Looking for some good poetry books? The following recommendations come from Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature Newsletter. (To find out more or to request a copy, go to the Carol Hurst Children's Literature website.)

• New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver. Beacon Press, 1992 — “Oliver's poetry is simple and direct. Most of the poems are about nature but she uses an element of nature as a metaphor for the human condition.”
• All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth with illustrations by Natalie Babbitt Farrar, 1994. Worth writes with great detail.
• Fresh Paint by Eve Merriam, Macmillan, 1986
• One at a Time by David McCord, Little Brown, 1986— Poems about nature, many involve word play.
• Where the Sidewalk Ends (just one of many) by Shel Silverstein, HarperCollins, 1987. Humorous.
• The Place My Words Are Looking For: What Poets Say About and Through Their Work—–An anthology compiled by Paul B. Janeczko. “Janeczko's selections tend to be for older kids and this one gives you both the poems and the words of the poets who try to explain what they were trying to do in a particular poem or what inspired them to write it.”
• The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, Random House, 1983—–An anthology done by Jack Prelutsky and Arnold Lobel. (Also, a favorite of our Weare librarian, Cora Ciampi!) “Here you will find your old favorites and some new ones, five hundred of them and they're categorized by subjects like seasons and home.”
• Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems Scholastic, 1988 —–Collected by Beatrice Shenk de Regniers. Poems illustrated by Maurice Sendak, Leo & Diane Dillon, Arnold Lobel and others.
• Another First Poetry Book, Another Fourth Poetry Book, and others in the series of anthologies from England compiled by John Foster.
• Ashley Bryan's ABC of African-American Poetry, Atheneum, 1997—–”He uses pieces of poems, verses and whole poems to speak the words and sounds of African American poets.

The Carol Hurst Children’s Literature website provides the following links for poets and poetry lovers:

• Putting Poems to Music

• Ann Rinaldi's "Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons". A biography of the African American Poet.

• Lois Lowry's "Stay: Keeper's Story" concerns a canine poet.

• Mel Glenn's "Who Killed Mr. Chippendale?" uses poetry to tell this murder mystery.

• Diane Siebert and Wendell Minor's "Sierra" puts their poetry to beautiful photos.

• Poetry about Cities and Towns

• "Stories, Songs and Poetry to Teach Reading and Writing" (Professional Book)

• "Bird Watch: A Book of Poetry" by Jane Yolen

In addition to the Carol Hurst site, there are many other poetry-related websites:

• Poetry Pals : Lessons, resources, and activities, for teachers
• Poet's Corner, biographies of poets, activities, a timeline, and other poetry resources
• Online Songs and Poetry for Children
• AHA! Poetry (Lots of poetry resources including types of poetry, places to publish, and poetry books)
• American Verse Project, .a searchable electronic archive of American poetry prior to 1920
• Poetry Index of Canonical Verse, poetry links and poems from the Carnegie-Mellon English Server