National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry edited by J. Patrick Lewis

Subtitle: More Than 200 Poems with Photographs that Float, Zoom, and Bloom
Companion to National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry

From the introduction by J. Patrick Lewis: "Every day more than 70 animals, plants or other living things, like fungi, roots, and molds, vanish forever. The Book of Nature Poetry seeks to capture the ever changing nature of nature, so that gone is not forgotten" (page 5).

The poems are divided into 10 sections (The Wonder of Nature, In the Sky, In the Sea, On the Move, Across the Land, In Shade, In Distress, In Season, In Splendor, and Last Thoughts) and the collection includes 4 indexes (title, poet, first line, and subject).

My favorite poems are "The Blue Between" by Kristine O'Connell George, "Advice from a Frog (Concerning a Crane)" by Alice Schertle and "Whale" by Mary Ann Hoberman.

The photographs are stunning and perfectly paired with the poems. The detail captured is amazing. In this book, I saw animals and places I'd never heard of. This collection like the one before is great for sharing/reading slowly. More than 200 poems gives readers many choices. Would be a good choice for poetry teatime sharing.

My one complaint: I don't like that Emily Dickinson's poems were given titles.

(National Geographic, 2015)