit Dickinson's home. Then read some poetry and get to know the poet behind the words.

Another form of poetry that is easy to introduce to children is the haiku. For all you people who used your English class to write notes to that cute girl or boy sitting three rows over, a haiku is a three line poem that does not have to rhyme. The only parameters are syllabic: the first line should have 5 syllables, the second 7, and the third 5. For instance, as I write this column my mind drifts to a perfect haiku that I could hear being espoused from the mouth of my two year old:
I want my bottle
Give it to me now
Or I will scream. waaaahhh! You get the picture?
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