Poetry Friday: Book Spine Poetry for Eight Great Poetry Books!

Head over to Writing the World for Kids

 for this week's roundup of poetry love
with Laura Purdie Salas.

Thanks for hosting, Laura!

I missed posting last Friday.  Something about writing a slice of life every day in March for the challenge from Two Writing Teachers leaves me exhausted and spent!  I'm always surprised by writer friends who find it energizing and hop right into posting daily for April.  I thought about posting every day in April, but then I missed the first Poetry Friday of the month.  

So here's my plan.  Something about putting it in writing holds me accountable.  I plan to share thirty of my favorite books of poetry during April by sharing eight books today, seven books next Friday, seven books the following Friday, and eight on the last Friday of April.  I like the symmetry of my plan, and it's doable.  I don't plan to put them in any particular order.  As I was stacking up today's books, I realized that I could create a book spine poem.  I'm not promising a book spine poem for every week, but it worked for this week's titles!  What I will promise is to show up each Friday for the rest of the month and share poetry books that I love.  

Wonderful Words

Toasting Marshmallows

Daniel Finds a Poem

Whisper and Shout

One Today

I Am the Book

Jumping Off Library Shelves

When Green Becomes Tomatoes

Wonderful Words, I Am the Book, and Jumping Off Library Shelves, are delightful collections selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins.  I love his collections and look forward to each new book, knowing that I will not be disappointed.  These three deal with three of my passions:  words, books, and libraries.   Toasting Marshmallows by Kristine O'Connell George (watch for more of her books this month) features camping poems.  Patrice Vecchione's Whisper and Shout:  Poems to Memorize is a delightful anthology of some of the best poems of today and the past that are fun to memorize.  Don't miss E. E. Cumming's "maggie and milly and molly and mae," Robert Frost's" The Road Not Taken" and Nikki Giovanni's "Knoxville, Tennessee."  One Today by Richard Blanco and illustrated by Dav Pilkey is a new favorite that I discovered last fall on a trip to DC and wrote about in this post.  The last two books are both recent discoveries that I love.  When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Julie Morstadt is a sweet celebration of the seasons.   Daniel Finds a Poem written and illustrated in beautiful collages by Micha Archer is Daniel's journey through the week as he seeks answers to  the question, What is poetry?

I hope that you may be inspired to check out a new-to-you book of poetry as you meander through my favorite poetry books this month!