CLIMB INTO MY LAP by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Bibliography

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 1998. Climb into My Lap: First Poems to Read Together. Ill. Kathryn Brown. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780689807152

Critical Analysis

In this collection, Hopkins has assembled a variety of poems that will appeal to younger readers, especially those from pre-school age to grade 2. There are poems that may be familiar to adult readers such as “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll and those well known to all ages such as the traditional poem “This Little Piggy.” Most of the poems in this collection have a strong rhythm and rhyming structure that will appeal to the younger audience and be easily read aloud by adults as this book seems intended. The book is organized into eight categories that a younger audience will be able to relate to. For example, the book starts with poems in a section titled “Me!” In this section there are poems about topics such as brushing teeth and playing with a toy telephone. Another section titled “Some People” includes poems about people with whom a child could relate such as a grandma or a new baby brother. This is a great collection to get children interested in poetry from a young age and could easily be used in a home or classroom setting.

Example

In a classroom setting, I would use many poems in this book to make connections, both to self and to other texts. It so important for children to be able to connect their learning and see how those connections can extend their understanding. For example, I would use the poem “A Place of My Own” by Fran Haraway to make both self and text connections. It could be used first to talk about how we sometimes want to just be alone and not bothered by anyone. It could also be used to connect to the story “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” I would extend that text-to-text connection by having a discussion about the troll’s character traits in the story and how that would compare to how the character is feeling in the poem. I think it would be a great way to show how even the antagonist of a story has feelings and reasons behind those feelings.

A Place of My Own

Sometimes I’d really like to be a troll.

I’d sit under my bridge and watch the whole

River bank, the water, and the sky.

Rocks and ducks and rushes would be my

Private kingdom, never shared with others

Like billy goats, grown-ups, or little brothers!