I found the Perfect Picture Book to inspire budding poets for National Poetry Month. Enjoy!
Title: How to Write a Poem
Written By: Kwame Alexander & Deanna Nikaido
Art By: Melissa Sweet
Publisher/Date: Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins/2023
Suitable for Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: poetry, how to, nature, inspiration
Opening:
Begin with a question, like an acorn waiting for spring.
Brief Synopsis: A free-verse poem that shows children how to write poetry and inspires them to do so.
Links to Resources:
- Discover resources to explore poetry with children at the Poetry Foundation and at poets.org;
- Spend an hour, an afternoon, or a day experiencing nature. How do you feel? Try describing what you’ve experienced with words or pictures.
Why I Like this Book:
How to Write a Poem is a recipe that kids, and their adults, can follow to become poets. The tone is direct and easy for kids to comprehend. “Begin with a question…” “Close your eyes…” “Next, listen to the grass…” The collaged illustrations include arrows like a road map and lined paper, ready for the reader’s poetry. Even the text is part of the illustrations, as if the authors are printing like children themselves.
But Alexander and Nikaido also show us how to write poetry by adding poetic touches and natural imagery throughout. They challenge us to be open to the world around us and to dig into our feelings. They direct us to “dive deep into the silent sea of your imagination….” There, we’ll discover “a cotton candy cavalcade of sounds….” Say that aloud a few times. It just trips off the tongue and conjures up gorgeous images.
In the last few spreads, Nikaido and Alexander invite us to follow the directives, gather up the images, and write our own poems. After all, “words have been waiting to slide down your pencil…” and right onto that paper that Sweet includes for us.
How to Write a Poem is a perfect addition to school and home libraries – I read a copy from my local library, but I’ve added it to my “must purchase” list.
A Note about Craft:
In A Note, Alexander reflects that “[f]or so long, we’ve been taught that poetry is staid, complicated, and unfamiliar…” Nikaido and Alexander show us that poetry is anything but that – it’s Fun! And by addressing the reader directly, they show us that we can be poets, too.
This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!
Wander, Ponder, Write 