Our Poetry Out Loud Project: Some of Our Favorite Resources

National Poetry is nearly over, and I meant weeks ago to post some of my favorite sources for the poetry I read out loud to my family each night at supper.  I try to include all sorts of different kinds of poems, so I pull material from all sorts of books and read poetry that appeals to all sorts of different ages at the table.  Here are some of my go to places for finding poems:

Poetry Anthologies

• Poems to Learn by Heart  edited by Caroline Kennedy.  Obviously, memorizing poetry isn’t our family priority . . . exposure is.  This book is  a great collection of modern and classical poetry appropriate for kids, and the illustrations are wonderful.  
• Forget Me Nots edited by Mary Ann Hoberman
• Poetry Speaks to Children edited by Elise Paschen.  I love this collection.  It’s been a staple around here for years, and it even comes with an audio CD.
• 100 Poems for Girls edited by Celia Johnson.  This book is not illustrated, but the poems included are very well chosen and engaging.
• Poetry 180 edited by Billy Collins and 180 More Extraordinary Poems for Everyday.  These are the books that inspired the whole project in the first place!

The Poetry For Young People Series

This is a collection of “children’s picture books” focused the works of major poets.  I discovered these when cataloging during my summer job at my college library, and have used them in the classroom and at home.  We own a few, and at the library has many others.  It’s nice to read multiple poems by an author over several weeks to get a feel for their writing.  The illustrations in these books are beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.  They are engaging for little people, but not at all “kiddish,”  and they really enhance the appeal of poetry that is more advanced.  It’s a great way to expose kids to famous poets.

Some of the poets we explored this last year:

• Lewis Carroll
• Emily Dickinson
• Edna St. Vincent Millay
• Robert Frost

I have my eye on several poets for the upcoming months.

Children’s Poets

You can’t read poetry to kids without including works by Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky.  It would be a crime.  The nonfiction section in most libraries has a great collection of children’s poetry.

Other Sources

A lot of the poems I have used have simply been poems I’ve read from some of my favorite poetry books.  The kidlets would tell you about my fascination with Duluth poet Connie Wanek (because I read from her book for a month straight, I think).  I also enjoy Ted Kooser, Billy Collins, and especially the poems collected by Garrison Keillor in his poetry anthologies and on the Writers Almanac.  When I hear a good poem on the podcast, I print it out from the website and read it at supper.

Auntie Dot recently gave us a copy of Paul Fleischman’s  Joyful Noise:  Poems for Two Voices.  It is a lot of fun too.  Usually Mr. SP helps me read the second voice.  These poems are very clever.

Our VERY FAVORITE Poetry Book

Hands down, our very favorite poetry book, which I acquired completely by chance, is Forgive me, I Meant to Do It:  False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine.  These are parodies of William Carlos Williams’ famous poem “This is Just to Say” and every page is absolutely hilarious.