Product Description

Inspired by William Blakes Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, this delightful collection of poetry for children brings to life Blakes imaginary inn and its unusual guests.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #245146 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-01
• Released on: 2001-01-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 48 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The Newbery Medal-winning, Caldecott Honor book about an imaginary inn belonging to William Blake, where remarkable guests are attended by an even more remarkable staff. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
The Newbery Medal-winning, Caldecott Honor book about an imaginary inn belonging to William Blake, where remarkable guests are attended by an even more remarkable staff. Ages 4-8. (Publishers Weekly )

Tigers, cats, bears and a visionary poet frolic through this magical book, which received both a Newbery and a Caldecott honor. (Children's Literature )

Blake Leads A Walk On The Milky Way Blake Tells The Tiger The Tale Of The Tailor Blake's Wonderful Car Delivers Us Wonderfully Well Epilogue The King Of Cats Orders An Early Breakfast The King Of Cats Sends A Postcard To His Wife The Man In The Marmalade Hat Arrives The Marmalade Man Makes A Dance To Mend Us A Rabbit Reveals My Room The Sun And Moon Circus Soothes The Wakeful Guests The Tiger Asks Blake For A Bedtime Story Two Sunflowers Move Into The Yellow Room When We Come Home, Blake Calls For Fire William Blake's Inn For Innocent And Experienced Travelers The Wise Cow Enjoys A Cloud The Wise Cow Makes Way, Room, And Believe (Poem Finder® Table of Poems )

Ingram
A collection of poems describing the curious menagerie of guests who arrive at William Blake's inn.

Customer Reviews

FANTASTICAL SALUTE IN VERSE
Readers, here is your chance to be transported to a world of poetic delights, inspired by "the fearful symmetry" of William Blake's writings. Author Nancy Willard interprets his poems in the marvelous 'stage setting' of "William Blake's Inn"...an imaginary, very British hostelry. It is inhabited by a "man in the marmalade hat" and the King of Cats who breakfasts among the chimney pots of London.

Willard's own verse does cartwheels, lifting the reader out of stodginess into the stratosphere of Imagination - or at least as high as those London roof tops pictured by Alice & Martin Provensen. Their award-winning artistry beckons readers to cut the ties of convention and truly accept fantasy in color and phrasing...Explore the stars while "Blake leads a walk on the Milky Way" and enjoy the sunflowers that "took root in the carpet where topaz turtles run."

This book says "ENJOY" and I say Thank You, Nancy Willard, for the world you have revealed to us in your FIVE ***** BOOK! To rephrase your words: "If WE should dream before WE wake, may WE dream of William Blake."

You must be this old to understand this book
In this book, the author has written a collection of poems about William Blake and a magical inn he runs. This book was read to me when I was a child and I hadn't felt any need to look at it since. This is probably due to the fact that as a kid I just couldn't get into the story. Hoping to see what my nine year-old self couldn't, I decided to give Ms. Willard another go. Rereading it now, I can see where my frustration came from. The plot is very loose, the poems nice but unconnected, and the pictures beautiful but flat and without motion. Frustrations I experienced as a child included things like seeing the Man With a Marmelade Hat illustrated with a hat that clearly wasn't the color of marmelade. Also, I was quite certain that the poems in the book MUST have been written by Blake. Confusingly, they are actually written by the multi-talented Nancy Willard with nary a Blake quote in sight. Though a winner of both the Newberry Medal and a Caldecott Honor, I get the feeling that this is a book that adults would enjoy much more than children. Undoubtedly there will be some children out there that prove me wrong. But I feel this book is meant to be read by adults for adults. It is beautiful and nice to look at. Just make sure you're over 15.

great book for children
William Blake (whose poetry this book mirrors) runs an inn where we meet angels, rabbits, tigers, a host of interesting characters. It's a great introduction to poetry for the youngest of children. The illustrations are quaint and fit this book perfectly. I can see why it has won the awards it has.