List

Category
Audience
Tags

The Dream Train: Poems for Bedtime

Sean Taylor

A dreamy treasure trove of thirty bedtime poems to snuggle over together—and return to night after night

When night arrives and the birds swoop home to nest, it’s time to have a bath, put on pajamas, brush teeth, and settle in for sleep. This soothing collection of Sean Taylor’s original verse and rhyme for the very young explores the ritual of bedtime with warmth, tenderness, and gentle humor. Thirty poems in many styles, from shape poems to free verse to ballad poems, are divided into three sections. From sleepy bats to dreaming ducks, from a favorite blanket to the chugga! chugga! of a dream train coming down the tracks, these imaginative variations on a timeless theme—brought to life in soft, shimmering illustrations—resonate with pure emotion, inviting sleepyheads of every stripe to indulge in sweet dreams.

View Details >>

How to Write a Poem

Kwame Alexander

In this evocative and playful companion to their New York Times bestselling picture book How to Read a Book, Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander teams up with poet Deanna Nikaido and Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet to celebrate the magic of discovering your very own poetry in the world around you.

Begin

with a question

like an acorn

waiting for spring.

From this first stanza, readers are invited to pay attention--and to see that paying attention itself is poetry. Kwame Alexander and Deanna Nikaido's playful text and Melissa Sweet's dynamic, inventive artwork are paired together to encourage readers to listen, feel, and discover the words that dance in the world around them--poems just waiting to be written down.

 

 

View Details >>

Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets

Kwame Alexander

The 2018 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner

A Newbery Medalist and a Caldecott Honoree’s New York Times best-selling ode to poets who have sparked a sense of wonder.

Out of gratitude for the poet’s art form, Newbery Award–winning author and poet Kwame Alexander, along with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, present original poems that pay homage to twenty famed poets who have made the authors’ hearts sing and their minds wonder. Stunning mixed-media images by Ekua Holmes, winner of a Caldecott Honor and a John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, complete the celebration and invite the reader to listen, wonder, and perhaps even pick up a pen.

View Details >>

My Grandma Is the Best!

D.J. Steinberg

From the best-selling author of the Here I Come! series, this collection of poems makes a perfect gift for grandmas, abuelas, and bubbes everywhere.
 
"A mirror that captures love and reflects it back to its source—a devoted grandmother."—Kirkus Reviews


Children can celebrate their grandma with this illustrated collection of short poems -- one to a page -- that honors the memories and experiences with the woman they know and love. From playing Doctor with Grandma to sitting on her lap to read a favorite story, this gift book from the best-selling author of the Here I Come! series is perfect for any grandmother.

View Details >>

My Grandpa Is the Best!

D.J. Steinberg

 

 

From the best-selling author of the Here I Come! series, this collection of poems makes a perfect gift for grandpas, abuelos, and zaydes everywhere.

Children can celebrate their grandpa with this illustrated collection of short poems – one to a page – that honors the memories and experiences with the man they know and love. From planting seeds in the garden with Grandpa to reading favorite books together again and again, this gift book from the best-selling author of the Here I Come! series is perfect for any grandfather.

 

 

View Details >>

A Poem Grows Inside You

Katey Howes

Recipient of the 2023 Lee Bennett Hopkins Award honor award.

We all hold the seed of something wonderful inside us, just waiting for the right moment to bloom. In A Poem Grows Inside You, the seed of an idea waits for the rhythm of the rainfall to awaken it, then takes root and begins to grow. At once a celebration of the deep connection creatives have with their art and an acknowledgement of the courage it takes to let it into the sun, this beautifully illustrated picture book encourages readers to nurture their talents and boldly share them with the world.

View Details >>

Remember

Joy Harjo

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.

Remember the sky you were born under,
Know each of the star's stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun's birth at dawn,
That is the strongest point of time.

So begins the picture book adaptation of the renowned poem that encourages young readers to reflect on family, nature, and their heritage. In simple and direct language, Harjo, a member of the Mvskoke Nation, urges readers to pay close attention to who they are, the world they were born into, and how all inhabitants on earth are connected. Michaela Goade, drawing from her Tlingit culture, has created vivid illustrations that make the words come alive in an engaging and accessible way.

This timeless poem paired with magnificent paintings makes for a picture book that is a true celebration of life and our human role within it.

View Details >>

Free at Last

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

This lyrical celebration of Juneteenth, deeply rooted in Black American history, spans centuries and reverberates loudly and proudly today.

After 300 years of forced bondage;
hands bound, descendants of Africa
picked up their souls--all that they owned--
leaving shackles where they fell on the ground,
headed for the nearest resting place to be found.

