Poetry, Kids Can Press, 1986, 88 Pages

PearlsDad gave me a string of pearls for my birthday. They aren't real pearls but they look real. They came nested in deep, deep blue velvet in a hinged box with a silvery lid.His sister had some like them when she was my age. She was thrilled. He thought I'd really like them. I said I did. I love the box. Jean Little frequently weaves poetry into the fabric of her many novels. Hey World is a collection of short prose and poems, some of which first made their appearance in Look Through My Window and Kate. The bulk of them are printed here for the first time. With the same blend of sensitivity, insight and candour that has characterized her novels, these short pieces articulate a wide range of young adolescent concerns. Kate ponders the nature of love, war, birth, death, siblings, friendship, school, teachers, parents and of course, members of the opposite sex.

Poetry, Orca, 2003, 80 Pages

Bad Guys

''I'm tired of telling Batman stories,'' I told my little brother.
''Just this once, can I tell you The Three Little Pigs?''

''No,'' he snapped.
''There's no bad guys in it.
I like bad guys.''

So much for you, Big Bad Wolf.

I Gave My Mom a Castle is a collection of poems about giving and receiving. This is Jean Little's first poetry collection since the still-beloved Hey World, Here I Am! was published fifteen years ago. Most are prose poems, mini stories, told by a wide cast of characters from toddlers to teens with an adult or two thrown in for good measure.

Jean Little knows the joys and pains of growing up in the twenty-first century. She writes about being a foster child, being ignored or controlled by a parent, being the eldest, being the youngest, being hurt - or helped - by a teacher, teaching a parrot to speak, all with love, humor and depth of perception.

Kady MacDonald Denton has won many awards for her illustrations. When presented with Jean Little's poems, she could not resist illustrating I Gave My Mom a Castle. Her sketches seem ready to jump off the page. They are a great pleasure to contemplate all on their own and perfectly complement Jean Little's writing.

Poems, Little, Brown, 1968, 83 Pages

Forty poems, including ones about dogs, nature, love, oneself, and childhood.