This delightful collection introduces readers to fifteen poems that each tells a story. From Clement C Moore’s A Visit From St. Nicholas (a/k/a ’Twas the Night Before Christmas) to a retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Roald Dahl the reader will find a wide variety of subjects. I found a few old favorites
Listen my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere …
And more that I’d never read before (Merlin and the Snake’s Egg for example).

Each story poem is introduced by a current-day popular children’s author (Michael Murpurgo and J K Rowling among them). The volume is gloriously illustrated by Peter Bailey, Sian Bailey, Carol Lawson and Chris McEwan. All told, this is a lovely way to introduce children to the joys of poetry.
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This book is a collection of 15 child-friendly poems by various authors of different time periods. Each poem is also distinct from another in the sense that one may be heroic whereas another is cautionary or humorous. I especially enjoyed how the poems all told tales that any one could relate to or told a story from another’s perspective. In his retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Roald Dahl tells the story from the mother bear’s perspective and ends his tale with the mother bear claiming that she would have told her young to eat Goldilocks up if she had the chance. I like that the poems in this book encouraged its readers to take on the perspectives of others who are very different from themselves, especially Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara. Many of the poems in this book, including Okara’s, is about how people gradually exchange their innocence for dishonesty as they pass through the years. Gabriel Okara ends his poem by having the narrator express his desire to return to his innocence: “So show me son, how to laugh; show me how I used to laugh and smile once upon a time when I was like you.” Once Upon a Poem by Kevin Crossley Holland is a heartfelt and humorous collection of child friendly poems by various poets of very different times. ( )

What a wonderful compilation of poems. There are so many great stories told - behave or else, American history, love, family, honor, friendship and death. ( )

This book has many longer poems, ones that tell stories. These would be a fine change from the usual narrative read-aloud teachers do.

A mixture of poems that speak to the human spirit such as humor, fear, fantasy, love. I loved the poem by Roald Dahl and showing how Goldilocks is a robber and a thief. The poem by W.H. Auden sent chills down my spine. It also contains Edward Lear's sequel to the Owl and the Pussycat, The Children of the Owl and the Pussycat. I loved the illustrations and the how a famous storyteller explains how these poems are important to them.