Paula Kerns' Poetry Genre Choice: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems for Young People, Talking to the Sun by Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell

      Koch and Farrell have created a beautiful pairing of art from The Metropolitan Museum of Art with poems that parallel in meaning or theme.  It starts with ancient and primitive poetry and ends with modern poetry so students can see both poetry and art changing through time.  Sometimes the art chosen provides another perspective on the same topic.  I like how they included the dates both the poem and art were made.  Artwork includes Matisse, Van Gogh, Rousseau, Monet, Cassatt, Utamaro, Homer, Picasso and others.  Poets include Yeats, Wordsworth, Whitman, Carroll, DickinsonNeruda, Shakespeare, Federico Garcia Lorca and many more.  It is a great general exposure to both creative expressions and artists.  I value the double exposure possible through this treasure of a resource.  I can easily see transferring student art and writings into an anthology similar to this one.  The image rich book lends itself to aiding English learners.  Creating transmediation drawings from some of the poems would be a great extension.