Taking in all the beauty as he flies over the fields and forests, a Starling wants to sing an ode of the wonderful things he sees. Wanting to make sure he won’t forget anything, the Starling asks other birds to make lists of all the things he should remember.
Poetry
Poetry genre
I Have The Right
Written and illustrated by internationally acclaimed Iranan illustrator Reza Dalvand, I Have the Right combines poetry and art to introduce children to the universal rights they are entitled to. Adopted in 1989 and ratified by 140 countries, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Children promises to defend the rights of children, keep them safe, and ensure they are respected and valued.
Ninos
“With one poem for each child, this collection explores the hopes of the thirty-four children disappeared and killed during Augusto Pinochet’s regime in Chile.” Niños: poems for the lost children of Chile uses poetry to bring Chilean history to young children.
Aniana Del Mar Jumps In
Aniana del Mar belongs in the water like a dolphin belongs to the sea. But she and Papi keep her swim practices and meets hidden from Mami, who has never recovered from losing someone she loves to the water years ago. That is, until the day Ani’s stiffness and swollen joints mean she can no longer get out of bed, and Ani is forced to reveal just how important swimming is to her. Mami forbids her from returning to the water but Ani and her doctor believe that swimming along with medication will help Ani manage her disease. What follows is the journey of a girl who must grieve who she once was in order to rise like the tide and become the young woman she is meant to be. Aniana Del Mar Jumps In is a poignant story about chronic illness and disability, the secrets between mothers and daughters, the harm we do to the ones we love the most—and all the triumphs, big and small, that keep us afloat.
No World Too Big
David Bowles, Traci Sorell, and others present poems about young activists who speak up to fight global climate change.
Wings In The Wild
When a hurricane exposes Soleida’s family’s secret sculpture garden, the Cuban government arrests her artist parents, forcing her to escape alone to Central America where she meets Dariel, a Cuban American boy, and together they work to protect the environment and bring attention to the imprisoned artists in Cuba.
Remember
US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s iconic poem “Remember,” illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade, invites young readers to pause and reflect on the wonder of the world around them, and to remember the importance of their place in it. The poem paired with magnificent paintings makes for a picture book that is a true celebration of life and our human role within it.
Voices Of The People
Through poems that capture the essence of each person’s life, acclaimed Native American writer Joseph Bruchac introduces readers to famous indigenous leaders from The Peacemaker in 1000 A.D. to modern day dancer Maria Tallchief and Cherokee chief Wilma Mankiller. Each poem is illustrated by a modern-day tribally enrolled artist.
Imagine!
“From the unique voice of Bruno Tognolini, the most beloved children’s poet in Italy today, come these 24 “rhymes of hope to shout together”: a musical rhythmic chant that gives voice to the wishes and hopes of all children. From the biggest dreams of peace, solidarity between people, the protection of nature, to the smallest and most intimate dreams, which are no less heartfelt”–
African Town
Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse.
In 1860, long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers, 110 men, women and children from Benin and Nigeria were captured and brought to Mobile, Alabama aboard a ship called Clotilda. Their journey includes the savage Middle Passage and being hidden in the swamplands along the Alabama River before being secretly parceled out to various plantations, where they made desperate attempts to maintain both their culture and also fit into the place of captivity to which they’d been delivered. At the end of the Civil War, the survivors created a community for themselves they called African Town, which still exists to this day. Told in 14 distinct voices, including that of the ship that brought them to the American shores and the founder of African Town, this powerfully affecting historical novel-in-verse recreates a pivotal moment in US and world history, the impacts of which we still feel today.