內容簡介
Here in one gloriously illustrated volume are 211 wonderful poems that represent the best this century has to offer. From sibling rivalry, school, monsters, food, and just plain silliness, to such ageless themes as the seasons, Who am I?, and the many moods of childhood, this is a collection that begs to be read aloud and shared with the whole family. The poems, from every decade of this century, showcase 137 famous poets.
Selected by Jack Prelutsky, America's leading children's poet, and illustrated by award-winning watercolorist Meilo So, this useful and beautiful gift is a splendid way to end the century -- or start a new one. Truly a book that families will cherish long after the millennium excitement is over, The 20th-Century Children's Poetry Treasury is a joyous companion volume to the best-selling The 20th-Century Children's Book Treasury.
作者簡介
For 30 years,
Jack Prelutsky’s inventive poems have inspired legions of children to fall in love with poetry. His outrageously silly poems have tickled even the most stubborn funny bones, while his darker verses have spooked countless late-night readers. His award-winning books include Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast, The Dragons Are Singing Tonight, The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, and The Beauty of the Beast
While attending a Bronx, New York, grade school, Prelutsky took piano and voice lessons and was a regular in school shows. Surprisingly, Prelutsky developed a healthy dislike for poetry due to a teacher who “left me with the impression that poetry was the literary equivalent of liver. I was told it was good for me, but I wasn’t convinced.”
In his early twenties, Prelutsky spent six months drawing imaginary animals in ink and watercolor. One evening, he wrote two dozen short poetry verses to accompany each drawing. A friend encouraged him to show them to an editor, who loved his poems (although not his artwork!) and urged him to keep writing. Prelutsky listened and he is still busy writing.
Jack Prelutsky lives on Mercer Island in Washington with his wife, Carolynn.
Meilo So's first collaboration with Jack Prelutsky was the ALA Notable Book
The Beauty of the Beast: Poems from the Animal Kingdom, of which
The New York Times Book Review wrote: "Meilo So does enchantingly unreal paintings: whimsical watercolors made with a wet-on-wet technique that preserves the spontaneity of her hand gestures. In very few brush strokes, she captures the essence of organisms from stallions to sea horses. Yet the images themselves are abstract, almost calligraphic pictograms." Her most recent book is
Tasty Baby Belly Buttons by Judy Sierra. Meilo So was born in Hong Kong and now lives in England with her husband, who is also an artist.
內頁插圖
精彩書評
Grade 1-6-This volume, described in Prelutsky's introduction as representative of the "scope and variety of children's verse produced in the twentieth century," contains 211 poems by 137 poets. Some are well known, such as Shel Silverstein, Karla Kuskin, and Prelutsky himself. Some have written mainly for adults, e.g., John Updike, Langston Hughes, and e. e. cummings. Lesser-known and more recently published poets, such as Janet Wong, Deborah Chandra, and Nikki Grimes, are included as well. The greatest number are from the United States. While all of these selections have been published elsewhere, the format and illustrations in this collection give them new life. Poems are presented in unlabeled small groups that cross each double-page spread. Some of these groupings are clearly understood from their content, such as those on the seasons or on insects. Others require readers to think about common threads or themes as they read and study the illustrations, such as the cluster of poems on ways of creating. In another grouping, Prelutsky pairs poems of bats and mice with a poem about creatures who see better at night, calling attention to their shared physical characteristics. So's watercolor illustrations are, by turn, impressionistic, childlike, silly, and serious, as called for by the tone of the poems featured. Sometimes the artist creates one unifying illustration across the spread, such as a cityscape at night that features all types of light found in the group of poems presented there. A splendid collection.
--Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
精彩書摘
"Where Are You Now?"
When the night begins to fall
And the sky begins to glow
You look up and see the tall
City of light begin to grow --
In rows and little golden squares
The lights come out. First here, then there
Behind the windowpanes as though
A million billion bees had built
Their golden hives and honeycombs
Above you in the air.
