Children's books and activities

Poetry

Many kids love poetry, nursery rhymes, and word play — especially when reading aloud together. We've gathered up a great collection of books, activities, apps, and websites for learning all about poetry.

Try pairing fiction with nonfiction books and exploring different genres (like poetry and biographies) and formats (like graphic novels and audio books). You'll be creating your own "text sets" — collections of texts focused on a specific topic. Reading widely in this way helps children build background knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.

Poetry

Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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¡Pío Peep!: Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes

By:
Alma Flor Ada
, Isabel Campoy
Illustrated by: Vivi Escriva

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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A Stick Is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play

By:
Marilyn Singer
Illustrated by: LeUyen Pham

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Animal Ark: Celebrating our Wild World in Poetry and Pictures

By:
Kwame Alexander
Illustrated by: Joel Satore

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Around the World on Eighty Legs

By:
Amy Gibson
Illustrated by: Daniel Salmieri

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Arroz con Leche

By:
Lulu Delacre

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems

By:
Paul Janeczko
Illustrated by: Melissa Sweet

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Guess Who, Haiku

By:
Deanna Caswell
Illustrated by: Bob Shea

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Have You Heard the Nesting Bird?

By:
Rita Gray
Illustrated by: Kenard Pak

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Hi, Koo! A Year of Seasons

By:
Jon Muth

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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How Far Do You Love Me?

By:
Lulu Delacre
Illustrated by: Lulu Delacre

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Insectlopedia

By:
Douglas Florian

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Jumping Off Library Shelves

By:
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by: Jane Manning

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Max & Ruby's Treasure Hunt

By:
Rosemary Wells

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Over the Hills and Far Away: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes

By:
Elizabeth Hammill

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People

By:
Monica Brown
Illustrated by: Julie Paschkis

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Rhymes Round the World

By:
Kay Chorao

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Round Is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes

By:
Roseanne Thong
Illustrated by: John Parra

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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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

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Sports! Sports! Sports! A Poetry Collection

By:
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by: Brian Floca

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Stripes of All Types

By:
Susan Stockdale
Illustrated by: Susan Stockdale

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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There Was a Tree

By:
Rachel Isadora

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

By:
Simms Taback

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems

By:
Kristine George
Illustrated by: Kate Kiesler

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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We March

By:
Shane Evans

Age Level: 3-6 years old

cover of "Weather: Poems for All Seasons" showing kids in a hot air balloon

Weather: Poems for All Seasons

By:
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by: Melanie Hall

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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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

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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A Boy Asked the Wind

By:
Barbara Nickel
Illustrated by: Gillian Newland

Age Level: 6-9 years old

A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverley Found Her Voice

By:
Nadia Hohn
Illustrated by: Eugenie Fernandes

Age Level: 6-9 years old

A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart

By:
Zetta Elliot
Illustrated by: Noa Denmon

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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A Round of Robins

By:
Katie Hesterman
Illustrated by: Sergio Ruzzier

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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A Strange Place to Call Home

By:
Marilyn Singer
Illustrated by: Ed Young

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems

By:
Deborah Ruddell
Illustrated by: Joan Rankin

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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All the World a Poem

By:
Gilles Tibo
Illustrated by: Manon Gauthier

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon

By:
Janet Stevens
, Susan Stevens Crummel

Age Level: 6-9 years old

At the Sea Floor Cafe: Odd Ocean Critter Poems

By:
Leslie Bulion
Illustrated by: Leslie Evans

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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BookSpeak! Poems about Books

By:
Laura Salas
Illustrated by: Josee Bisaillon

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Bronzeville Boys and Girls

By:
Gwendolyn Brooks
Illustrated by: Faith Ringgold

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings

By:
Douglas Florian

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Crawly School for Bugs: Poems to Drive You Buggy

By:
David Harrison
Illustrated by: Julie Bayless

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Cricket in the Thicket: Poems about Bugs

By:
Carol Murray
Illustrated by: Melissa Sweet

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Dear Hot Dog

By:
Mordicai Gerstein

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Every Month Is a New Year

By:
Marilyn Singer
Illustrated by: Susan Roth

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks

By:
Suzanne Slade
Illustrated by: Cozbi A. Cabrera

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Flutter and Hum: Animal Poems/Aleteo y Zumbido: Poemas de Animales

By:
Julie Paschkis

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Fly With Me: A Celebration of Birds through Pictures, Poems, and Stories

By:
Jane Yolen

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing, and Shout

By:
Paul Janeczko
Illustrated by: Chris Raschka

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Fresh Picked Poetry: A Day at the Farmers’ Market

By:
Michelle Schaub
Illustrated by: Amy Huntington

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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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

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Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys

By:
Bob Raczka
Illustrated by: Peter Reynolds

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Hailstones and Halibut Bones: Adventures in Color

By:
Mary O'Neill
Illustrated by: John Wallner

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Harlem

By:
Walter Dean Myers

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Hawks Kettle, Puffins Wheel: And Other Poems of Birds in Flight

By:
Susan Vande Griek
Illustrated by: Mark Hoffmann

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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I Know the River Loves Me / Yo se que el rio me ama

By:
Maya Christina Gonzalez

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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I've Lost My Hippopotamus

By:
Jack Prelutsky
Illustrated by: Jackie Urbanovic

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Knock on Wood: Poems about Superstitions

By:
Janet Wong
Illustrated by: Julie Paschkis

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word

By:
Bob Raczka
Illustrated by: Nancy Doniger

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Lend a Hand: Poems About Giving

By:
John Frank
Illustrated by: London Ladd

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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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

