New and Favorite Poetry Books for Children
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It’s April. Happy Poetry Month! It’s time to get kids interested in reading and writing poetry with poetry books.
Kids gravitate towards funny, rhyming poetry which is a place to get them hooked. But, I don’t like using rhyming poetry with kids too much or their writing becomes only rhyming. (Which usually stinks and makes no sense.)
The best way to get your kids engaged in poetry is reading lots of poetry from different poets and about different subjects. Read poems to them; let them read poems to you.
Where do you get the best poems? (Besides this blog post.) British Children’s Poet Laureate, Michael Rosen advises on introducing poetry in this video. My favorite thing he says is, “The best poetry resource for children is as simple as this thing that was invented a few hundred years ago. It is called a book.”
So, today I’m listing the newest poetry books and the best classic favorite books of poetry. (Rosen would be so proud.)
“One needn’t ask hundreds of questions about poems, nor dissect or analyze them to death. Just read poetry, love it to pieces, and enjoy it to the fullest.” – Lee Bennett Hopkins
New Rhyming Poetry Books
I’ve Lost My Hippopotamus
by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic
Every Thing On It
by Shel Silverstein
*printables on Shel Silverstein’s website
A Little Bitty Man and Other Poems for the Very Young
by Marilyn Nelson and Pamela Espeland, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
A Stick Is an Excellent Thing Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play (see “Bubbles” above)
by Marilyn Singer illustrated by LeUyen Pham
“Poems are other people’s snapshots in which we see our own lives.” – Charles Simic
New (Mostly) Free Verse Poetry Books
Take Two! A Celebration of Twins
by J. Patrick Lewis (current Children’s Poet Laureate) & Jane Yolen, illustrated by Sophie Blackall
The Hound Dog’s Haiku (lots of different dog breeds, see “Border Collie” above)
by Michael J. Rosen, illustrated by Mary Azarian
Freedom’s a-Callin Me
by Ntozake Shange
Praise Song for the Day
by Elizabeth Alexander, illustrated by David Diaz (The inauguration poem for President Barack Obama.)
The Arrow Finds Its Mark, A Book of Found Poems (quite interesting!)
edited by Georgia Heard, illustrated by Antoine Guilloppe
A Meal of the Stars: Poems Up and Down
by Dana Jensen, illustrated by Tricia Tusa
Forget-Me-Nots: Poems to Learn By Heart (amazing collection!!)
by Mary Ann Hoberman (former Children’s Poet Laureate,) illustrated by Michael Emberley
BookSpeak: Poems About Books (LOVE THIS!)
by Laurra Purdie Salas, illustrated by Josee Bisaillon
“Listen to words and sentences. What kind of music do they have?” – Marilyn Singer
Familiar Favorite Poetry Books For Kids
Here’s a Little Poem A Very First Book of Poetry
edited by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters, illustrated by Polly Dunbar
A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children
edited by Caroline Kennedy, illustrated by John J Muth
Poetry Speaks to Children (Book & CD)
edited by Elise Paschen and Dominique Raccah, Illustrated by Judy Love and Paula Zinngrabe Wendland
Hip-Hop Speaks to Children with CD: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat
by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Alicia Vergel de Dios, Damian Ward, Kristen Balouch, Jeremy Tugeau & Michele Noiset
The Place My Words are Looking For: What Poets Say About and Through Their Work
compiled by Paul B. Janeczko
A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms
complied by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrated by Chris Raschka
All the Small Poems and Fourteen More (see “Flamingo” below)
by Valerie Worth, illustrated by Natalie Babbitt
Riddle-lightful: Oodles of Little Riddle Poems
by J. Patrick Lewis
Where the Sidewalk Ends
by Shel Silverstein
“Writing a poem is making music with words and space.” – Arnold Adoff
Favorite Poets For Kids (and Adults, Too)
Langston Hughes
Eloise Greenfield
Paul Fleishman
Gary Soto
Naomi Shihab Nye
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Nikki Grimes
Eve Merriam
Myra Cohn Livingston
Karla Kuskin
J. Patrick Lewis
Shel Silverstein
Jack Prelutsky
“. . . poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes, they are sleeping. They are the shadows drifting across our ceilings the moment before we wake up. What we have to do is live in a way that lets us find them.” – Naomi Shihab Nye
Favorite How to Teach Poetry Books for Teachers
Awakening the Heart & For the Good of the Earth and Sun by Georgia Heard
Kid Poems (Kindergarten), Kids’ Poems (Grade 1), Kid Poems (Grade 2),
by Regie Routman
all books by Ralph Fletcher
Wishes, Lies, and Dreams: Teaching Children to Write Poetry
by Kenneth Koch and Ron Padgett
Love that Dog
by Sharon Creech
“I have always believed that poems beg to be read aloud, even if the reader is in a world all her own.” – J. Patrick Lewis
Other Ideas for Celebrating Poetry
“Conditions for real writing:
1) Personal (choice)
2) Interpersonal (social)
3) Time/space to do quality work
4) Pay-off (purpose/feedback)“ – Ralph Fletcher
Any favorite poetry books that you would add to the list?
Some rights reserved by Steve-h
Why One Mom Reads Poetry With Her Toddler
Follow Melissa Taylor @ImaginationSoup’s board Poetry on Pinterest.
Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Scheer
Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Color – by Joyce Sidman
The first two that came to mind, both are beautiful books.
I’ll be looking up a few of these.Thank you for the great list.