Reading & Writing Poetry Collections & Anthologies

 Happy Poetry Friday!  

  My poetry collection. 

Photo by Amy Soto

Today’s Poetry Break was inspired by Stephanie Afinito, from A Lit Life. She posed a question to her Get Lit (erate) Community.  Since it is Poetry Month, Stephanie asked members of the community to share some of their favorite poetry book recommendations. I got to thinking about my, rather large collection of poetry books (they are mostly children's poetry books).  I decided to share books that feature poems about reading and writing, a topic that is one of my very favorites!  My heartstrings are connected to these books.  If you are a book lover and writer, you're going to love this list. My curated list is in no particular order.

Amy has filled a book with a glorious collection of poems about reading!  Need I say more?  

Amy has done it again, this time she's collected poems about writing.  Perfection!  

Whether you love language, or you are a literacy educator, you will want to add this sweet anthology to your poetry collection.  As the subtitle suggests, there are poems about reading, writing, speaking, and listening.  

I love this anthology of library poetry!  It doesn't get any better than this for those who love spending time in libraries! 

I have consulted this often and always did so in preparation for National Poetry Month in my classroom and my school library.  According to my GoodReads review, I stated that every bibliophile, librarian, teacher, and reader should own a copy of this little anthology.  There are poem treasures to be discovered again and again.   

I used this poetry anthology so often in my school library, that I knew I needed my own copy!  

Book lovers, you are going to want a copy of Salas' collection of poems about books, reading, parts of the book, and more!  As a former reading specialist and librarian, I often shared the poems from this book with my students, as we learned various aspects of literacy.  

I hope that you will check out these wonderful books!  Happy Poetry Month!

Today's Poetry Friday round-up is being hosted by Margaret at Reflections on the Teache, where she has the Progressive Poem.  Stop on over for lots of poetry love.  

Book Cover credits: GoodReads

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Until next time, Happy Reading and . . . I hope your heart strings connect with something wonderful you read!

4/18 #IMWAYR

 Happy Monday!  It’s Monday, What Are You Reading (#IMWAYR)?

Update on my Middle Grade Must Reads

Last week, I talked about how I was in the middle of reading The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill.  Well, I finished it and have to say I gave it a rating of 4 stars on GoodReads.  The writing was beautiful and I enjoyed the character development and world building.  I do not read a lot of fantasy but this was worth the read.  

Picture Book Picks

This is a School written by John Schu and illustrated by Victoria Miller Jamison.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve been following John Schu for years and I am thrilled that his first picture book has arrived in the world.  This book will not disappoint!  It is the PERFECT read aloud to share as you kick off the school year but it is also a splendid read aloud as a reminder of the importance of a school community.  Schu’s story is an important tribute to all that a school is and can be.  Jamison’s illustrations are bright and cheerful.  They invite the reader into the book just like the happy school depicted in the book.  If you and your students want to have a conversation about the school as a community or if you simply want to feel good, read This is a School.       

Poetry Break! 

Things We Eat by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong.  Once again, Vardell and Wong have teamed up to bring us another amazing poetry anthology.  Each letter of the alphabet features a fun food poem that begs to be read aloud.  Each poem is accompanied by cheerful 

For the Bibliophile

Writing Picture Books by children’s author, Ann Whitford Paul, is a handbook for those interested in writing picture books or just simply learning more about the writing of picture books, you may want to give this book a go.  Paul is the author of several poems and children’s books, including, If Animals Kissed Goodnight and If Animals Said I Love You.  To learn more about her, visit  her website, https://annwhitfordpaul.com/. 

Note: book images are linked from GoodReads

Jen from  Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers are co-hosting the #IMWAYR blog hop.  Check out all the links to other blogs and see what great children's literature everyone is sharing; picture books, middle grade, and young adult.  

For more “Book Love,” follow me on:

GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/10604107-amy-lynn

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Until next time, Happy Reading and . . . I hope your heart strings connect with something wonderful you read!