This is the story of encounters with two completely different kinds of poetry that made me want to celebrate this art form.
A few years ago when I was a children’s librarian, I stumbled upon the book Meow Ruff by Joyce Sidman. The book is an absolute visual and auditory delight. I brought it to many, many elementary school classrooms, read it aloud and discussed concrete poetry with children. Kids who thought they didn’t like poetry loved this book.
Last January, I was watching the inauguration and, like so many others across the globe, was blown away by the performance of Amanda Gorman. At age 22, she was the youngest inaugural poet in history. Her poem The Hill We Climb was powerful. You can explore more of Ms. Gordon’s poetry in her book Call Us What We Carry or introduce kids to her poetry with her picture book Change Sings, illustrated by Loren Long
Read some poetry this month. Or write some poetry. You can stop in the Library this month and share your voice by adding a piece of your writing to our poetry living art installation.
For more ways to celebrate poetry at home or in the classroom, check out these great ideas from the National Poetry Month website.
