Poetry
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Reading Adventure Packs
Hands-on fun and learning centered around paired fiction and nonfiction books. In each themed reading adventure pack you’ll find great book suggestions plus three related activities to do together with your child. Just download and print the PDF.
Great Fiction & Nonfi ction Books
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A Stick Is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play
By: Marilyn Singer | Illustrated by: LeUyen Pham
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Bright illustrations accompany lively poems that celebrate children's imaginations and playing outdoors on warm days. Some games, like 'jacks', may need a bit of explanation but walking on the edges (of sidewalks, curbs, etc.) and hopscotch are perennial favorites. Everyone may be inspired to go outside and play!
Around the World on Eighty Legs
By: Amy Gibson | Illustrated by: Daniel Salmieri
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Arroz con Leche
By: Lulu Delacre
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
These traditional rhymes and songs from Latin America are presented in both English and Spanish. Gentle illustrations accompany the short verses, and show both cities and the countryside. Children and adults from Spanish-speaking backgrounds will recognize many of these fun songs and rhymes.
How Far Do You Love Me?
By: Lulu Delacre | Illustrated by: Lulu Delacre
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Max & Ruby's Treasure Hunt
By: Rosemar Wells
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People
By: Monica Brown | Illustrated by: Julie Paschkis
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Pio Peep! Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes
By: Alma Flor Ada, Isabel Campoy | Illustrated by: Vivi Escriva
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Rhymes from Spanish speaking countries are presented in Spanish and recreated in English to form a bilingual collection, with attention to the sounds and patterns of both languages. Vivid illustrations complete this appealing book.
Round Is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes
By: Roseanne Thong | Illustrated by: John Parra
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems
By: Beatrice Shenk De Regniers | Illustrated by: Margot Zemach
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Illustrations by nine Caldecott Medal artists are as varied in style and tone as the poems in this handsome, themed and well-organized collection of poetry.
Sports! Sports! Sports! A Poetry Collection
By: Lee Bennett Hopkins | Illustrated by: Brian Floca
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Can a poem capture the excitement, exhilaration, or anguish of defeat when playing sports? The poems here do all that and more! It's an easy-to-read collection that's illustrated with just the right light touch.
Stripes of All Types
By: Susan Stockdale | Illustrated by: Susan Stockdale
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
There Was a Tree
By: Rachel Isadora
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems
By: Kristine George | Illustrated by: Kate Kiesler
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Share the sights, sounds, smells, and humor of a family camping trip through this collection of engaging poems illustrated with vivid paintings. From setting up the tent to the ultimate return home, campers and non-campers alike will enjoy this vacation and all its outdoor pleasures.
Weather: Poems for All Seasons
By: Lee Bennett Hopkins | Illustrated by: Melanie Hall
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together
By: Mary Ann Hoberman | Illustrated by: Michael Emberley
Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader
Age Level: 6-9 years old
And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon
By: Janet Stevens, Susan Stevens Crummel
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
What would happen if the dish and the spoon (of "hey diddle diddle" fame) ran away and didn't want to come back? Well, that's the premise of this funny, pun-filled saga. Other nursery rhyme characters follow a map to find the runaways in this lively, visually sophisticated, and humorous book.
At the Sea Floor Cafe: Odd Ocean Critter Poems
By: Leslie Bulion | Illustrated by: Leslie Evans
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Poems introduce sea creatures and their habitats using different poetic forms (e.g., concrete, for two voices). Factual information is provided with each poem. This small, attractive collection concludes with where to find out more and a brief explanation of the poetic forms.
BookSpeak! Poems about Books
By: Laura Salas | Illustrated by: Josee Bisaillon
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Dear Hot Dog
By: Mordicai Gerstein
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Engaging poems combine with lighthearted illustrations to celebrate the stuff of which a child's day is made from toothbrush to scissors, from crayons to hot dogs, and more.
Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing, and Shout
By: Paul Janeczko | Illustrated by: Chris Raschka
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
From the Bellybutton of the Moon and other Summer Poems/Del ombligo de la luna y otros poemas de verano
By: Francisco Alarcón | Illustrated by: Maya Christina Gonzalez
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
The poet remembers summers growing up in Mexico in poems presented in both English and Spanish. Readers meet his family and join them in the everyday joys of the sunny season. Illustrations are as colorful and evocative as the words.
Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys
By: Bob Raczka | Illustrated by: Peter Reynolds
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
If you thought that haiku was a staid poetic form, then you haven't come across this collection! Boys and all things boy are presented for each of the four seasons. Sprinkled throughout are humorous line drawings that extend the light tone.
Hailstones and Halibut Bones: Adventures in Color
By: Mary O'Neill | Illustrated by: John Wallner
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Evocative poems explore a rainbow of color and emotion in vivid language, satisfying rhythm and handsome illustrations.
Harlem
By: Walter Dean Myers | Illustrated by: Christopher Myers
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Experienced readers will enjoy this stunning and sophisticated visit to Harlem in word and image. Landmarks like the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater are included and invite discussion.
I've Lost My Hippopotamus
By: Jack Prelutsky | Illustrated by: Jackie Urbanovic
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Humorous, sometimes slightly gross, always kid-friendly poems are accompanied by lighthearted black and white sketches. A range of readers, from sophisticated to those less initiated, are sure to find chuckles in this thick but accessible collection of short, rhythmic poems.
Knock on Wood: Poems about Superstitions
By: Janet Wong | Illustrated by: Julie Paschkis
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word
By: Bob Raczka | Illustrated by: Nancy Doniger
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
A short poem made from the word "Lemonade," is difficult to read with letters dropped from the first word. Turn the page, however, and the poem is easily readable: "made/one/ad/added/one/lemon/load/and/one/mom". Squeezing a poem out of one word is fun, playful, and downright clever.
Let's Celebrate: Festival Poems from Around the World Let's Celebrate: Festival Poems from Around the World
By: Debjani Chatterjee , Brian D'Arcy | Illustrated by: Shirin Adl
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse
By: Marilyn Singer | Illustrated by: Josee Masse
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Everyone knows that there are two sides to every story. Read a cleverly illustrated poem one way for one side; read the same poem in reverse and learn the other. Well known fairy tales are presented through reversible poems sure to intrigue sophisticated readers of all ages. Each book comes with a CD, so pop it in and follow along!
Monumental Verses
By: J. Patrick Lewis
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Summersaults
By: Douglas Florian
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Short poems and child-like illustrations framed on brilliantly white pages capture the splendor ("Morning glories/Campfire stories") and sorrow of summer ("Skinned knees/Ninety degrees"). Readers will readily relate to all aspects of summer, seen in a short poem for the end of summer: "Three words/Most cruel:/Back to school."
Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo
By: Linda Sue Park | Illustrated by: Istvan Banyai
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
The Dream Keeper and Other Poems
By: Langston Hughes, Brian Pinkney | Illustrated by: Brian Pinkney
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
The great American poet Langston Hughes chose the poems in this classic collection, originally published for young people in 1932.
The Great Migration: Journey to the North
By: Eloise Greenfield | Illustrated by: Jan Spivey Gilchrest
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Between 1915 and 1930, more than a million African Americans...moved to the North including the poet's family. Join the travelers as they seek a better life in a different part of the United States. Rhythmic but not rhyming verse is complemented by evocative illustrations.
The Year Comes Round: Haiku through the Seasons
By: Sid Farrar | Illustrated by: Ilse Plume
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Under the Sunday Tree
By: Eloise Greenfield | Illustrated by: Amos Ferguson
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Poetry and vibrant paintings in the primitive style by a recognized Bahamian artist create memorable portrayals in this unique collaboration of words and images.
World Rat Day: Poems About Real Holidays You've Never Heard Of
By: J. Patrick Lewis | Illustrated by: Anna Raff
Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies
By: Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton | Illustrated by: Jim McMullan
Age Level: 9-12 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
By: Langston Hughes | Illustrated by: E.B Lewis
Age Level: 9-12 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader
Dazzling watercolors turn Hughes' short poem into an unforgettable glimpse of African American history and an emotional journey through time. A concluding note details the illustrator's personal connection to the classic poem.
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