Children's Poetry Collections Done Well

If you've ever considered writing a children's poetry collection, you've probably heard the words "poetry is a tough sell." 

Hmmm. Yes. This may be true. However, educators teach poetry to students year after year, and they need vibrant mentor to capture kids' interest. I contend that there's always room in the market for new poetry collections, if they are done well. ​

So, how how can you "do one well?" 

Picture book poetry collections are more than a mash-up of "greatest hits." The best collections have an arc, or clear structure that hold the poems together and creates a trajectory from start to finish. I like to call this arc the collection's "engine." (I wrote about poetry collection engines in THIS PREVIOUS HOUSE CALLS POST.) Well-done poetry collections also have layers. (Check out THIS HOUSE CALLS POST for more on the importance of layers in a poetry collection.) 

In honor of National Poetry Month, I thought I'd take a look at some recent children's poetry collections that have strong "engines" and layers. They make great mentor texts for writers considering crafting a poetry collection and educators looking to weave fun, new poems into their curriculum. 

A Planet is a Poem, written by Amanda West Lewis and illustrated by Oliver Averill is packed full of cosmic goodness. In it, Amanda shares 14 poems about planets and other bodies in our solar system, each in a different poetry form. What I love about this collection is that the structure for the entire collection as well as for the individual poems is SO WELL THOUGHT OUT. Amanda starts with a prologue explaining how a planet is like a poem and a poem is like a planet. Once she has readers thoroughly intrenched in the metaphor, she shares her first poem, a sonnet introducing the entire solar system. The next poem is an ode to the sun. After that, each planet/celestial body is turned into a poem, and they progress outward as readers move further away from the sun. Amanda also put careful thought into the form used for each poem, which she explains in the side bars. For example, the poem for Saturn "A Puzzle of Sixes" is written as a sestina, a poem where six words are repeated at the end of six stanzas of six lines each. As Amanda explains, "The result is repeated, spinning words that move through the whole poem like the rings of a spiral. And since Saturn has a unique six-sided jet stream, it deserves a unique puzzle poem of sixes!" Readers will learn so much about poetry and the solar system with this stellar collection! 

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While A Plant is a Poem purposefully plays with different poetry forms to give it layers, Joan Bransfield Graham takes a more concrete approach with her recent collection. Literally. Awesome Earth: Concrete Poems Celebrating Caves, Canyons, and Other Fascinating Landforms illustrated by Tania Garcia, is filled with shape poems. The collection begins and ends with concrete poems that zoom out celebrate the amazing topography of the Earth. Then Joan takes readers on a journey around the world, with each poem focusing on a different location and landform, from arches to archipelagoes. Back matter explains each landform, providing more science layers. 

Great Gusts: Winds of the World and the Science Behind Them, by Melanie Crowder and Megan Benedict, illustrated by Khoa Le, the authors introduce fourteen winds of the world, each on its own spread. Some of the poems rhyme, some are free verse, but they will all sweep readers away with their beautiful language and imagery. I especially like the poem about the oroshi, a strong winter wind in Japan, written as a haiku. Side bars on each page explain more about the location and motion of each wind, adding both geography and physics layers. 

Looking for more poetry collections to use as mentor texts? Each year, educator, editor, and poetry advocate Sylvia Vardell creates a SNEAK PEAK LIST of the poetry collections, poetry picture books, poetry anthologies, and novels in verse that are set to be published for that year. 

Happy poetry reading and writing, everyone!

-Rhyme Doctor Michelle Schaub