Good morning and welcome to Booktomato! April is National Poetry Month, and to celebrate, we have collected a book of poetry for every month of the year. Let's begin with part one of our collection!
January
You might assume that our January pick would be something related to snowflakes or snowmen, but Memphis is a big basketball town! January is a big basketball month because the holiday fun is over, it's too cold to play outside, and we have a great NBA team playing several games a week downtown. We have featured this poetry book on the blog before. This one is for those sporty "I don't really like to read poems" readers. The subject is something most kids will find interesting, and the language has a great fluid motion that keeps the reading lively.
February
These love poems are dedicated to the simple pleasures of childhood, and if you haven't read anything by Greenfield, this is a perfect introduction to her work.
March
I had a very special teacher who I loved more than anything in elementary school, and every day she would recite "The Swing", a poem in this collection by Robert Louis Stevenson. To this day, I can recite this poem and love this poem because of her. These poems capture what it means to be a child - swinging really high, stomping in rain puddles, hearing birdsong, and discovering one's own shadow. All of it is very tied to nature, so this feels like the perfect book for March and the beginnings of spring.
April
April is the month that begins with a laugh with its practical jokes on April Fools Day, so funny poems are the best pick for this month. Humor is the best way to engage reluctant poetry readers, and no kid, young or old, can resist some of these funny poems! This one has great illustrations too.
May
Once school is out at the end of May, we always are heading off some where on a road trip where we will spend approximately one million hours on a highway. Along with snacks, dvds, and crayons, bring this book with you on your next long car trip. It has a CD recording of the actual poets reading their poems aloud. Your kids can use the book with its awesome illustrations to follow along in the backseat.
Hope you enjoyed the first part of our poetry calendar! Stay tuned for part two!