Happy Birthday

Title: Happy Birthday
Poems Selected By: Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by: Hilary Knight
Publisher and date of Publication: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1991
Genre: Poetry, Picture Book
Age Range: K-2nd grade

Summary: This is a variety of different poems about birthdays and how exciting they are. Each poem has a different author. At the beginning, a little boy wakes up and it's his birthday and the whole book is a day long. It's all poems and they start at the beginning of the day and end at bedtime that night.

Respomse: I like this small book to use in lower elementary schools. There's not a lot to say about short poems like these but I think children would love to read them, especially on their birthday. The illustrations are bright and happy. All the poems rhyme, which is what I like and what small children are used to.

Teaching Ideas: I think it would be wonderful to use this book during the whole school year and read one poem on each student's birthday and maybe have each student write the poem and draw a picture. The birthday student could keep all the drawings. You could also revisit poetry each time you read a poem to review.