This collection is special because it unites poetry and children by offering a selection of poems chosen by kids from award winning NCTE poets.  The collection includes Aileen Fisher, Karla Kuskin, Myra Cohn Livingston, Eve Merriam, John Cicardi, Lilain Moore, Arnold Adoff, Valerie Worth, and Barbara Esbensen.  Each author has a small selection of poems, as selected by children.  Before each author's selection is a small quotation by the author on the craft of poetry and writing.  The end of the collection features each author, giving biographical information, information of interest to children (age, birthdate, number of children and pets), and quotations by the author on writing poetry, words, how they came to be writers, and the process of writing.

The samples of poems vary in subject matter and in style.  Each has something distinct to offer the young reader.  The poet Valerie Worth offers short poems on subjects such as dinosaurs, a lawnmower, and pebbles. Her poem Safety Pin offers an image of a safety pin as a silver fish sleeping quietly on its side.  Children will love the rhythm of the language in David McCord's poem about the picket fence:  "The pickety fence / The pickety fence / Give it a lick it's / The pickety fence."  The words not only have appealing sounds when read aloud, they actually have a distinct feeling as they come out of your mouth, giving the poetry life and making it exciting to the reader and listener.

Eve Merriam's poem Windshield Wiper is inventive in its choice of language and physical structure:  "Fog smog/ fog smog/ tissue paper/ tissue paper/ clear the blear/ clear the smear."  The language offers new poetry readers exposure to different words and structures, while offering a subject matter that is familiar and curious in its nature.