Teen Librarian Toolbox
Tag: poetry
Teaching Ideas to Celebrate Poetry Month and Earth Day with the Caldecott Honor Winning Title: Wonder Walkers
What is a wonder walk, you wonder? For the two children featured in Micha Archer’s Caldecott Honor winning picturebook it is a journey of inquiry through the wonders of the world around them, a ramble through fields, forests, valley, and shoreline. Perfect for Earth Day celebrations, Wonder Walkers is a wondrous poetic tribute to the relationship between young explorers, their curiosity and questions, and nature.
Drawing Inspiration from The Wisdom of Trees
Whether or not you already identify as a tree lover, reading Lita Judge’s multigenre picture book, The Wisdom of Trees, will lead you to view earth’s amazing forests in multifaceted new ways. Judge deepens readers’ understanding of and respect for the interconnectedness of trees by presenting current research on tree communication, framing forests as communities through poetry, expository passages and extensive back matter.
Connecting the Past and Present through Poetry: Teaching Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance
Children’s Literature Legacy Award Winner Nikki Grimes builds powerful connections between the past and present in her anthology featuring women poets of the Harlem Renaissance and her accompanying innovations on these poems. Use the poem pairings of this thought-provoking book across the school year to highlight the voices and experiences of Black women and girls or dive into the collection as a whole; either approach yields important insights into the human experience and forefronts the boundaries imposed by racism and sexism.
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Honor your students’ voices with the poetry collection No Voice Too Small.
During turbulent times, many of us may find ourselves asking, “What can I do?” The young people featured in this powerful anthology asked this question of themselves, found answers, and took action. Editors Metcalf, Dawson & Bradley have curated a collection of poems, written by accomplished poets, that represent the commitments, the activism and the accomplishments of fourteen tweens and teens.
Explore the Power of a Single Word in Dictionary for a Better World
The power of the single word holds center stage in this creative collaboration by renowned children’s poets Irene Latham and Charles Waters. In Dictionary for a Better World, Latham and Waters spotlight words that work to promote understanding, empathy, equity, peace, and social justice.
Poetry for Hope and Healing with Naomi Shihab Nye’s Everything Comes Next
If ever there was a time for poetry as a source of hope and healing, the time is now. As 2020 comes to a close, poetry can be a source of comfort for students and teachers as we continue to face challenges while embracing joyful sites of possibility. Naomi Shihab Nye’s, latest book of collected and new poems is a welcome respite and source of inspiration for attending to this moment and contemplating what comes next.
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Celebrating National Poetry Month From Home
Celebrate National Poetry Month with students from home with a variety of teaching and learning ideas that focus on reading, writing, and sharing poems as a source of comfort and joy.
2020 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction: Room on Our Rock
“There are two sides to every story.” This well known phrase appears on the cover of Australian authors Kate & Jol Temple’s unusual picture book along with the image of two seals, presumably a child and caregiver duo. An initial read of this book prompts expressions of concern for this pair as they travel away from their storm ravaged home only to be met with the words, “There’s no room on our rock,” when they seek shelter. The text is reverse poetry and read from back to front, it offers an entirely different reading experience.
Rekindle or Reaffirm Students’ Love of Reading with How to Read a Book
Teaming up for the first time, Newbery Medal-winning author Kwame Alexander and two-time Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet have crafted a joyous and contemplative ode to reading.
Poetry as History in The Undefeated
The Undefeated, a new picture book created by acclaimed author Kwame Alexander and award-winning illustrator Kadir Nelson has been described as “a love letter to America. To black America” (book jacket). The text is a poem that traverses the history of the United States, tracing the trauma and the triumphs of Black / African American experiences from enslavement to the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter.
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