Timeless Tales by E.V. Eklund

​ Review 5 star

Find It On Amazon


Timeless Tales: Poems of Childhood by E.V. Eklund is an anthology of illustrated poems for young children. The poems cover a wide range of interests and should appeal to pretty much everyone. Simple topics including animals, fruits and vegetables, friendships, playtime, creativity and emotion, short fiction in verse, fun nonsense, and riddles all come accompanied by bright, detailed colored drawings of happy children, nature, and buildings that will stand up to children’s repetitive reading and intensive interactive eye for details. Emphasis is placed on learning practical things about the natural world—as in Cattail and The Jubilee of Trees—but imagination is also central to the collection and is showcased in poems such as By the Moon, and Butterfly Path.
 
This is the kind of rare book that comes along only once in a great while. Reading Timeless Tales by E.V. Eklund reminded me of my own childhood and the children who populate this book will take it to heart eagerly. The effortless rhymes are easy to read--or read aloud--and the great diversity of themes will entice both old or young to read this again and again. Snippets of old classics (The Silver Skates) blend with moralistic fables (The Princess and the Donkey) and introductions to time (The Clock Strikes) and fantasy (Shrumpf Fairies.) The illustrations are so pristine and lovely that any child (or adult) could read the book for them alone. With similarities to Beatrix Potter, A Child’s Garden of Verses, and other classics, the poems are a solid foundation for children to explore imagination and education through reading.