All the Small Poems and Fourteen More gathers all four of Valerie Worth's small poetry children's books and includes the original illustrations by Natalie Babbitt, the award-winning writer/artist of Tuck Everlasting.
Inspired by her love of nature, Valerie Worth's wondrous verse about animals, plants, and other everyday objects presents a perfect perspective of the world through a child's eyes.
This volume includes
Small Poems,
More Small Poems,
Still More Small Poems, and
Small Poems Again.
Valerie Worth (1933-1994)
Acclaimed poet Valerie Worth was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in nearby Swarthmore, where her father taught biology at Swarthmore College. The family then moved to Tampa, Florida, and Bangalore, India, where they lived for one year. Valerie returned to Swarthmore to attend college, graduating with an English degree and High Honors. Shortly thereafter she married George Bahlke, a fellow Swarthmore graduate. After settling in Clinton, NY, Valerie met Natalie Babbitt at Kirkland College, and Natalie began to illustrate Valerie's work, starting with
Small Poems in 1972. Three more volumes followed:
More Small Poems (1976);
Still More Small Poems (1978); and
Small Poems Again (1986). All four volumes were issued in a single paperback,
All the Small Poems (1987), and seven years later,
All the Small Poems and Fourteen More was released and was then followed by a paperback edition in 1996. In 2002, FSG posthumously published
Peacock and Other Poems by Valerie Worth, with pictures by Natalie Babbitt, a collection of 27 poems which
Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, said "heralds the joy of words."
School Library Journal, in a starred review, declared that "[Valerie Worth's] work gives children something to admire and aim for."
Valerie Worth was honored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in 1991 with its Poetry Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, which acknowledges a body of work.
Artist and writer
Natalie Babbitt (1932-2016) is the award-winning author of the modern classic
Tuck Everlasting and many other brilliantly original books for young people. As the mother of three small children, she began her career in 1966 by illustrating
The Forty-Ninth Magician, written by her husband, Samuel Babbitt. She soon tried her own hand at writing, publishing two picture books in verse. Her first novel,
The Search for Delicious, was published in 1969 and established her reputation for creating magical tales with profound meaning.
Kneeknock Rise earned Babbitt a Newbery Honor in 1971, and she went on to write--and often illustrate--many more picture books, story collections, and novels. She also illustrated the five volumes in the Small Poems series by Valerie Worth. In 2002,
Tuck Everlasting was adapted into a major motion picture, and in 2016 a musical version premiered on Broadway. Born and raised in Ohio, Natalie Babbitt lived her adult life in the Northeast.
