The Poetry Troupe: An Anthology of Poems to Read Aloud

Charles Scribner's Sons, 1977. First Edition. Hardcover. Like New/No Dustjacket . Signed by Author. Signed "Isabel Wilner" on title page. And inscribed on first blank page "Love to Nora and Vic from Isabel December 1977"; with an original drawing of three small children, each holding a book, above inscription. Scarce thus. Wilner attended William Smith College and then the Carnegie Library School. She spent World War II working as an Army librarian in the Philippines and Japan, and then the New York Public Library and the Lida Lee Tall School. Wilner herself began publishing books in 1977 with The Poetry Troupe: An Anthology of Poems to Read Aloud. In the 1978 Sun article, Wilner explained how the book was created: “One day, I was in a hurry to find a couple of poems for children to read to a college class,” Miss Wilner recalled. “So I asked the children to help me search around and find some. “And then it occurred to me that we should keep the children’s favorite poems together.” It was a matter of having them in one book, just like having well-honed tools, ready to do any job that comes up, Miss Wilner remarked. The creation of The Poetry Troupe embodies Wilner’s feelings about how children learn to read and why, and how teachers shape that experience. The children at Lida Lee Tall brought poems to her that they loved. She often included small doodles in her correspondence with fellow faculty and students alike, in a style that remains well recognizable, and treasured.