Rhyme Stones.

Sylvia Pantaleo is an assistant professor of education specializing in
children’s literature at Queen’s University and the co-author of
Learning with Literature in the Canadian Elementary Classroom.

A table of contents lists the titles and page numbers of the six poems in the book. The poems vary significantly in their topics from spelunking to bullying to witches to feeling sad. Four different rhyming schemes are used for the poems: AABB, AABBA, AAABBB, and rhyming couplets. Most of the poems tell a story, and in some way all of the selections offer advice to children. Following each poem is either an interview with one of the characters from the poem or an informative section that provides further information on the topic of the poem.

Throughout the book there are black and white illustrations that vary in size, and many include humorous aspects that extend the text. The poems in the collection vary in quality and at times the rhymes lack sophistication and authenticity. The logic for including such disparate topics of poems in a collection is unclear. Further, the inclusion of references identifying the sources of evidence from which the facts have been drawn from or verified and/or recommendations for further reading on the topics would have enhanced the book. Not recommended.