Goodnight Gorilla Getting You Down?

I've got nothing against classics like Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Gorilla, Guess How Much I Love You, etc.  (okay, maybe I do, a little), but it only takes one reading for an adult with an adult-sized need for intellectual stimulation to get really, really bored. I'll do just about anything for my son though, so they stay in the rotation night after night. However, it occurred to me the other day that I have still have some control over the situation. Yes, I am the mom! He is the child! That means I get at least 16 more years, give or take a couple years, of pulling out the Mom Card (i.e., I get to permanently say Goodnight to the gorilla and moon as I shove them in the back of a drawer, and encourage my son to obsess about other, more stimulating titles). 

If you are looking for a way to read to your child but keep things fresh and stimulating for yourself at the same time, try Mary Ann Hoberman out for size, a well-loved and well-respected poet after a child's own heart, who also appeals to adults because of her command of the English language and ingenuity in twisting and turning it surprising, wacky, and inventive ways.  Everyone knows Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss, but Hoberman, selected by the Poetry Foundation to be Children's Poet Laureate in 2008 for a two year term, also has an impressive bibliography spanning decades to entertain both you and your children for years to come. Check out the sampling below.  If your mouth doesn't have fun trying to get through each poem, then I've got nothing for you.

Mayfly, by Mary Ann Hoberman

Think how fast a year flies by
A month flies by
A week flies by
Think how fast a day flies by
A Mayfly’s life lasts but a day
A single day
To live and die
A single day
How fast it goes
The day
The Mayfly
Both of those.
A Mayfly flies a single day
The daylight dies and darkness grows
A single day
How fast it flies
A Mayfly’s life
How fast it goes.

Fish, by Mary Ann Hoberman

Look at them flit

Lickety-split

Wiggling

Swiggling

Swerving

Curving

Hurrying

Scurrying

Chasing

Racing

Whizzing

Whisking

Flying

Frisking

Tearing around

With a leap and a bound

But none of them making the tiniest

                                              tiniest

                                                 tiniest

                                                    tiniest

                                                       tiniest

                                                          sound