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Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse

By:
Marilyn Singer
Illustrated by: Josee Masse

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Monumental Verses

By:
J. Patrick Lewis

Age Level: 6-9 years old

My Name Is Gabriela / Me llamo Gabriela

By:
Monica Brown
Illustrated by: John Parra

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Ocean Soup: Tide-Pool Poems

By:
Stephen Swinburne
Illustrated by: Mary Peterson

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Out of This World: Poems and Facts About Space

By:
Amy Sklansky
Illustrated by: Stacey Schuett

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton

By:
Don Tate

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Poetree

Poetree

By:
Shauna LaVoy Reynolds

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Princess Tales: Once Upon a Time in Rhyme with Seek-and-Find Pictures

By:
Grace Maccarone
Illustrated by: Gail de Marcken

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World

By:
Susan Hood

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems

By:
Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by: Beckie Prange

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Summersaults

By:
Douglas Florian

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo

By:
Linda Sue Park
Illustrated by: Istvan Banyai

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Thank You, Earth: A Love Letter to Our Planet

By:
April Pulley Sayre

Age Level: 6-9 years old

The Cuckoo's Haiku: and Other Birding Poems

By:
Michael J. Rosen
Illustrated by: Stan Fellows

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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The Dream Keeper and Other Poems

By:
Langston Hughes
, Brian Pinkney
Illustrated by: Brian Pinkney

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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The Great Migration: Journey to the North

By:
Eloise Greenfield
Illustrated by: Jan Spivey Gilchrest

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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The Year Comes Round: Haiku through the Seasons

By:
Sid Farrar
Illustrated by: Ilse Plume

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Today at the Bluebird Cafe: A Branchful of Birds

By:
Deborah Ruddell
Illustrated by: Joan Rankin

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Under the Sunday Tree

By:
Eloise Greenfield
Illustrated by: Amos Ferguson

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Water Rolls, Water Rises/El agua rueda, el agua sube

By:
Pat Mora
Illustrated by: Meilo So

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems

By:
Kate Coombs
Illustrated by: Meilo So

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons

By:
Julie Fogliano
Illustrated by: Julie Morstad

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Windsongs: Poems about Weather

By:
Douglas Florian

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku

By:
Paul Janeczko
, J. Patrick Lewis
Illustrated by: Tricia Tusa

Age Level: 6-9 years old

cover of "Winter Bees" showing a bee and a fox jumping in the snow

Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold

By:
Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by: Rick Allen

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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With My Hands: Poems about Making Things

By:
Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
Illustrated by: Lou Fancher

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Won Ton and Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku

By:
Lee Wardlaw
Illustrated by: Eugene Yelchin

Age Level: 6-9 years old

painted cover of Words With Wings showing two women in front of sunsets.

Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art

By:
Belinda Rochelle

Age Level: 6-9 years old

illustrated cover of World Make Way showing cat in bandana sniffing at the corner of a frame

World Make Way: New Poems Inspired by Art from the Metropolitan Museum

By:
Lee Bennett Hopkins

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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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

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom

By:
Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by: Michele Wood

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams

By:
Jen Bryant
Illustrated by: Melissa Sweet

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Behold Our Magical Garden: Poems Fresh from a School Garden

By:
Allan Wolf
Illustrated by: Daniel Duncan

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics

By:
Margarita Engle
Illustrated by: Rafael López

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Earth Verse: Haiku from the Ground Up

By:
Sally Walker
Illustrated by: William Grill

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life

By:
Ashley Bryan

Age Level: 9-12 years old

illustrated cover of Galileo's Universe showing person looking through telescope at comet in night sky.

Galileo's Universe

By:
J. Patrick Lewis
Illustrated by: Tim Curry

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies

By:
Julie Andrews
, Emma Walton Hamilton
Illustrated by: Jim McMullan

Age Level: 9-12 years old

Jump Back, Paul: The Life and Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar

By:
Sally Derby
Illustrated by: Sean Qualls

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Least Things: Poems about Small Natures

By:
Jane Yolen

Age Level: 9-12 years old

Lives: Poems About Famous Americans

By:
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by: Leslie Staub

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Miss Emily

By:
Burleigh Muten
Illustrated by: Matt Phelan

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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One Last Word

By:
Nikki Grimes

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets

By:
Kwame Alexander
Illustrated by: Ekua Holmes

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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River of Words: Young Poets and Artists on the Nature of Things

By:
Pamela Michael

Age Level: 9-12 years old

illustrated cover of Skywriting: Poems to Fly showing a hot air balloon with sails.

Skywriting: Poems to Fly

By:
J. Patrick Lewis
Illustrated by: Laszlo Kubinyi

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Slickety Quick: Poems About Sharks

By:
Skila Brown
Illustrated by: Bob Kolar

Age Level: 9-12 years old

Superlative Birds

By:
Leslie Bulion
Illustrated by: Robert Meganck

Age Level: 9-12 years old

illustrated cover of The Day the Universe Exploded My Head showing a large title and rocketships, astraunauts, stars, and planets.

The Day the Universe Exploded My Head

By:
Allan Wolf

Age Level: 9-12 years old

The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects

By:
Paul Janeczko
Illustrated by: Chris Raschka

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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The Negro Speaks of Rivers

By:
Langston Hughes
Illustrated by: E.B Lewis

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Voices from the March on Washington

By:
J. Patrick Lewis

Age Level: 9-12 years old

We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices

By:
Wade Hudson Cheryl Willis Hudson

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems

By:
Bob Raczka

Age Level: 9-12 years old