A Child's Garden of Verses

by Robert Louis Stevenson, Michael Foreman (Illustrator), Alexander McCall Smith (Foreword by)

Overview

So you may see, if you will look

Through the windows of this book,

Another child, far, far away,

And in another garden play.

First published in 1885, A Child's Garden of Verses is one of the best-loved classic poetry books for children ever written. The world-famous illustrator Michael Foreman complements these classic and beloved verses with illustrations as luminous and clear as Stevenson's own word pictures.

First published to mark the collection's centenary year of 1985, the book is now reissued in a finely-produced gift edition in hardback with imitation cloth binding, head and tail bands.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910959107
Publisher:	Otter-Barry Books
Publication date:	01/11/2017
Edition description:	Revised edition
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	5 - 10 Years

About the Author

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850–1894) is one of the most famous popular authors of modern times – he is ranked the 25th most translated author in the world, ahead of Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the novelist, poet and travel writer was the author of world-famous books such as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as well as this classic and much-loved children's poetry collection A Child's Garden of Verse.

MICHAEL FOREMAN has illustrated over 100 books by author such as William Shakespeare, JM Barrie, the Brothers Grimm, Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde, as well as writing and illustrating many of his own books. He has won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice, and has twice been nominated for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award. Some of his most famous books are: War Boy, War Game, Mia’s Story, One World and Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish as well as many classic story collections with Michael Morpurgo. Michael Foreman lives in London and Cornwall.

ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH, CBE is a British writer and Emeritus Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. In the late 20th century, McCall Smith became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on British and international committees concerned with these issues. He has since become internationally known as a writer of fiction, with sales of English language versions exceeding 40 million by 2010 and translations into 46 languages. He is most widely known as the creator of the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

Date of Birth:

November 13, 1850

Date of Death:

December 3, 1894

Place of Birth:

Edinburgh, Scotland

Place of Death:

Vailima, Samoa

Education:

Edinburgh University, 1875

Table of Contents

TO ALISON CUNNINGHAM
I. Bed in Summer
II. A Thought
III. At the Sea-Side
IV. Young Night Thought
V. Whole Duty of Children
VI. Rain
VII. Pirate Story
VIII. Foreign Lands
IX. Windy Nights
X. Travel
XI. Singing
XII. Looking Forward
XIII. A Good Play
XIV. Where Go the Boats?
XV. Auntie's Skirts
XVI. The Land ofCounterpane
XVII. The Land of Nod
XVIII. My Shadow
XIX. System
XX. A Good Boy
XXI. Escape at Bedtime
XXII. Marching Song
XXIII. The Cow
XXIV. Happy Thought
XXV. The Wind
XXVI. Keepsake Mill
XXVII. Good and Bad Children
XXVIII. Foreign Children
XXIX. The Sun's Travels
XXX. The Lamplighter
XXXI. My Bed Is a Boat
XXXII. The Moon
XXIII. The Swing
XXXIV. Time to Rise
XXXV. Looking-Glass River
XXXVI. Fairy Bread
XXXVII. From a Railway Carriage
XXXVIII. Winter-Time
XXXIX. The Hayloft
XL. Farewell to the Farm
XLI. North-West Passage
 1. GOOD NIGHT
 2. SHADOW MARCH
 3. IN PORT
THE CHILD ALONE
I. The Unseen Playmate
II. My Ship and I
III. My Kingdom
IV. Picture-Books in Winter
V. My Treasures
VI. Block City
VII. The Land of Story-Books
VIII. Armies in the Fire
IX. The Little Land
GARDEN DAYS
I. Night and Day
II. Nest Eggs
III. The Flowers
IV. Summer Sun
V. The Dumb Soldier
VI. Autumn Fires
VII. The Gardener
VIII. Historical Associations
ENVOYS
I. To Willie and Henrietta
II. To My Mother
III. To Auntie
IV. To Minnie
V. To My Name-Child
VI. To Any Reader

Alphabetical List of Titles
Alphabetical List of First Lines

Editorial Reviews

2017-09-18
A sumptuous reissue of the classic children's collection.First published in Great Britain in 1885, Stevenson's "Garden," Alexander McCall Smith tells readers in his enlightening new foreword, has been in print ever since. Given the privileged, white, colonialist perspective glimpsed in many of these 64 lyric poems, today's audience may wonder what gives this volume such staying power. Stevenson's nostalgia for the unfettered cares of childhood comes powerfully across throughout. Modern children may have a hard time envisioning his Victorian "Auntie's Skirts" as "they trail behind her up the floor, / And trundle after through the door." More problematically, his worldly vantage is shockingly dated at best: "Little Indian, Sioux or Crow, / Little frosty Eskimo, / Little Turk or Japanee, / O! don't you wish that you were me?" But Stevenson's ability to craft and describe other realms still soars, demonstrating that the imagination can transport one out of anything—illness, boredom, even loneliness. His crisp depictions of winter, causing "tingling thumbs," and appreciation of the childhood hardship of having to go to bed in summer "When all the sky is clear and blue," invite children of any age to "look / Through the windows of this book," and "in another garden, play." Vistas real and imagined blossom again in Stevenson and Foreman's caring hands—but caregivers will want to choose the blooms they share with care. (Poetry. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews

This 'Child's Garden' is a coffee-table book for children or the grown-ups who love them. (Boston Herald -- Sunday Edition)

From the Publisher