-Mary Britton Miller
穿越時光的文學迴響:一部二十世紀兒童詩歌選集的故事 引言:在文字的迷宮中尋找童年的迴音 本書旨在呈現二十世紀兒童詩歌的廣闊圖景與深遠影響,它是一次對過去百年間,那些為孩子們創作的、卻又超越瞭年齡界限的詩歌作品的係統梳理與深度解讀。我們不追求建立一個單純的“最佳”詩歌列錶,而是緻力於勾勒齣這一文學體裁在特定曆史時期內的演變脈絡、主題多樣性以及其對後世文學思潮産生的漣漪效應。 二十世紀,一個充滿劇變、科技飛速發展與社會結構深刻重塑的時代。兒童文學,作為時代精神的敏感接收器,其詩歌創作也經曆瞭一場深刻的革新。那些誕生於兩次世界大戰的陰影下、太空競賽的狂熱中、以及文化多元化浪潮中的詩篇,無一不摺射齣那個特定時代的復雜情緒與對未來的期盼。 本書的敘事綫索將圍繞幾個核心軸點展開:現代主義的衝擊、社會現實的介入、以及對純真想象力的迴歸。 我們將細緻考察那些標誌性的詩人及其作品是如何挑戰瞭維多利亞時代遺留下來的說教式、道德化的兒童詩歌傳統,轉而擁抱更自由的形式、更尖銳的觀察和更貼近兒童真實心境的語言。 --- 第一部分:黎明前的迷霧與形式的探索(1900-1930年代) 二十世紀伊始,兒童詩歌的土壤仍帶有前一個世紀的印記,但新的聲音已在醞釀。這一階段的詩歌創作,一方麵是對十九世紀經典(如愛德華·利爾的無厘頭和劉易斯·卡羅爾的邏輯顛覆)的繼承與緻敬;另一方麵,則開始謹慎地探索現代主義在敘事與韻律上的可能性。 我們首先關注那些將語言的音樂性推嚮極緻的詩人。他們如何利用新穎的節奏、重復的句式和略帶異域色彩的詞匯,構建齣既能安撫人心又充滿異想天開的內部世界?例如,在某些早期作品中,我們可以看到對“自然”的贊美,但這種贊美不再是簡單的田園牧歌,而是開始融入瞭對工業化進程中環境變化的微妙察覺。 技術上,一些詩人開始嘗試打破傳統格律的束縛,雖然仍處於探索階段,但已為後來的自由詩體奠定瞭基礎。這一時期的詩歌常常聚焦於日常的微小奇跡——窗外的麻雀、雨滴的形狀、一個被遺忘的玩具。這種對“微觀世界”的專注,是抵抗外部世界宏大敘事壓力的一種溫柔反抗。 重點分析:在這一階段,詩歌的插圖藝術與其文本形成瞭強烈的互文關係。書籍設計本身成為詩歌體驗不可或缺的一部分,我們探討這些早期齣版物如何通過木刻、水彩等媒介,共同構建齣那個時代獨有的視覺與文學的“童年美學”。 --- 第二部分:戰火中的低語與社會鏡鑒(1930年代-1950年代) 大蕭條和兩次世界大戰的陰影,不可避免地投射到瞭兒童文學的創作中。兒童詩歌不再能完全沉浸於純粹的幻想,它開始承擔起某種社會責任,盡管這種責任通常以隱喻或幽默的方式呈現。 這一時期的許多詩歌,其主題從對世界的贊頌轉嚮瞭對“不公”的微妙提及。詩人學會瞭如何使用雙關語和誇張的手法,在不直接觸碰敏感政治議題的前提下,錶達對貧睏、隔離或不平等待遇的關切。例如,一些詩歌通過擬人化的動物或奇特的角色,來諷刺成年人世界的荒謬邏輯。 語言的成熟:這一時期,詩歌語言的成熟度顯著提高。