Welcome to the world -- The big ones -- The little ones -- The winged ones -- The water ones -- The strange ones -- The noisy ones -- The quiet ones -- Final thought -- Writing poems about animals.

Welcome to the world. The egg / by Jack Prelutsky -- The tickle rhyme / by Ian Serraillier -- What's a caterpillar? / by Graham Denton -- Cocoon / by David McCord -- Haiku / by Joan Bransfield Graham --

The big ones. Buffalo dusk / by Carl Sandburg -- Wedding bears / by J. Patrick Lewis -- The purple cow / by Gelett Burgess -- Cow / by Valerie Worth -- A farmer's boy / by anonymous -- The cow / by Robert Louis Stevenson -- The pasture / by Robert Frost -- Dear orangutan / by David Elliott -- Moose / by Rebecca Kai Dotlich -- Song of a bear : a Navajo poem -- Grandpa bear's lullaby / by Jane Yolen -- Elephant / by anonymous -- Eletelephony / by Laura E. Richards -- Elephant / by Ann Whitford Paul -- Anthology / by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer -- The whales off Wales / by X.J. Kennedy -- Polar bear rap / by J. Patrick Lewis -- Polar bear / by Leland Blair Jacobs -- Moody guy / by Avis Harley -- The white rhinoceros / by Stephen Mitchell -- Tiger / by anonymous -- Giraffe / by Valerie Worth -- Above all / by Avis Harley -- The hippopotamus / by Hilaire Belloc -- The horses / by Maxine Kumin -- The horseman / by Walter de la Mare -- Horses / by Aileen Fisher -- The white horse / by D.H. Lawrence -- Mountain gorilla / by Janet S. Wong --

The little ones. Ladybug / by Rebecca Kai Dotlich -- Ants / by Marilyn Singer -- Solitude / by Charles Simic -- Dragonfly / by Georgia Heard -- Grasshoppers three : an old song -- Little fish / by D.H. Lawrence -- The caterpillar / by Douglas Florian -- Caterpillar / by Tony Johnston -- The butterfly / by John Fuller -- Butterfly / by Benjamin Franklin -- Cockroach sandwich / by Colin McNaughton -- The scorpion / by Hilaire Belloc -- Inchworm / by Michael J. Rosen -- Inch by inch / by Rebecca Kai Dotlich -- Rich lizard / by Deborah Chandra -- The chipmunk / by Ogden Nash -- Spruce woods / by A.R. Ammons -- Squirrel forgets / by Lilian Moore -- Polliwogs / by Kristine O'Connell George -- Oh the toe-test! / by Norma Farber -- The spider is a lovely lady / by Frank Asch -- I am a snail / by anonymous -- From the snail / by William Cowper -- Riddle / Mary Ann Hoberman -- Snail / by X.J. Kennedy -- Bee / by X.J. Kennedy -- The pedigree of honey / by Emily Dickinson -- Move over / by Lilian Moore -- A bee / by Matsuo Basho; translated by Robert Hass -- A mouse of my acquaintance / by anonymous -- The city mouse and the garden mouse / by Christina Georgina Rossetti -- Hamster hide-and-seek / by Avis Harley --

The winged ones. Three little owls who sang hymns / by anonymous -- A wise old owl : a nursery rhyme -- Haiku / by anonymous -- I talk with the moon / by Beverly McLoughland -- Gray Goose / by Julie Larrios -- Moon geese / by Ann Turner -- What was that? / by David L. Harrison -- De grey goose / by Huddie Ledbetter -- Puzzling / by William Cole -- Blue jay / by Janet S. Wong -- The blackbird / by Humbert Wolfe -- Dust of snow / by Robert Frost -- The eagle / by Alfred, Lord Tennyson -- Mother's plea / by Lee Bennett Hopkins -- Coastal bats / by Calef Brown -- A warbler / by Walter de la Mare -- The saddest noise / by Emily Dickinson -- Birds in the garden / by anonymous -- From sing-song / by Christina Georgina Rossetti -- Inuit song / translated by Edward Field, after Nakasuk -- Haiku / by anonymous -- Visitor / by Kristine O'Connell George -- You can talk about your hummingbirds / by Arnold Adoff -- Hummingbird / by Janet S. Wong -- Haiku / by J.W. Hackett -- Arrivals / by Ann Turner -- The white egret / by Paul Janeczko -- The parrot / by anonymous --

