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.
Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Print List
¡Pío Peep!: Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes
By: Alma Flor Ada, Isabel Campoy
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Rhymes from Spanish speaking countries are presented in Spanish and recreated in English to form...
A Stick Is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play
By: Marilyn Singer
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Bright illustrations accompany lively poems that celebrate children's imaginations and...
Animal Ark: Celebrating our Wild World in Poetry and Pictures
By: Kwame Alexander
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A howling wolf, a stalking tiger, a playful panda, a dancing bird — pairing the beautiful...
Around the World on Eighty Legs
By: Amy Gibson
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Arroz con Leche
By: Lulu Delacre
Age Level: 3-6 years old
These traditional rhymes and songs from Latin America are presented in both English and Spanish...
Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems
By: Paul Janeczko
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Guess Who, Haiku
By: Deanna Caswell
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Short, evocative poems – haiku – present clues about familiar animals. With a turn of the page...
Have You Heard the Nesting Bird?
By: Rita Gray
Age Level: 3-6 years old
As two children take a walk, they observe and listen to the call of familiar birds – a mourning...
Hi, Koo! A Year of Seasons
By: Jon Muth
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A series of 26 poems, all haiku, mark each of the four seasons starting with autumn while...
How Far Do You Love Me?
By: Lulu Delacre
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Jumping Off Library Shelves
By: Lee Bennett Hopkins
Age Level: 3-6 years old
What do books and libraries mean to readers young or old? Fifteen poems pay tribute to just that...
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
Poetry
Nursery rhymes from around the globe are collected here with illustrations by more than 70...
Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People
By: Monica Brown
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Rhymes Round the World
By: Kay Chorao
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Round Is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes
By: Roseanne Thong
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems
By: Beatrice Shenk De Regniers
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Illustrations by nine Caldecott Medal artists are as varied in style and tone as the poems in...
Sports! Sports! Sports! A Poetry Collection
By: Lee Bennett Hopkins
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Can a poem capture the excitement, exhilaration, or anguish of defeat when playing sports? The...
Stripes of All Types
By: Susan Stockdale
Age Level: 3-6 years old
There Was a Tree
By: Rachel Isadora
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems
By: Kristine George
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Share the sights, sounds, smells, and humor of a family camping trip through this collection of...
We March
By: Shane Evans
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Fiction
Two children aroused by their parents join a march for equal rights. Short sentences and semi-...
Weather: Poems for All Seasons
By: Lee Bennett Hopkins
Age Level: 3-6 years old
You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together
By: Mary Ann Hoberman
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Print List
A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverley Found Her Voice
By: Nadia Hohn
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Louise Bennett Coverley, better known as Miss Lou, was a Jamaican poet and entertainer who used...
A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart
By: Zetta Elliot
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
In this powerful, affirming poem, a Black child explores his shifting emotions throughout the...
A Round of Robins
By: Katie Hesterman
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
Sixteen fresh and funny poems welcome a new batch of robins to the world! We follow a pair of...
A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems
By: Deborah Ruddell
Age Level: 6-9 years old
All the World a Poem
By: Gilles Tibo
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry comes in many forms; some rhymes, some doesn’t. Inspiration comes from many places, too...
And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon
By: Janet Stevens, Susan Stevens Crummel
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Fiction
What would happen if the dish and the spoon (of "hey diddle diddle" fame) ran away and...
At the Sea Floor Cafe: Odd Ocean Critter Poems
By: Leslie Bulion
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poems introduce sea creatures and their habitats using different poetic forms (e.g., concrete,...
BookSpeak! Poems about Books
By: Laura Salas
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Bronzeville Boys and Girls
By: Gwendolyn Brooks
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This collection of poems, first published in 1956, reveals the heroes we see in our everyday...
Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings
By: Douglas Florian
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
Short poems in various forms will inform and engage as they swirl across the pages of this...
Cricket in the Thicket: Poems about Bugs
By: Carol Murray
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Short poems present a range of familiar insects from crickets to Monarch butterflies. Each is...
Dear Hot Dog
By: Mordicai Gerstein
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Engaging poems combine with lighthearted illustrations to celebrate the stuff of which a child...
Every Month Is a New Year
By: Marilyn Singer
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A new year starts every month somewhere in the world. Join the celebrations from Russia to Spain...
Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
By: Suzanne Slade
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
A picture-book biography of celebrated poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black person to win the...
Flutter and Hum: Animal Poems/Aleteo y Zumbido: Poemas de Animales
By: Julie Paschkis
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Short poems about animals appear in English and Spanish accompanied by textured illustrations...
Fly With Me: A Celebration of Birds through Pictures, Poems, and Stories
By: Jane Yolen
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
Through poems, stories, scientific facts and beautiful art and photography, this book highlights...
Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing, and Shout
By: Paul Janeczko
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Fresh Picked Poetry: A Day at the Farmers’ Market
By: Michelle Schaub
Age Level: 6-9 years old
As the weather warms farmers’ markets begin to open. Celebrate the start of the season through...
