Poetry Book Favs

Ever since I could start reading, I have loved poetry.  My mom introduced me to an aging copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses, and I was hooked at first reading of “My Shadow.”  I moved onto other poets...Jack Prelutsky, Shel Silverstein..., and as I matured so did the poets that I grew to love.  This is why I love to introduce my students to poetry, too.

Like I told you I would earlier in the week, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite children’s poetry books. The poems in these books are less about rhyme but more about imagery and language.

The first book is...

Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems

I love this book of poetry because these are relatively simple poems, but the ideas come across strong.  They show my students how a few words can communicate very powerful ideas.  Plus there are fabulous examples of voice as some of the poems are written from the perspective of trees!

Next is...

Summersaults

I love most poetry books by Douglas Florian.  He has written books filled with poems on just about topic you can think of...planets, amphibians, trees, animals, baseball...in all kind of formats like list poems and shape poems.  These are the kind of poems students can see themselves writing.

Another poetry book I enjoy is...

Once I Ate a Pie

If you love dogs like I do, you will love this poetry book!  These poems are written from a dog’s point of view...students love these! 

A final book that I rely on a good deal when we are working on writing poetry is...

Hailstones and Halibut Bones

These poems are fabulous to teach similes and metaphors.  I also use the book as a model to for students to write their own color poems.

One last book I want to share with you is kind of a poetry book and kind of not...

If You Find a Rock

This is one of my favorite books!  If you have any rock collectors in you class, they will really be able to connect to it.  The author describes skipping rocks and wishing rocks, chalk rocks and resting rocks.  All the description that is used is just fabulous!

Do you have any favorite poetry books that you share with your class?  Please share them with me!