CAPSULE COMMENTS

April 8, 2008

National Poetry Month

Throughout the month of April the Children’s Department at the Rodman Public Library is offering a salute to poetry in honor of "National Poetry Month". Special displays highlight the poetry section of the department as well as Mother Goose rhymes and picture books written in verse.

The Poetry Break: An Annotated Anthology with Ideas for Introducing Children to Poetry by Caroline Feller Bauer

Bauer’s book is a hands-on look at making poetry a natural part of a child’s daily life at home and school. She offers quick and easy ways to insert poems into every aspect of learning.

Pass the Poetry, Please! by Lee Bennett Hopkins.

Now in its third edition, Hopkins’s book has been around since 1972. He incorporates nursery rhymes, jump-rope jingles and songs as well as poetry into ideas for bringing children and poetry together. Hopkins also includes twenty-four brief biographies of important children’s poets.

Both books are available on the Parent-Teacher Shelf.

In 2006, Jack Prelutsky was named the first Children’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. He has written more than fifty collections of original verse and anthologies of children’s poetry. Prelutsky found an interest in poetry later in life, claiming to have hated poetry as a child. Like Shel Silverstein, he has a knack for finding the silliness which children find appealing. Some of his collections include The New Kid on the Block, Something Big Has Been Here, It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles, and A Pizza the Size of the Sun. His latest publication of 100 humorous poems, My Dog May Be a Genius, was released in February 2008.

The library staff can help you find great books of poetry to use not just in April, but throughout the year.