It’s almost one of my favorite times of year: National Poetry month! This is when two of my absolute loves collide: poetry and picture books! All of April I will be sharing poetry picture books, and it will look a the same as last year.
I adore poetry. I always have and always will. I’m honestly not sure what made me fall in love with it (probably Shel Silverstein and most likely my dad), but that love has always been a steady rhythm in the background of my life. That is why April has become my passion project: to share one poetry picture book every day of the month. I research them every year. I read, I gather, I collate lists. It’s a lot of work, but if even one reader discovers a new book to love, I feel like my work is done here. Plus I get to read a TON of my favorite kinds of books. Yay!
And don’t forget this year’s National Poetry Month poster which was done by ANOTHER kidlit author-illustrator! Christy Mandin, of Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden (among other books)! She interpreted a line from one of my favorite poems by Naomi Shihab Nye (“Gate A-4”). It’s another great one. I hope these illustrator inspired posters continue for many years to come!
Just like last year I will post fresh material Monday-Friday, and use Saturday and Sunday to share some amazing poetry picture books I already talked about in interviews (but might’ve been missed by the poetry fans). There are still some amazing things in store this month and I can’t wait to share them with you.
If you enjoy my posts, comment and let me know. But more importantly, I ask you to support all the poets and book editors I post about. These are small niche books and can be easily overlooked. Check them out or request them from the library. Buy them. Review them on amazon, Goodreads, etc. Share them. Gift them. Any way you can support the poets I will be sharing this next month would be greatly appreciated.
Keep in mind, these won’t be my only posts in April. I will still have some Simply 7 interviews too. BUT I do know that poetry isn’t everyone’s thing. If you don’t want to read the poetry ones, ignore anything with NPM (aka National Poetry Month) in the title. And thank you for continuing to read my blog! <3
I am not a poetry person, but I have many friends who are. I’ll share this in my FB group.
Wonderful ♥️
I love poetry! Looking forward to reading your poetry posts.
Jena, I believe we will be richer in mind and soul by your last post.
I’ve always loved reading poetry and collecting poems to read to students for inspiration. But I’ve never thought of myself as a poetry writer.
Then I got cancer and found myself in chemo during the winter and spring of 2022. I was miserable until a writing friend challenged me to write a poem a day in April. I told her she was crazy. She persisted (thankfully) and sent me a calendar with a focus word and a different style of poetry for each day. I crumbled it up at first. But on April Fool’s Day, I dug it out, determined to meet her challenge.
That challenge helped me survive a particularly difficult time (both physically and mentally). I actually wrote 30 poems that month! I’m grateful for that friend and for what I was able to discover during that month.
I’m healthy now and back to work (aka BUSY). I’m eager to write more poetry (not my usual genre). I’m glad that I joined StoryStorm this year and found you there! Can’t wait to read your posts!
Aww! Thank you. And kudos to you for surviving cancer AND writing poetry. It’s amazing the things that poetry gets us through.