melissahoward's review against another edition
3.0
This particular edition is illustrated by Hilda Boswell.
itselv's review against another edition
رغم أن "ستيڤنسون" معروف بكتبه السوداوية والمعقدة كـ"جزيرة الكنز" و"الدكتور جيكل والسيد هايد" إلا أن هذا الكتاب مخالف تمامًا لذلك، يكتب "ستيڤنسون" أشعارًا يصور فيها لقطات من طفولته وطفولة جيله، ليس في محتواها أي شيء مدُهش لكنها ظريفة بالتأكيد، والأظرف كان رسومات "تاشا تيودور" التي زينت هذا الكتاب كاملًا؛ بحيث احتوت كل صفحة على رسمٍ يعكس موضوع الأبيات بجمالٍ لا يصدق! كانت من أظرف وأجمل مايكون، وقد أثار تأملها فيّ بهجة ومتعة محببة إلى قلبي.
على الرغم من كل ذلك، لم أنهِ قراءتها، ويعود السبب في ذلك لتوقعٍ مسبقٍ مني أنها ستكون غير ما كانت عليه فعلًا. لم أكرهها أبدًا، لكنها ليست ما أريد قراءته في الوقت الحالي، سأعود لها في المستقبل بإذن الله.
hyzie's review against another edition
This was something that was a favorite of mine as a child, so it was a nice nostalgic trip re-reading it as an adult.
I'm not generally a fan of poetry, but I enjoyed this quite a bit. The rhymes are pretty and I probably shouldn't really try to talk about poetry, because I have nothing to say on that front other than that.
My favorite poem is "The Swing," which my grandmother used to recite to me when she pushed me on the aforementioned object as a child, so it will always hold particularly fond memories for me.
In the end, this was a short but sweet trip down memory lane for me, and something I feel all children ought to be exposed to at some point.
ricksilva's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
Collection of rhyming verse for children by Robert Louis Stevenson. The subject matter is mostly childhood, play, dreams, and imagination, and many of the images are delightful. The rhymes are generally pretty good, and in some moments quite clever.
The last chapter consists of a set of poems directed at family members and one to his future readers in general.
Stevenson does a great job of invoking childhood games of make-believe with the occasional bit of fairy reference as well as many calls to adventure and travel, again mostly seen through a child's imagination. He also includes a wide selection of bedtime rhymes.
The rhymes do include a fair amount of images around colonialism, although to some extent this is a product of the time and place of writing.
As a celebration of imagination, this is a very heartfelt collection.
The last chapter consists of a set of poems directed at family members and one to his future readers in general.
Stevenson does a great job of invoking childhood games of make-believe with the occasional bit of fairy reference as well as many calls to adventure and travel, again mostly seen through a child's imagination. He also includes a wide selection of bedtime rhymes.
The rhymes do include a fair amount of images around colonialism, although to some extent this is a product of the time and place of writing.
As a celebration of imagination, this is a very heartfelt collection.
Content Warnings
Minor: Colonisation, Racism, and Racial slurs
jobinsonlis's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed the artwork in this particular edition and some of the poems, even though they were written for little children and I'm so old that my favorite part of the day is going to bed early and watching Columbo. When it comes to books like this, I always ask myself if I would read it to a child and I don't think I would with this one. Stevenson has written many things that I would recommend but some of these poems are pretty iffy and if I'm going to have a conversation about colonialism and racism with a child--which I should if I'm theoretically caring for this child enough to read to them--I'd rather have that conversation with a book that I actually enjoy. Although I'm not super-familiar with children's poetry so I would have to do a lot more digging before I had my perfect "read-this-to-a-kid" poetry book.
shannen_m's review against another edition
5.0
Are some of these poems problematic? Yeah dude. Are some of them also beloved from my childhood to the extent that I still remember parts of them by heart, and did reading them in a steady tone to my (recent recipient of surgery and currently recovering) dog chill him out? ALSO YEAH, DUDE.
Fuh-fuh-fuh-five stars and thank you RLS
Fuh-fuh-fuh-five stars and thank you RLS
quoth_chloe's review against another edition
3.0
Some questionable poetry in here but also some good ones.