Children’s encounters with poetry should include three types of response—enjoyment, exploration, and deepening understanding. These do not occur always as __21__ steps but may happen simultaneously. Certainly, children must start with enjoyment __22__ their interest in poetry dies. But if from the beginning they find delight in the poems they hear or read, they are ready and eager to __23__ further—more books and more poems of different sorts. Even the youngest children can learn to see implications __24__ the obvious. To read for hidden meanings is to identify with the poet, to ask the poet’s questions. This is reading for deeper understanding, __25__ a thoughtful look at what lies beneath the surface. Enjoyment, exploration, and deeper understanding must all be part of children’s experience with poetry if we are to help them to love it.
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