Books for National Poetry Month

By Coll Rowe | April 12 2021 | English Language Arts

April is National Poetry Month, reminding us of poetry’s important role in our culture and in our classrooms. We are celebrating by appreciating a few titles that highlight inspiring poems that can help your students express themselves through reading and writing.

 

Love

In this heartfelt celebration of love, Newbery Medal-winning author Matt de la Peña and illustrator Loren Long depict the many ways we experience a universal bond. With a lyrical text that is soothing and inspiring, this tender tale is a needed comfort and a new classic that will resonate with readers of every age.

 

 I Am Every Good Thing

This is an upbeat, empowering, and important picture book about a creative, adventurous, smart, funny, and a good friend, from the team that created the award-winning Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut.

 

That Is My Dream!: A picture book of Langston Hughes’s “Dream Variation”

Here is the picture book of “Dream Variation,” one of Langston Hughes’s most celebrated poems, illustrated by Daniel Miyares, the acclaimed creator of Float, about the dream of a world free of discrimination and racial prejudice.

 

 Izzy Kline Has Butterflies

Beth Ain chronicles the big and small moments that make up a new school year in this heartwarming novel in verse.

 

The Poem is a Nest

This poetry collection introduces readers to the art of found poetry as the poet writes a 37-line poem, “Nest,” then finds 160 smaller poems within it. The joyous creativity in this volume is certain to inspire budding poets.

 

I Am Someone Else: Poems

Celebrated poet Lee Bennett Hopkins shares a diverse collection of poems that ask “Who do you want to be?” In this collection, fifteen poets write about who they might like to be, musing what life would be like as a wizard, a firefighter, a video-game inventor, and more.

 

I Talk Like a River

Poet Jordan Scott writes movingly in this powerful and uplifting book, based on his own experience, about a boy who stutters and feels incapable of communicating in the way he’d like. It takes a kindly father and a walk by the river to help him find his voice.

 

 

9781524740917
"[A] poetic reckoning of the importance of love in a child's life . . . eloquent and moving." - People "Everything that can be called love -- from shared joy to comfort in the darkness -- is gathered in the pages of this reassuring, refreshingly honest picture book." - The New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice / Staff Picks From the Book ReviewFrom Newbery Medal-winning author Matt de la Peña and bestselling illustrator Loren Long comes a story about the strongest bond there is and the diverse and powerful ways it connects us all.
$18.99 US
Jan 09, 2018
Hardcover
40 Pages
G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

9780525518778
An upbeat, empowering, important picture book from the team that created the award-winning Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut
$18.99 US
Sep 01, 2020
Hardcover
32 Pages
Nancy Paulsen Books

A picture book of Langston Hughes's "Dream Variation"
9780399550171
One of Langston Hughes's most celebrated poems, "Dream Variation," is now a picture book stunningly illustrated by Daniel Miyares, the acclaimed creator of Float.
$18.99 US
Oct 03, 2017
Hardcover
32 Pages
Anne Schwartz Books

9780399550836
"Pitch perfect, heartfelt, and real," raved Wendy Mass, New York Times bestselling author of The Candymakers. This novel-in-verse highlights all the moments--big and small--that make up an important year.
$7.99 US
Mar 06, 2018
Paperback
192 Pages
Yearling

9781684373635
This beautiful poetry collection introduces readers to the art of found poetry as the poet writes a 37-line poem, "Nest," then finds 160 smaller poems within it.
$17.99 US
Sep 29, 2020
Hardcover
112 Pages
Wordsong

Poems About Pretending
9781580898324
Celebrated poet Lee Bennett Hopkins shares a diverse collection of poems that ask (with the help of Newbery medalist Lois Lowry, former US Children's Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis, and others), "Who do you want to be?"
$16.99 US
Jul 02, 2019
Hardcover
32 Pages
Charlesbridge

9780823445592
Winner of the Schneider Family Book AwardBoston Globe-Horn Book Award WinnerWhat if words got stuck in the back of your mouth whenever you tried to speak? What if they never came out the way you wanted them to?Sometimes it takes a change of perspective to get the words flowing.A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year
$18.99 US
Sep 01, 2020
Hardcover
40 Pages
Neal Porter Books