Books for Adult New Readers A Readers A dvisory Resource for
Teachers, Librarians, and Readers Poetry Books Introduction All the elements necessary to learn how to read, and how to read well, are contained within poetry. Poetry uses rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, and repetition, all uses of language that help to reinforce the basic skills of reading, skills such as consonant and vowel sounds and sight words. But poetry offers so much more than just words to learn to read. Poetry offers its readers intense feelings, sharp images, new perspectives on the ordinary, a glimpse into the lives and imaginations of people weÂve never met, people just like us or vastly different from us. These are the kinds of experiences that make reading both meaningful and memorable. As Joel Conarroe says in the introduction to his book, Six American Poets, readers will find in poetry, Âthose flashes of insight, shocks of recognition, and feelings of well-being that transcendent art is capable of providing. The good news for new and developing adult readers is that Âtranscendent art does not need to be difficult. Indeed, much great poetry uses simple words, although never to express simplistic ideas. Anyone who has ever seen a winter moon on a cold, clear night will recognize Âthe slim curved crook of the moon tonight, described in Langston HughesÂs poem, ÂWinter Moon, just as any parent will understand the plaintive warning against discouragement of a mother to her son in HughesÂs line, ÂLife for me ainÂt been no crystal stair, from his poem, ÂMother to Son. | |
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