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April is National Poetry Month

First celebrated in April 1996, NPM brings together publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture.

This year, NPM will focus on “Poetry in Your Community.” Check out your local library and bookstores to see what’s happening and make poetry a more important part of your children’s life during April and throughout the year:

Yada yada… hereeeeesss CP picks!!!

The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders By Jack Prelutsky, Petra Mathers(Illustrator)
Ages 2-6
Prelustky take youngsters from the heart of South Dakota to Monterey Bay in this extraordinary collection of poems and paintings. You’ll want to read his poems aloud-even if you’re sitting in a room by yourself! Young readers will adore this collection of quiet surprises-28 nonsensical, often somewhat geographical poems for preschoolers and early readers.
Greenwillow, 2002, $16.95

My Beastie Book of ABC: Rhymes and Woodcuts By David Frampton
Ages 3 to 6 From A is for alligator to Z is for zebra, this vivid, rhyming children’s book names a creature for just about every letter of the alphabet. Highly recommended for family, daycare, preschool, and kindergarten library collections.
Harpercollins Juvenile Books, 2002, $15.95

The Random House Book of Poetry for Children By Jack Prelutsky, Arnold Lobel (Illustrator)
Ages 7-12
This book, with 500 poems, selected by poet and anthologist Prelutsky, are divided into broad subject areas such as nature, seasons, living things, children, and home. The poems of Emily Dickenson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes populate the pages, while Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Odgen Nash, and Shel Silverstein ensure that the collection delights even the most reluctant readers of rhyme. This collection, the most varied and complete around, will carry any budding poetry lover through childhood and beyond.
Random House, 2000, $19.95

Poetry For Young People: Series By: Various Authors
Ages: 8 and up
Critics praise this series as an engaging and ambitious attempt to bring poetry to children. Poets included in this series include: Robert Browning, Rudyard Kipling, Edna Vincent Millay, Walt Whitman, Carl Sandberg, William Butler Yeats, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., $14.95

Corn-Fed Poems By James Stevenson
Ages 9-12
Sixth in the series of the “corn book” collection (Popcorn, Candy Corn, Sweet Corn, etc.), Stevenson’s free-verses turn everyday observances into insightful kernels of truth! Quiet, wry and right on the mark, Stevenson’s poems and pictures never fail to please and amuse. Readers will be inspired to see the world with slightly (and delightfully) skewed vision after spending an hour with corn!
Greenwillow, 2002, $15.95

This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort Compiled By Georgia Heard
Ages: Young Adults
Created especially for New York schoolchildren, this collection of 18 poems, by contemporary and 19th century writers, deal with loss, fear, and grief, reminding readers that there is enduring strength in the constancy of nature. The volume is filled with life-affirming verse that is as richly diverse as it is full of heart.
Candlewick Press, 2002, $16.99

How to Write Poetry By Paul B. Janeczko
Ages: Young Adults
In this versatile nuts and bolts guide, everything readers need to know about how to become a poet is provided. In a clear and encouraging voice, Janeczko give kids concrete advice that will help them express themselves.
Scholastic, Inc., 2001, $6.95