Now available again, this enchanting collection of 50 great poems continues to inspire with pleasure and wonder— a perfect gift.
When a group of fifth-grade students asked fifty celebrities what their favorite poem was and why, the answers they received became a beautiful collection of some the world’s most beloved poems, from classic to modern, that continues to offer inspiration, solace, wisdom, and amusement. Each poem is accompanied by the celebrity’s brief letter explaining why they chose it and its resonance for them.
Among the celebrities are Yo-Yo Ma, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen Sondheim, Allen Ginsberg, Angela Lansbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Harolyn Blackwell, Isabella Rossellini, Bill Irwin, E. L. Doctorow, David Mamet, Elie Wiesel, Ally Sheedy, Ved Mehta, Tom Wolfe, David Dinkins, and Susan Minot. The poets include Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, Alice Walker, Mary Oliver, Frank O’Hara, Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, W. B. Yeats. and John Keats — not to mention Noel Coward and a ditty by David Mamet himself! Anna Quindlen and verse from Pulitzer Prize – winner Yusef Komunyakaa provide a thoughtful introduction.
Royalties from this collection have been donated to charity since its original publication.
Author Biography:
Anna Quindlen is the bestselling author of novels and nonfiction titles including Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting, Still Life with Breadcrumbs, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake,A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Miller's Valley,Black and Blue, and Object Lessons. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for her New York Times column "Public and Private.'" She lives with her husband in New York.
The Nightingale-Bamford School is an independent K–12 girl's school, founded in 1920 by Frances Nicolau Nightingale and Maya Stevens Bamford and located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
