That's a wrap, folks! Thanks for celebrating National Poetry Month with me and exploring how to share poetry with children and teens. Whether you're a fellow librarian, teacher, or homeschool parent, I hope you found and continue to find these posts useful in your own journey of sharing poetry with young people.
A little about how my interest in poetry developed: I wrote my first poem when I was eleven encouraged by a friend of the family who wrote poetry. Poets I enjoyed in middle school and high school were old school: Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Edgar Lee Masters. My teacher for freshman English in high school had us doing tons of creative writing. This is when I discovered haiku and acrostic poems. I filled notebooks with poetry in high school and that continued in college. As an English Literature major, I discovered other poets. I was especially taken with the Imagism. While taking a Literature for Children and Youth class, a group assignment was to put together a themed poetry collection for children. While browsing children's poetry books, I came across the poem "Click Beetle" by Mary Ann Hoberman in The Llama Who Had No Pajama. I loved the rhythm of the poem and how fun it was. This is when my interest in poetry written for children started. In my almost 16 year career as a youth services librarian, one of my goals has been and will always be to share the joy of poetry with children.
"Click Beetle" by Mary Ann Hoberman in The Llama Who Had No Pajama
If you missed any of the posts or want to look back at them, here's the complete list with links.
Day 1: Why Poetry?
Day 2: Young People's Poet Laureate
Day 3: Poetry Award Winners
Day 4: Nursery Rhymes
Day 5: Favorite Poets for PK & K
Day 6: Favorite Poets for Elementary
Day 7: Poetry Breaks, Fridays, Teatimes, & Picnics
Day 8: Using Poetry in Storytime
Day 9: Using Poetry on a Flannel Board
Day 10: Poetry Programs for Kids
Day 11: Thematic Poetry - Cats, Dogs, Pets
Day 12: Thematic Poetry - Birds
Day 13: Thematic Poetry - Fairy Tales
Day 14: Thematic Poetry - Concrete Poetry
Day 15: Thematic Poetry - Seasons
Day 16: Thematic Poetry - Performance Poetry
Day 17: Inspired by Eric Carle & Friends
Day 18: More Themes for Sharing Poetry
Day 19: Poetry Egg Hunt
Day 20: Invitation to Create - Anagrams & Art
Day 21: Invitation to Create - Illustrated Books
Day 22: Invitation to Create - Making, Crafting, Collecting, Listing
Day 23: Writing Poetry
Day 24: Poetry Tag
Day 25: Poetry for Tweens and Teens
Day 26: Sharing Poetry with Tweens and Teens - Invitation to Create Day 1
Day 27: Sharing Poetry with Tweens and Teens - Invitation to Create Day 2
Day 28: Sharing Poetry with Tweens and Teens - Invitation to Create Day 3
Day 29: Poetry Programs for Tweens and Teens
