3 Books for Poetry Month

As a follow-up to my co-blogger April Halprin Wayland's post about 3 Discoveries for Poetry Month, today I'll share three books to help celebrate poetry this month. And at the end of this post, you'll find a link to this week's Poetry Friday round-up, too. 

The first book I'd like to share is a 2024 title I learned about on Jama Rattigan's blog. After reading Jama's post about Grant Snider's Poetry Comics (Chronicle Books), I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy. 

The book lives up to all Jama's praise and more. To be honest, I generally don't enjoy reading graphic novels, but Snider melds the form with poetry in wonderful and often unexpected ways, making his book a pleasure to read. The poems are clever, touching, and even instructional, as is the case with the four poems about writing poetry. I encourage you to check out Jama's detailed post filled with wonderful images and poems from the book, and then go out and read a copy for yourself.

And while you're on Jama's website, I encourage you to check out her National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup for all sorts of ways to celebrate poetry this month. The page includes information about the Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem--our own April Halprin Wayland will be one of the contributors!

I'm currently reading (and savoring) the second book I'd like to share today: If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility (Candlewick), an anthology selected by Irene Latham and Charles Waters and illustrated by Olivia Sua. The publisher describes the book, which was released just last month, as follows: "An ode to imagination and the power of  'if,' this exhilarating poetry collection features the voices of thirty-one diverse poets." The book's poems, which all begin with the word "if," are divided into four categories: Everyday Magic, The Power of You, Kinfolk and Companions, and Anything is Possible. 

While most of the poems are new, there are several classics, including this one from Emily Dickinson, which is in the Power of You section: 

      If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking

      If I can stop one Heart from breaking
      I shall not live in vain
      If I can ease one Life the Aching
      Or cool one pain

      Or help one fainting Robin
      Unto his Nest again,
      I shall not live in Vain.

 Original © by Emily Dickinson, now in public domain 

I've enjoyed all the poems in the collection that I've read so far, especially Georgia Heard's "What Kind of Word is If?"

Finally, I'm thrilled to announce that the third book I'm recommending for Poetry Month is written by my friend and critique group partner, Eileen Rajala Meyer. Eileen's new picture book, Build a Sandcastle, releases April 24 from Reycraft Books. It's a wonderful rhyming story about sharing a fun day at the beach with a friend and it's marvelously illustrated with mixed media art by Manica Musil.   The book also includes text sidebars featuring a clever starfish who offers
"5-star" STEM tips about building sandcastles that will surely inspire young creators. 

Unfortunately, the cute and clever starfish doesn't appear on the book's cover. So I encourage you to check out Eileen's latest post on the Rhyme Doctor's House Calls blog to see a sample page and check out some of her poetic text. I hope you'll also purchase a copy of the book for your favorite child and/or ask your local library to order one. (Check out the Acknowledgements on the copyright page to see a familiar name. 😊 )

And don't forget to visit this week's Poetry Friday roundup hosted by Jone Rush MacCulloch for more Poetry Month fun.

Happy Poetry Month and happy writing!

Carmela