April is National Poetry Month! In celebration of this national observation month, we’re spotlighting verse novels, stories told entirely through poetry. Verse novels can provide readers with the opportunity to explore the storytelling potential of poetry and can inspire readers to use poetry as a storytelling device.
This month’s list features a collection of titles to use with readers ages 10-13, covering a wide range of topics and themes. Check out the featured titles and download your free guide: Read the rest of this entry »
April is National Poetry Month! Time to indulge in poetic forms of all kinds and kids’ books serve up odes of opportunities. Picture books are notorious for revealing in rhyme and rhythm, but novels can deliver a powerful poetic punch too, and ought to be a part of any reader’s well-stocked library bag. Highly accessible, novels in verse have an intimate and immediate feel to them, and often make good read-aloud books, even as they are perfect for savoring in quiet. Has your family had a healthy serving of poetry today? Try one of these middle-grade grade novels and satisfy their cravings for couplets. Read the rest of this entry…
If ever there were a month for spontaneous outbursts of snowdrop-covered verse and dandelion rhymes – it’s now. After a long, grueling winter, to see the ice recede and flowers push up and bloom, to hear birdsong in the morning and to leave heavy coats behind, is poetic glee. Spring itself is living poetry. What a glorious time to share some couplets with a couple of kids, so here are six new books for young bards. Read the rest of this entry…
Here is a new book filled with humorous rhymes and fantastically bizarre cars. Poem-mobiles: Crazy Car Poems is the work of the 2011-2013 US Children’s Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, and award-winning children’s poet, Douglas Florian. Together, they have created a collection of futuristic automobiles, from the Giant Bookmobile of Tomorrow and the Caterpillar Cab to the Eel-ectric Car and The Sloppy-Floppy-Nonstop-Jalopy, which will have readers wheeling with delight. Read the rest of this entry…
Western Massachusetts has been home to many poets and writers who were inspired by this region’s remarkable landscape. April is National Poetry Month. As nature begins to come to life in blossoms and buds, National Poetry Month is the perfect catalyst for exploring the outdoor spaces and places that inspired great writers of the past and present through some of the many local trails found in the region.
The Rivulet Trail at the William Cullen Bryant Homestead is a hiking trail accessible to the public in Cummington, MA. The path along the rivulet is the same trail that once inspired Bryant to write The Rivulet. You can still hike this trail at The Trustees’ property and encounter the poem posted along the trail to read and reflect on this beautiful place that features old growth forest and some of the tallest stands of White Pine in the Northeast. It’s a sacred space that may compel you to write a few verses of your own! Read Bryant’s poem ahead of time, then read it again while hiking the trail. How does the integration of language arts and nature influence your connection to place and poetry?
Celebrating National Poetry Month:
Poem in Your Pocket Day
In celebration of National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day is an annual day for people to celebrate the inspiring nature of poetry by selecting a poem and carrying it in their pocket for sharing with others throughout the day. Originally started in 2002, this annual day is a way for folks to share a common love for written word in the poetic verse.
To discover poetry by writers from the region, consider carrying a poem written by a local poet from Western Massachusetts. Here are a few poets that inspire our region with their words: Read the rest of this entry »
For National Poetry Month
Six Novels Written in Verse
April is National Poetry Month! Time to indulge in poetic forms of all kinds, and kids’ books serve up odes of opportunities. Picture books are notorious for reveling in rhyme and rhythm, but novels can deliver a powerful poetic punch too, and ought to be a part of any reader’s well-stocked library bag. Highly accessible, novels in verse have an intimate and immediate feel to them, and often make good read-alouds, even as they are perfect for savoring in quiet. Has your family had a healthy serving of poetry today? Try one of these six middle grade novels and satisfy their cravings for couplets. Read the rest of this entry »
Spread Poetry and Build Community with Poem in Your Pocket Day
Celebrated annually as part of National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day encourages people to share writing and connect with others by spreading poems throughout their communities. Celebrated by literally carrying poems in pockets or by sharing words through more creative means, the event presents a unique opportunity to share important writing and to connect with others through the thoughts and feelings that great writing can provoke.
In Barbara Cooney’s book Miss Rumphius, the woman lovingly know as the Lupine Lady spreads beauty throughout her community by keeping a pocketful of seeds to distribute – so as to share the joy of nature’s treasures. During National Poetry Month, families can apply the Lupine Lady’s philosophy of life to the written word by participating in Poem in Your Pocket Day.
