Poetry For Middle Readers!

We've been talking a lot about poetry lately at Green Bean, and with good reason: April is National Poetry Month, and we're still receiving submissions for our Green Bean Poetry Zine! We also have a ridiculously cool event and poetry reading with Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen coming up on Sunday April 22, at 2pm. 

With all this poetry talk, it's hard not to post exclusively about the gorgeous new illustrated poetry collections for younger readers arriving at the store every day, but what about collections for older kids? It's true that your average middle-grader would rather read fantasy novels from morning to night if given the choice, but finding the perfect book of poetry for them can be as rewarding as it is challenging.

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Based loosely on a poem by Walter Dean Meyers and the Red Wheelbarrow poem by William Carlos Williams, Love That Dog by Sharon Creech is a favorite with both kids and adults. Slim and easy to digest (but packing the emotional wallop of a freight train), it is the perfect verse-novel for introducing older kids to different poets and forms of poetry without seeming obvious. The young narrator's voice is so authentic and effortless and his poetry so heartfelt, that kids may even be inspired to write a poem or two of their own.

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Maybe I'm just biased because he happens to be my favorite poet, but there does seem to be something about William Carlos Williams' poetry that resonates with readers of all ages. The new middle grade poetry collection by Gail Carson Levine, Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It! owes a similar debt to WCW. You may already be familiar with his perfect, hilarious, and smug little poem about the frozen plums:

This Is Just To Say  
by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Levine has crafted an entire series of "False Apology Poems," in the same vein, including her own version of This Is  Just To Say.

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The result is a collection of poems that is as deep and engaging as it is laugh-out-loud funny. It would be the perfect book for a middle-grade book club, or as an anytime read for that picky young reader in your life.

So what about you? Do you have a favorite middle grade poetry collection or verse novel? Silverstein? The Make Lemonade trilogy? Feel free to share in the comments or at Sunday's poetry reading! And don't forget that tomorrow is the last day for kids to submit to the zine for publication! We can't wait to see what everyone creates!

*Andrea