And The Green Grass Grew All Around: Folk Poetry From Everyone

Schwartz, Alvin.  1992.  And the Green Grass Grew All Around: Folk Poetry from Everyone.  Ill. Sue Truesdell.  New York: Harper Collins.  ISBN 0060227575

From near and far, from city and glen, from times forgot those not, And the Green Grew All Around reminds us all of our childhood taunts and chants, while helping us understand and explore the reasons folk poetry continues to manifest itself throughout the ages. 

Schwartz has collected an impressive variety folk poetry, and presents them in succession according to their theme.  Each chapter offers a new theme in an attempt to create order out of what often seems like silliness.  Folk poems about people, teases and taunts, work, and nonsense are just a few of the chapter headings. 

Where appropriate, bars of music are included to give the musically literate reader an idea of the tune to be used.  "Do You Ears Hang Low", for instance, is paired with the musical notes for Turkey in the Straw. 

The illustrations are scattered on each page to complement one or more of the highlighted poems.  The drawings are done in shades of gray with no other color, though, none is needed.  Sue Truesdell captures the simplicity of the folk poetry's roots while highlighting the complex subject matter with her humorous artwork. 

This book is structured in a way that the reader is led from one poem to another with little separation.  The drawings are often used to separate one poem from the next, and while it is fairly simple to tell by the structure of each piece which goes with which, the unobservant reader might follow the words directly into a new poem rather than a new stanza where only space separates.


In addition to the poems themselves, Schwartz offers detailed notes and source information, so the reader may more fully understand the place these folk poems hold in our society and hearts. 

"Read this outrageous volume before it is shelved; once the kids discover it, it will always be checked out." (School Library Journal/June 1992)

"A wonderful collection for reading, singing, and laughing out loud." (The Horn Book Review/July/August 1992)