詩人不再僅僅滿足於押韻和節奏,他們開始深入挖掘詞匯的“重量”——一個詞語所承載的曆史、情感和潛在的衝突。對諷刺(Irony)的運用,成為區分這一代優秀兒童詩歌與平庸之作的關鍵標準。他們教導孩子如何“閱讀”隱藏在錶象之下的真實含義。 此外,隨著科學的進步,詩歌中開始齣現關於原子、宇宙和新發明的意象,這預示著兒童文學即將迎來一場與科學革命同步的想象力爆發。 --- 第三部分:想象力的爆發與主題的拓寬(1960年代-1980年代) 六十年代的文化解放運動深刻影響瞭兒童詩歌。這一時期的作品,標誌著兒童詩歌徹底擺脫瞭道德說教的枷鎖,進入瞭一個以“解放心靈”為核心的創作黃金期。 形式的徹底自由:自由詩(Free Verse)成為主流。詩人開始大量運用打破常規的排版、跳躍的意象和非傳統的句法結構,以模仿兒童思維的跳躍性、非綫性和爆炸性。詩歌不再需要“告訴”讀者什麼是對的,而是“展示”世界是如何被感知到的。 主題的深度挖掘:兒童詩歌開始正視並探討復雜的情感,如失落、憤怒、嫉妒和孤獨。這些情感不再被視為需要隱藏或糾正的“壞情緒”,而是被接納為成長的一部分。一些作品甚至大膽地觸及瞭傢庭結構的變化、多元文化認同的挑戰,以及個體在群體中的身份構建。 聲音的多元化:隨著社會對不同聲音的重視,來自少數族裔、不同性彆認同的詩人的作品開始進入主流視野。他們的視角為兒童詩歌注入瞭新的色彩和主題,例如對文化遺産的驕傲,以及對刻闆印象的反思。這種多元化不僅是內容上的豐富,也是語言風格上的革新,它證明瞭“兒童之聲”並非單一的、理想化的形象,而是由無數獨特的聲音構成的閤唱。 --- 第四部分:跨媒介的對話與後現代的迴響(1980年代末-2000年) 進入世紀末,隨著大眾傳媒和電子娛樂的興起,兒童詩歌麵臨著新的挑戰:如何在大眾娛樂的洪流中保持其獨特的文學價值? 答案在於元敘事(Meta-narrative)和對詩歌本身的戲仿。一些後現代主義傾嚮的詩歌作品,開始在詩句中直接討論“寫詩這件事”、“讀者是誰”或者“韻律的陷阱”。這種自我指涉(Self-Referentiality)不僅為詩歌增添瞭智趣,也挑戰瞭傳統文學的嚴肅性。 節奏的迴歸與更新:雖然自由詩盛行,但我們同時也觀察到一股對節奏和押韻的“有意識的迴歸”。這些迴歸並非簡單的復古,而是融閤瞭嘻哈文化、說唱音樂中的強勁節奏感與傳統詩歌的精煉,創造齣一種既現代又具有強烈口頭錶演性的新體裁。 信息與情感的平衡:在信息爆炸的時代,優秀的兒童詩歌學會瞭如何在不犧牲藝術性的前提下,巧妙地嵌入對環境、科技倫理的思考。這些詩歌如同精巧的“信息膠囊”,將復雜的觀念包裹在引人入勝的意象和節奏之中。 --- 結論:永恒的對話 二十世紀的兒童詩歌是一部不斷自我更新的史詩。它見證瞭社會變遷如何轉化為語言的創新,也展示瞭詩人如何堅守對兒童心靈深處那份原始好奇心和真誠的承諾。本書通過對這些作品的深入考察,希望揭示一個核心觀點:優秀的兒童詩歌,從來不是對成人世界的簡化,而是對成人世界進行復雜重塑和審視的獨特途徑。 它們是曆史的迴聲,是語言的遊樂場,更是我們理解一代人如何成長、如何夢想的珍貴檔案。