From the Bellybutton of the Moon and other Summer Poems/Del ombligo de la luna y otros poemas de verano
By: Francisco Alarcón
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The poet remembers summers growing up in Mexico in poems presented in both English and Spanish....
Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys
By: Bob Raczka
Age Level: 6-9 years old
If you thought that haiku was a staid poetic form, then you haven't come across this...
Hailstones and Halibut Bones: Adventures in Color
By: Mary O'Neill
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Evocative poems explore a rainbow of color and emotion in vivid language, satisfying rhythm, and...
Harlem
By: Walter Dean Myers
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Experienced readers will enjoy this stunning and sophisticated visit to Harlem in word and image...
Hawks Kettle, Puffins Wheel: And Other Poems of Birds in Flight
By: Susan Vande Griek
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
For each of 12 from around the world, poem describes the animal's distinctive movement and the...
I Know the River Loves Me / Yo se que el rio me ama
By: Maya Christina Gonzalez
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Fiction
Whenever Maya visits the river, the river jumps up to greet her. It cools her when the summer...
I've Lost My Hippopotamus
By: Jack Prelutsky
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Humorous, sometimes slightly gross, always kid-friendly poems are accompanied by lighthearted...
Knock on Wood: Poems about Superstitions
By: Janet Wong
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word
By: Bob Raczka
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A short poem made from the word "Lemonade," is difficult to read with letters dropped...
Lend a Hand: Poems About Giving
By: John Frank
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
A collection of original poems centered on giving and spontaneous acts of kindness, which also...
Let's Celebrate: Festival Poems from Around the World
By: Debjani Chatterjee , Brian D'Arcy
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse
By: Marilyn Singer
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Everyone knows that there are two sides to every story. Read a cleverly illustrated poem one way...
Monumental Verses
By: J. Patrick Lewis
Age Level: 6-9 years old
My Name Is Gabriela / Me llamo Gabriela
By: Monica Brown
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
"My name is Gabriela Mistral. It is a name I chose myself because I like the sound of it." With...
Ocean Soup: Tide-Pool Poems
By: Stephen Swinburne
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Meet a sea anemone, sea urchin, a sculpin and other inhabitants of a tide pool through poems (in...
Out of This World: Poems and Facts About Space
By: Amy Sklansky
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton
By: Don Tate
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Horton, an inspirational poet, was the first Black author in the South to ever be published....
Poetree
By: Shauna LaVoy Reynolds
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
The snow has melted, the buttercups are blooming, and Sylvia celebrates winter's end by writing...
Princess Tales: Once Upon a Time in Rhyme with Seek-and-Find Pictures
By: Grace Maccarone
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
Nonfiction
This book of poems introduces fourteen revolutionary young women—each paired with a noteworthy...
Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems
By: Joyce Sidman
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
From spring’s first thaw to autumn’s chill, the world of the pond is a dramatic place. Though...
Summersaults
By: Douglas Florian
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Short poems and child-like illustrations framed on brilliantly white pages capture the splendor...
Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo
By: Linda Sue Park
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Thank You, Earth: A Love Letter to Our Planet
By: April Pulley Sayre
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
This love letter to Earth is an exploration of the beauty and complexity of the world around us...
The Cuckoo's Haiku: and Other Birding Poems
By: Michael J. Rosen
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
A joyful primer on the pleasures of bird-watching merges haiku, notes for identifying species,...
The Dream Keeper and Other Poems
By: Langston Hughes, Brian Pinkney
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The great American poet Langston Hughes chose the poems in this classic collection, originally...
The Great Migration: Journey to the North
By: Eloise Greenfield
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Between 1915 and 1930, more than a million African Americans moved to the North including the...
The Year Comes Round: Haiku through the Seasons
By: Sid Farrar
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
Today at the Bluebird Cafe: A Branchful of Birds
By: Deborah Ruddell
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
A world of birds unfolds in 22 vivid poems that capture the unique personalities of birds from...
Under the Sunday Tree
By: Eloise Greenfield
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry and vibrant paintings in the primitive style by a recognized Bahamian artist create...
Water Rolls, Water Rises/El agua rueda, el agua sube
By: Pat Mora
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
Evocative watercolors and short, lyrical poems take readers on a trip, “Around our round world”...
Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems
By: Kate Coombs
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Translucent watercolors and short, varied poems take readers on a trip to the sea. There they...
When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons
By: Julie Fogliano
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Short poems and gentle illustrations present seasons almost as a journal. Each entry captures...
Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku
By: Paul Janeczko , J. Patrick Lewis
Age Level: 6-9 years old
With My Hands: Poems about Making Things
By: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
Age Level: 6-9 years old
What is a maker? “A maker starts with/empty space/ideas/hope/and stuff.” With those things, one...
Won Ton and Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku
By: Lee Wardlaw
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Won Ton the cat is back with a new arrival: a puppy! How the adult cat and small dog get on – or...
Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
By: Belinda Rochelle
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
African-American poetry and art take wing and soar in this collection compiled by Belinda...
World Make Way: New Poems Inspired by Art from the Metropolitan Museum
By: Lee Bennett Hopkins
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
What does a piece of art make you feel? This is what the poet/editor, Lee Bennett Hopkins, asked...
World Rat Day: Poems About Real Holidays You've Never Heard Of
By: J. Patrick Lewis
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Print List
Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
Henry Brown’s unique method to escape from slavery is presented in lyrical language and rich,...
A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams
By: Jen Bryant
Age Level: 9-12 years old
When he wrote poems, he felt as free as the Passaic River as it rushed to the falls. Willie’s...
Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics
By: Margarita Engle
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Poetry
Lyrical poems introduce a “variety of amazing people …” including Pura Belpre became a New York...
Earth Verse: Haiku from the Ground Up
By: Sally Walker
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Sophisticated haiku and illustrations done with colored pencil explore the Earth inside and out...
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life
By: Ashley Bryan
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Original documents from an early 19th century Southern estate that appraised enslaved Africans...
Galileo's Universe
By: J. Patrick Lewis
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
Learn about the life of Galileo, the brilliant Italian Renaissance astronomer, physicist, and...
Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies
By: Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Jump Back, Paul: The Life and Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
By: Sally Derby
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
Experience the breadth and depth of Paul Laurence Dunbar's poetry. From his childhood in poverty...
Least Things: Poems about Small Natures
By: Jane Yolen
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Short poems (haiku) were written in response to but also evoke creatures shown in crisp close-up...
Lives: Poems About Famous Americans
By: Lee Bennett Hopkins
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Well-known figures in American history are presented by diverse poets in a range of styles,...
Miss Emily
By: Burleigh Muten
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Young Mac introduces readers to Miss Emily – better known as Emily Dickenson, poet...
One Last Word
By: Nikki Grimes
Age Level: 9-12 years old
An introduction brings the Harlem Renaissance into focus, followed by a description of a...
Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
By: Kwame Alexander
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Poetry
“A poem is a small but powerful thing…” Alexander writes in his preface, which is followed by a...
River of Words: Young Poets and Artists on the Nature of Things
By: Pamela Michael
Age Level: 9-12 years old
The California-based River of Words trains teachers, park naturalists, and others to incorporate...
Skywriting: Poems to Fly
By: J. Patrick Lewis
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Poetry
In this picture-book anthology of 13 poems, celebrate the dramatic adventure of flight, from the...
Slickety Quick: Poems About Sharks
By: Skila Brown
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A poem about the well-known Great White begins this handsomely illustrated collection of poems...
Superlative Birds
By: Leslie Bulion
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Poetry
Get to know all about the best and brightest ― and smelliest! ― denizens of the bird world with...
The Day the Universe Exploded My Head
By: Allan Wolf
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
Hang on tight for a raucous bounce through the solar system and back — propelled by funny,...
The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects
By: Paul Janeczko
Age Level: 9-12 years old
An introduction presents an overview of the collection’s unique perspective: poetry from...
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
By: Langston Hughes
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Poetry
Dazzling watercolors turn Hughes' short poem into an unforgettable glimpse of African...
Voices from the March on Washington
By: J. Patrick Lewis
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Poetry
An August day on the national Mall has been made famous by the powerful "I Have a Dream" speech...
We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices
By: Wade Hudson Cheryl Willis Hudson
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
Fifty of the foremost diverse children's authors and illustrators — including Jason Reynolds,...
Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems
By: Bob Raczka
Age Level: 9-12 years old
The author successfully creates a picture in the title of each poem (they are concrete or shape...
Hands-on Activities
Build on what you're learning together through books with these family-friendly activities, experiments, and crafts.
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Book Spine Poetry
Scholastic -
Build a “Poetree”
Culver-Union Township Public Library -
Outdoor “Poetree”
Start with a Book
Summer Writing
Give kids a chance to flex their writing muscles all summer long. Try one of these prompts, selected from our writing contest archives and other literacy organizations.
Great Websites for Kids
Dive deeper into topics of interest with these media-rich and interactive sites.
Great Podcasts for Kids
Listen and learn with these podcasts especially for kids. These podcasts are free and easy to listen to from any device via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher — or from Listen Notes, a podcast search engine.
Educational Apps
Educational apps recommended by Common Sense Media and other trusted reviewers.
More Themed Resources
Growing Readers Tip Sheets
Simple activities for parents and kids to do together to build reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. Read online or print the PDF.
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Nursery Rhymes: Not Just for Babies!
Download PDF: English | Spanish -
Picture This! Using Mental Imagery While Reading
Download PDF: English | Spanish -
Poems at Home (Family Poetry Jam)
Download PDF: English | Spanish -
The Importance of Reading Widely
Download PDF: English | Spanish
