Celebrating National Poetry Month--April

How Do You Want to Feel During National Poetry Month?

by Book Clubs Staffer

One of the things I love most about poetry is the way a good poem can conjure very real and potent emotions with just a few words or just a few short lines. To highlight this truth and celebrate National Poetry Month, I thought I’d recommend a few books of or about poetry. Each book is tuned to a different emotion you or your kids might be looking to explore this month. For still more suggestions, check out the great titles we’ve assembled this month in our Poetry Boutique in Club Shop (Teachers | Parents)!
If you want to feel GLEEFUL, read Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months (Teachers | Parents) by Maurice Sendak (great for ages 3–7). This is a classic, funny read-aloud that’s perfect every season (or month) of the year. Introduce young children to this beloved favorite and they’ll remember the rhymes long into adulthood. (As an added bonus, teach them the song adaptation, as sung by Carole King.)
When you’re done reading Chicken Soup with Rice, read 2010 Caldecott Honor winner All the World (Teachers | Parents) written by Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Marla Frazee (great for ages 4–8). While it’s not silly like Chicken Soup with Rice, it too will make you revel in the joys of rhythm and language, and it will make you feel like everything is right with the world, in all kinds of weather.
If you want to feel AWESTRUCK, read Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse (Teachers | Parents) written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Josée Masse (great for ages 6–60). Here, Marilyn Singer has created a new form of poetry: you read a poem forward (the usual way) to get one side of a familiar fairy tale, then read the exact same poem with the words reversed and see the same fairy tale presented in a new and different way. The fact that this technique works at all is amazing. But to watch it work this well—to see, for example, the voice of Little Red Riding Hood reverse to become that of the wolf—is truly awesome.
When you’ve finished Mirror Mirror and want to be wowed again, read A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems (Teachers | Parents) selected by Paul B. Janeczko and illustrated by Chris Raschka (great for ages 8–12). Like Mirror Mirror, it’ll make you see poems in entirely different ways—literally.
If you want to FALL IN LOVE, read Love That Dog (Teachers | Parents) by Sharon Creech (great for ages 8–12). You’re likely to fall for the dog mentioned in the title, the boy (Jack) who tells you about him, and the book as a whole—a novel narrated, in free verse, by a kid who claims to hate poems…at least until he’s read and written a few. Jack’s transformation from poetry hater to capable poet is believable, wonderful, and (in spite of this book’s short length) eminently memorable.
After you’ve fallen in love with Love That Dog, read the deeply satisfying sequel—Hate That Cat (Teachers | Parents) (also great for ages 8–12), in which you’ll get to spend still more time with Jack, his memories, and his budding love for language.
If you want to feel MOVED and MOTIVATED to change the world, read The Dreamer (Teachers | Parents) written by Pam Muñoz Ryan and illustrated by Peter Sís (great for ages 9–13). This beautiful fictionalized biography introduces readers to the life and work of poet Pablo Neruda (young Neftalí), who finds refuge from his tyrannical father in the nature, language, and literature of his native Chile. In Ryan’s lyrical, beautiful novel, we watch him grow from a timid young boy to a strong and compassionate young man who is already both a writer and a revolutionary.
After you’ve read The Dreamer, try Poetry Speaks: Who I Am (Teachers | Parents) edited by Elise Paschen (great for ages 12 and up). This rich collection of poems both classic and contemporary is perfect for teens and adults. It brings the voices of great poets to life—literally, as it comes with an audio CD of poets reading their own work.
If you want to feel DEEPLY SAD and then FULLY REDEEMED, read All the Broken Pieces (Teachers | Parents) by Ann E. Burg (great for ages 11–14). One of my favorite novels in verse, this is the poignant, powerful story of a Vietnamese boy airlifted out of his home country during the Vietnam War and adopted by an American family. His first-person account of his struggles to fit in, make friends, and make peace with painful memories of his first life and his first family will surprise and move you. When the book was brand-new and I was first putting it in the hands of teachers, three different middle schools approached me about using it as a school-wide read, which is about the highest school endorsement a book can get. As an added bonus, it packs a punch in relatively few pages, making it a solid, unintimidating choice for reluctant readers.