This collection brings together the more than 250 children's poems Ted Hughes wrote throughout his career. They are arranged by volume, beginning with those published for younger readers and progressing to more complex and sophisticated poems that he felt were written within hearing of children. Throughout, Hughes reveals his instinctive grasp of a child's insatiable wonderment and sense of humor as well as his own instinctive and illuminating perspective on people and other creatures of the natural world.

With drawings that capture the wit, range, and richness of these poems, acclaimed illustrator Raymond Briggs helps make this a book any reader can return to again and again for amusement, inspiration, and reassurance.

Collected Poems for Children is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.