Poems for April

April happens to be National Poetry Month and there are so many terrific poetry books available. However, not all kids love poetry. Maybe they’ve just been exposed to the wrong poems. Whether you seek humorous poems or those more serious, this selection offers something for everyone. A great starting point is A to Z Poetry For Kids written by SoCal college grad Kellan G. Peterson available at www.atozpoetryforkids.com. This helpful book introduces 26 different types of poems including many I had no idea existed!

Recent poetry books of note are: 100 Great Poems for Girls edited by Celia Johnson, 100 Great Poems for Boys edited by Leslie Pockell, Poem in Your Pocket For Young Poets: 100 Poems to Rip Out & Read selected by Bruno Navasky, Poetry Speaks Who I Am: Poems of Discovery, Inspiration, Independence, and Everything Else in Your Amazing Future edited by Elise Paschen, and The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination edited by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston.

For the younger set there’s Everybody Was A Baby Once and Other Poems by Alan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman, Truckery Rhymes (Part of Jon Scieszka’s Trucktown), Arnold Lobel’s Odd Owls & Stout Pigs: A Book of Nonsense with color by Adrianne Lobel, Maybe I’ll Sleep in the Bathtub Tonight and Other Funny Bedtime Poems by Debbie Levy with illustrations by Stephanie Buscema,
Countdown to Summer: a Poem for Every Day of the School Year, by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Ethan Long, and Tighty Whitey Spider by Kenn Nesbitt.