There is no description on the book cover.
James K. Baxter is New Zealand's most well-known poet. If you search for him on Google, up comes black and white photos of an unkempt man with a long shabby beard. Baxter died in 1972 in a commune at the age of only 42. This is how he is often remembered - the controversial writer and poet who rallied against society for the poor.
At one stage though, in his twenties, he was a school teacher and due to need, he wrote a series of poems for his students. In the introduction to The Tree House, he writes
"Some years ago I was working as a teacher at a school in the Hutt Valley. The ages of the children in my class ranged from seven to nine... and while they were lively, sociable children, patiently ready to instruct any adult in the art of living, they were not so patient with my own attempts to instruct them in other matters. My sympathy lay with them; but there were 'problems of control'... Some answer had to be found; and these jingles, rhymes, and poems made to be spoken, were part of a possible answer."
After he finished teaching, the poems were set aside, but towards the end of his life, Baxter's publisher asked him to revise the poems and they were published into this small book - two years after his death.
I think this little poetry book is worth hunting down and adding to your library. Baxter's children's poems are amusing and delightful to read.
There are three sections in the book - Grasshopper Green, John and Judith and Billy and Me, Where Rivers Tumble. Each poem's level of language and length increases in difficulty with each section.
There are plenty of copies of this poetry book around in secondhand bookshops. I found it in the poetry section, not the children's section though. It's not the best quality book with just a glue binding and a simple cardboard cover.
An alternative option would be the picture book of James K Baxter's Poems compiled and illustrated by Eleanor Fearn. Though not complete, it does have 18 poems and full-colour beautiful illustrations. If you see this edition, I would grab it as it is a high-quality book and the pictures are great.
If you want to read good New Zealand poetry to your children, then James K. Baxter's poems for children are an excellent place to start. His poem captures the essence of what it means to be a child in New Zealand. They flow from the tongue and remain in the mind like good delicious thought lollies. Don't be put off by the poet's controversial reputation. He was a gifted poet and when he wrote poems for his young class, they were innocent, full of wonder, and captured the children's imaginations. I highly recommend this book.
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