Deeply emotional, evocative free verse by poet and activist Sojourner Kincaid Rolle traces the solemnity and celebration of Juneteenth from its 1865 origins in Galveston, Texas to contemporary observances all over the United States. This is an ode to the strength of Black Americans and a call to remember and honor a holiday whose importance reverberates far beyond the borders of Texas.

View Details >>

In the Tall, Tall Grass

Denise Fleming

Rhymed text (crunch, munch, caterpillars lunch) presents a toddler's view of creatures found in the grass from lunchtime till nightfall, such as bees, ants, and moles.

View Details >>

No More Poems!

Rhett Miller

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Rhett Miller teams up with Caldecott Medalist and bestselling artist Dan Santat in a riotous collection of irreverent poems for modern families.

In the tradition of Shel Silverstein, these poems bring a fresh new twist to the classic dilemmas of childhood as well as a perceptive eye to the foibles of modern family life. Full of clever wordplay and bright visual gags--and toilet humor to spare--these twenty-three rhyming poems make for an ideal read-aloud experience.

Taking on the subjects of a bullying baseball coach and annoying little brothers with equally sly humor, renowned lyricist Rhett Miller's clever verses will have the whole family cackling.

View Details >>

Step Gently Out

Helen Frost

Stunning close-up photography and a lyrical text implore children to look more closely at the world around them.

Be still, and watch a single blade of grass.
An ant climbs up to look around.
A honeybee flies past.


What would happen if you walked very, very quietly and looked ever so carefully at the natural world outside? You might see a cricket leap, a moth spread her wings, or a spider step across a silken web. In simple, evocative language, Helen Frost offers a hint at the many tiny creatures around us. And in astonishing close-up photographs, Rick Lieder captures the glint of a katydid's eye, the glow of a firefly, and many more living wonders just awaiting discovery. Fascinating facts about all the creatures pictured may be found at the end.

View Details >>

Something Fishy

Barry Louis Polisar

This collaboration between Barry Louis Polisar and illustrator David Clark is a long awaited sequel to Barry's three earlier collections of poems, Peculiar Zoo, Curious Creatures and Insect Soup. This time the poems are about creatures that live in-or by-the water and many of the poems work on multiple levels. Polisar writes about everything from the Pot Bellied Sea Horse to the Sweetlips Fish; the poems are smart and fun. The book ends with a delightful homage to one of Gerard Manley Hopkins poems and the artwork by David Clark is done in vivid colors that seem to jump right off the page. Through The Looking Glass Children's Book Review said these "well-crafted poems and illustrations make this book a must" and Pen Pals & Picture Books wrote "the poems are clever and delightful, the illustrations are expressive and hilarious."

View Details >>

Girls and Boys Come Out to Play

Tracey Campbell Pearson

Mother Goose herself invites kids to come out to play with all their favorite nursery rhyme characters in this popular Mother Goose rhyme.

Girls and boys, come out to play,
The moon doth shine as bright as day.

Parents looking for bedtime stories with a fresh twist on a familiar nursery rhyme need look no further. Using the popular Girls and Boys Come Out to Play Mother Goose poem as a backdrop, illustrator Tracey Campbell Pearson spins an exciting visual narrative in which Mother Goose invites children on a city block to come out and play, taking them on a moonlit adventure in verse. Young readers will love pouring over Tracey's richly detailed artwork full of diverse kids, animals, and beloved nursery rhyme characters, including Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, and Old King Cole. After the fun is over, Mother Goose leads everyone home to sleep snug in their beds

View Details >>

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Jane Cabrera

 

 

All around the world, from the sleeping city to the icy pole, baby animals and their parents share the wonder of a twinkling star.Sparkle, sparkle, little star,
how I wonder what you are.
Peeking through the silent trees,
high above the deep blue seas . . . 


On a beautiful night an owl sings to his owlet, a deer to her fawn, a whale to her calf. Animal parents all over the world sing this lullaby to their young, celebrating parents' love for their children. Jane Cabrera's handsomely painted full-sized picture book is perfect for story hours or sharing at bedtime.

Jane Cabrera's Story Time celebrates children's best-loved read along nursery rhymes and songs. These interactive favorites are given a new twist by award-winning artist Jane Cabrera and feature her bold, bright, kid-friendly illustrations. Other titles in the series include Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, If You're Happy and You Know It,  and One, Two, Buckle My Shoe.

 

 

View Details >>

Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo and Flo!

Laurel Molk

The mission: catch a tiger by the toe.

 

The team: brothers Eeny, Meeny, Miney,

and Mo.

 

But what about little sister Flo? Can't she help, too?

 

Join these mischievous mice for a rollicking twist on a familiar nursery rhyme.

Just be sure to watch your toes

View Details >>