Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle... and other Modern Verse facts for kids

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle... and other Modern Verse is a famous collection of poems. It won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Stephen Dunning, Edward Lueders, and Hugh Smith put the book together.

They wanted to share modern poetry in a way that young people would enjoy. Because of this, Watermelon Pickle became a very common book in high school classes. Many people even call it a classic!

About the Book

This poetry collection has 114 different poems. It includes works by well-known poets like Ezra Pound, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and E. E. Cummings. It also features poems from other writers who were not as famous.

What Makes It Special?

The book was special because it didn't try to teach specific morals or manners. It just shared the poems. It also looked very modern for its time. It used cool photographs and new styles of writing (typefaces).

This was very different from other school textbooks in the 1960s. Those books often looked crowded and boring. Watermelon Pickle offered a fresh and exciting way to read poetry.

Why Was It Popular?

People quickly loved Watermelon Pickle. In 1969, it was called one of the most popular books for high school literature. By 1999, someone said it was the most used poetry collection for young adults ever. It was even still being printed!

In 2002, an article said that Watermelon Pickle created an important place for poetry written for young people. It showed that poetry could be fun and interesting for teens.

The Title's Story

The book gets its long title from the very last poem inside it. That poem is called "Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle Received from a Friend called Felicity." It was written by John Tobias.