Poetry Friday: The Naughtiest Children I Know
Friday, January 8th, 2010The other day I caught myself chastising my daughter for not being grateful when receiving a gift. I said something to the effect of, “You need to learn about gratitude.” As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth, I felt like a Victorian school marm. Indeed, as Anne Harvey, editor of the poetry collection The Naughtiest Children I Know (illustrated by Harry Horse, published by Red Fox, 2000) points out in her introduction, Victorians “were rather keen on doling out warnings and reminders and strong punishments.” Don’t touch! Don’t Look! Don’t Move! Have you washed your hands? etc. etc. Old litanies, but still — dare I say it? – in common use.
The poems in “The Naughtiest Children I know” are an amalgam of poems about children and vice. They are meant, as Harvey says, to delight rather than to ‘sternly warn.’ Many of the poems are cautionary tales that will make you laugh or nod in agreement; some kids do get their comeuppance (Alonzo Never-shut-the-door is burglarized by a burglar who ironically shuts the door as ‘good burglars always do.’) while others just carry on. The poems are arranged alphabetically with titles that often refer to the naughty child by name such as “Alice who had a bad habit of throwing things” or “Humphrey Hughes of Highbury” (whose mischievous vice is taking books out of the library and letting them go overdue so that his mother can pay the fine!) or “Zachary’s Progress.” At the back of the book is a delightful “Alphabet of Horrible Habits” which features children with names beginning with each letter of the alphabet and their vices.
It’s all too easy to take a “high-and-mighty” tone as a parent, I find, so reading these poems was liberating. Bad habits and vices — don’t we all have a few? This book pokes fun at those vices in a way that children can relate to as well as parents.
This week’s Poetry Friday host is Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