The water ones. The penguin / by Oliver Herford -- Penguins / by Charles Ghigna -- Lost in the cold / by anonymous -- Anemone / by Jane Yolen -- The starfish / by David McCord -- Seal / by William Jay Smith -- The performing seal / by Rachel Field -- Seal lullaby / by Rudyard Kipling -- The walrus / by Jack Prelutsky -- The eel / by Ogden Nash -- Beavers in November / by Marilyn Singer -- There was an old person of Hyde / by Edward Lear -- Young Prince Pinch / by Avis Harley -- The crab / by Conrad Aiken -- Happy the ocean / by anonymous -- Sea turtle / by anonymous -- Turtles / by Charles Ghigna -- The shark / by Lord Alfred Douglas -- About the teeth of sharks / John Ciardi -- Sea jelly / by Kelly Ramsdell Fineman -- Do oysters sneeze? / by Jack Prelutsky -- Mussel / by Steven Withrow -- Don't call alligator long-mouth till you cross river / by John Agard -- The crocodile / by Lewis Carroll -- Dark meat / by anonymous --

The strange ones. Moray eel / by Steven Withrow -- All you oughta know about a piranha / by Michael J. Rosen -- The ostrich / by Ogden Nash -- The ostrich is a silly bird / by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman -- I am a baby porcupette / by Joyce Sidman -- Porcupine / by Rebecca Kai Dotlich -- The octopus / by Ogden Nash -- Seahorse / by Blake Morrison -- What is the opposite of pillow? / by Richard Wilbur -- The argument / by Bobbi Katz -- The anteater / by Douglas Florian -- Travel plans / by Bobbi Katz -- The meerkats of Africa / by Gavin Ewart -- Sand ghost / by Betsy Franco -- Frilled lizard / by Alice Schertle -- The yak / by Hilaire Belloc -- How to tell a camel / by J. Patrick Lewis -- Skunk / by Lilian Moore -- A flamingo is / by J. Patrick Lewis -- A blue-footed booby / by Michael J. Rosen -- Spoonbill haiku / by Jane Yolen -- How to paint a zebra / by anonymous -- Zebra / by Gavin Ewart -- Zebra / by Judith Thurman -- A promise / by Bobbi Katz -- A centipede was happy quite / by anonymous -- Vanishing act / by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer -- Proboscis monkey ponders man / by Alice Schertle --

The noisy ones. The frog / by Hilaire Belloc -- The bull / by Alice Schertle -- Bull and ox / by anonymous -- Crickets / by Myra Cohn Livingston -- Splinter / by Carl Sandburg -- Crickets / by Harry Behn -- Why pigs cannot write poems / by John Ciardi -- Pig / by Richard Edwards -- Piety / by Ambrose Bierce -- Summertime / by Myra Cohn Livingston -- Unpopular Rex / by X.J. Kennedy -- Dog / by Naomi Shihab Nye -- The breed you need / by Bobbi Katz -- The greater cats / by V. Sackville-West -- You've got male / by Avis Harley -- Lion / by Janet S. Wong -- A picture of the rooster / by Tang Yin -- Raccoon / by Janet S. Wong -- From road-song of the bandar-log / by Rudyard Kipling -- From the law of the jungle / by Rudyard Kipling -- Why wolves howl / by anonymous -- Jack A / by J. Patrick Lewis -- The donkey : a nursery rhyme -- Visiting an old friend / by Charles Waters --

The quiet ones. Rabbit / by Mary Ann Hoberman -- Four ducks on a pond / by William Allingham -- Firefly / by Elizabeth Madox Roberts -- Luna moth / by J. Patrick Lewis -- The warning / by Adelaide Crapsey -- Home to roost / by Kay Ryan -- The hens / by Elizabeth Madox Roberts -- Haiku / by Kristine O'Connell George -- Cat in the snow / by Aileen Fisher -- Fog / by Carl Sandburg -- Haiku / by Avis Harley -- Two cats / by anonymous -- Sunning / by James S. Tippett -- Pet snake / by Rebecca Kai Dotlich -- Dressing like a snake / by Georgia Heard -- Snake / by Barbara Juster Esbensen -- The panther / by Ogden Nash -- Coyote landscape / by Jane Yolen -- I saw a sloth play soccer / by Kenn Nesbitt --

Final thoughts. Animals / by Walt Whitman -- Hurt no living thing / by Christina Georgina Rossetti -- Magic words : an Inuit poem / translated by Edward Field -- Make the earth your companion / by J. Patrick Lewis -- Writing poems about animals.