Orangutan Tongs: Poems to Tangle Your Tongue by Jon Agee.

A great mix of tongue twisters and poems, this book is such fun to read!  Agee creates silly poems that will have your tongue either dancing in delight or knotted in despair.  That is if you can even get through the lines without giggling.  There are classic twisting combinations like Unique New York but others look so very innocent until you attempt them. 

Agee is a master at word play and that is clear in this book of poems.  If you have a group of kids who claim not to enjoy poetry, this is a great glimpse into one part of the wide-ranging world of the poem that they are guaranteed to enjoy.  Agee’s simple illustrations add a nice dimension to the poems, but the words are the star here.

This book will be enjoyed by any child who can read on their own because everyone wants to give the poems a chance to dance on their own tongues.  Delightful fun for the whole family.  Appropriate for ages 5-9.

Rhymes Round the World by Kay Chorao

Take a trip around the world through children’s poetry in this new book from Chorao.  The short poems and rhymes are just the right length to read to very small children.  Chorao’s signature illustrations are gentle, filled with smiles and bright colored.  The children shown are all colors themselves, celebrating the world through both the words and pictures.  Poems range from Mother Goose to Italy to Israel to Russia to Japan.  Each poem is nicely identified by author and country.  Here is a nice one for spring from the book:

Slip on Your Raincoat

Slip on your raincoat,

Pull on your galoshes;

Wading in puddles

Makes splishes and sploshes.

-Anonymous

Because of the gentle feel, short length of the poems and the bright colors, this is a perfect book to share with toddlers and preschoolers who are loving Mother Goose.  This is serve to nicely broaden their rhymes in a multicultural way.  A lovely book that would also make a wonderful baby gift. 

Appropriate for ages 2-6.