Little Songs

Eliza Lee Cabot FollenProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 25K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Little Songs by Eliza Lee Cabot FollenAuthor: Follen, Eliza Lee Cabot, 1787-1860,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: May 1, 2003

Editor's review

Little Songs is a collection of English children's poems by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen, comprising short, simple ballad-style pieces with lively rhythms and plain imagery, well suited to reading aloud and parent-child shared reading. These poems mostly draw on children's daily life and natural scenes; their brevity makes them easy for young readers to follow and remember, and they offer rhythmically rich language material for early English learning. The Project Gutenberg edition is a free English eBook that preserves the original nursery-rhyme style, suitable as a family reading or classroom supplementary resource. When reading, pay attention to rhyme and repetition to appreciate the musicality of the verse; for scholars of children's literature, the book also serves as a sample for observing nineteenth-century Anglo-American children's poetry.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Parents seeking English parent-child shared reading
Teachers engaged in early-years English education
Literature enthusiasts studying children's poetry and nursery rhymes
English learners needing short reading-aloud materials

Not a good fit for

Adult readers seeking complex plots or in-depth narrative
Absolute-beginner English readers needing a Chinese translation alongside
Readers who prefer modern and contemporary children's literature

Reading tips

Read one or two short poems a day, feeling the rhythm and repetition with a beat.
During shared reading, have the child echo the rhyming words to build phonological awareness.
Combine the poems with nature observation, and after reading hold a simple discussion around the imagery.
English learners can copy out short poems and imitate their sentence patterns in writing practice.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What age are these poems suitable for?

The poems are short with simple language, suitable for preschool to early primary school children to read aloud with an adult. How well a child takes to them depends on their English foundation; for absolute beginners, it is advisable for a parent to lead the reading first, then gradually have the child echo the rhyming words.

Does the Project Gutenberg edition include illustrations or notes?

Project Gutenberg provides a free English electronic text that mainly preserves the original poems and usually does not include modern notes or accompanying illustrations. Readers who need help understanding the text can prepare a dictionary or use it alongside an audio recording.

Is this book suitable for learning English?

It works well as supplementary material for English pronunciation and rhythm training; the short poems have obvious rhymes and much repetition, making them easy to echo and remember. However, it does not systematically teach grammar or vocabulary, so it is best used alongside a regular textbook as a supplement for reading aloud and building language sense.

Comments

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About the author

Eliza Lee Cabot Follen Author · American · 1787–1860

Eliza Lee Cabot Follen (1787–1860) was an American writer, editor, and abolitionist, born into the Cabot family of Boston. She is best known for her children's literature and editorial work. Her representative works include Little Songs, True Stories about Dogs and Cats, and Hymns, Songs, and Fables, for Young People. Her writing often takes forms easily accessible to children, such as songs, fables, and true stories, combining instruction with entertainment. She also edited the children's periodical The Child's Friend and devoted herself throughout her life to the anti-slavery movement. The library holds ten of her works, spanning poetry, stories, and fables. Public information about the details of her life is limited, yet it is enough to show her sustained commitment to writing and editing American children's literature in the nineteenth century.