Begun in New York City in 2002, Poem in Your Pocket Day encourages folks of all ages to celebrate the power of the written word by sharing poetry with others. Participation is fairly easy and is exactly what the name implies – carry a meaningful poem in your pocket, and share it with those around you! However, in order to have as large of an impact as possible, families can employ some creative strategies in order to sow the seed of their chosen words far and wide. Thanks to digital media, poems can be taken from the depths of pockets and shared via e-mail and social networking sites. Read the rest of this entry »
March Events and Contests Lead up to National Poetry Month
In anticipation of April’s celebration of National Poetry Month, young poets can share their work through community art workshops and poetry contests! Offering young writers a space in which to share their voices, these upcoming events and contests provide unique opportunities to explore creativity.
In preparation for National Poetry Month in April, opportunities are beginning to arise for young writers to create and share original works – offering youth poets (and aspiring poets) spaces in which to share their voices.
Every Tuesday during the month of March, budding poets and origami enthusiasts ages 9 and up can congregate at the Williston Memorial Library in Easthampton for Random Acts of Poetry! The ongoing event series weaves traditional origami paper-folding techniques with the writing and sharing of poetry to make unique folded flowers that “bloom” to reveal small poems. Participants are welcome to attend one or all of the events, but will get more out of Random Acts of Poetry if they’re able to be a part of all or most of the workshops. While participants will learn origami and writing skills by attending, an additional product of the series is a display of work to be shown and shared during Easthampton’s Bookfest, held on April 9th. Random Acts of Poetry is held from 3:30-4:30pm. Sign up by calling 413-529-1605 or by e-mailing youthdept@ewmlibrary.org.
While Random Acts of Poetry offers a relaxed, community-minded means of sharing poetry, young poets have a second – and more competitive – means of sharing their poetry this month… Read the rest of this entry »
April is National Poetry Month! And if ever there were a month for spontaneous outbursts of snowdrop-covered verse and dandelion rhymes – it’s now. After a long, grueling winter, to see the ice recede and flowers push up and bloom, to hear birdsong in the morning and to leave heavy coats behind, is poetic glee. Spring itself is living poetry. What a glorious time to share some couplets with a couple of kids, so here are six books for young bards. Read the rest of this entry »
Poem in Your Pocket Day
Supporting Language Art & Community Engagement
Thursday, April 30th, 2015, is national Poem in Your Pocket Day, a day when people select poems to share with others they encounter throughout their day. We love what the community in Charlottesville, VA, organized for this national day that celebrates poetry while supporting literacy. This great community building event was a collaboration between their library, schools and senior center. It encouraged community engagement in various locations throughout their town, including their library, town common, hospital, and local businesses. It also encourages literacy development and a love of language.
Wouldn’t it be great if communities, groups or individuals in Western MA did something similar? Tell us if you do! It could be as simple as a youth group doing something similar to this VA community on a much smaller scale, passing out poetry to passersby in Northampton, Greenfield, Pittsfield, Amherst or Springfield. Or you could become guerrilla poets, posting poems on community bulletin boards in your town. Share your ideas and be inspired!
In a nod to National Poetry Month and to my youngest, an April baby who loves things that go, here is a new book filled with humorous rhymes and fantastically bizarre cars. Poem-mobiles: Crazy Car Poemsis the work of the 2011-2013 US Children’s Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, and award-winning children’s poet, Douglas Florian. Together, they have created a collection of futuristic automobiles, from the Giant Bookmobile of Tomorrow and the Caterpillar Cab to the Eel-ectric Car and The Sloppy-Floppy-Nonstop-Jalopy, which will have readers wheeling with delight. The poems, cast in short lines, simple language, and clean rhymes, are highly accessible, great for reading aloud, and full of clever puns. Like the “Bathtub Car,” “With hot-water heating/ And porcelain seating,/ The bathtub is speeding – /A white limousine./ That’s sudsy with bubbles./ Forget your car troubles./ Its purpose? It doubles/ By keeping you clean!.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Western Massachusetts has been home to many poets and writers who were inspired by this region’s remarkable landscape. April is 
In celebration of National Poetry Month, 
