This post is in response to a request arising from an on-line poetry workshop I conducted recently titled- 'Poetry-Graffiti For The Heart.'
I was asked if I had a list of recommended poetry titles. I am often a little reticent to share such lists as I believe it is important for educators/ teachers of poetry to curate their own lists. The titles that spark my passion and interest in poetry may be different to those that inspire others. That said, I have updated a previous list of titles I hope might set the ball rolling for others. I see it as a possible starting point rather than a definitive list.
Have a really good look at the assembled books. Take some books from the shelves and open them and examine the poetry within the covers.
If what you are seeing is a collection of dated, unattractive titles and there doesn't appear to have been any additional texts added to the collection in over a decade -or possibly longer, then it's time to morph into a Poetry Warrior!
Don't get me wrong, there may well be some great poetry hidden away within those tired looking covers. It would be sad not to bring some of that treasure to the attention of your probationary poets. However, it's time to begin agitating for more books to be added to the collection -and fast. Something contemporary. Something more relatable to the many worlds young readers inhabit.
It becomes difficult to grow a love of poetry among young writers without a varied collection of classic and contemporary poetry books for them to pour over. We want them to grow into poetry action figures- and to achieve that aim, requires a a broadly curated collection of books. Immersion in poetry is a pre-requisite to writing poetry. A meagre collection of tired titles will result in a failure to launch.
I am sharing this list of poetry books in the hope that those meagre collections (in some school libraries) can be given an injection of life.
Good luck Poetry Warriors. I trust and hope you choose to accept this important and rewarding mission!
These Poetry titles have been curated across many years from my ever expanding collection. It's not the full collection, but it's a start. Some, sadly may be out of print, but may well be found on-line, or in second hand book shops, where I continually find buried treasure. Happy hunting and collecting!
Bananas In My Ears, Michael Rosen, Walker Books, 2011
Imagine A Night, Sarah L Thomson, Atheneum books, 2003
My Sister’s Hair, Sally Crabtree and Roberta Mathieson, Random House, 2001
The Important Book, Margaret Wise- Brown, Harper Collins, 1977
All the Small Poems and Fourteen More, Valerie Worth, Sunburst Books, 1994
Touch The Poem, Arnold Adoff and Lisa Desimini, Blue Sky Press, 2000
Summer Rain, Ros Moriarty, Allen & Unwin, 2015
Beach House, Deanna Caswell, Chronicle Books, 2003
Some Things Are Scary, Florence Parry Heide, Candlewick Press, 2000
The Tail of The Whale, Ellie Patterson, Meadowwide Children’s Books 2008
Unspun Socks From a Chicken’s Laundry, Spike Milligan, Puffin Books 1981
Jelly Boots, Smelly Boots, Michael Rosen, Bloomsbury, 2016
Vivid- Poems & Notes About Colour, Julie Paschkis, Henry Holt & Company, 2018
The Hypnotiser, Michael Rosen, Andre Deutsch, 1988
Quick Let’s Get Out of Here, Michael Rosen, Andre Deutsch, 1983
Chocolate Cake, Michael Rosen, Puffin books, 2017
Michael Rosen’s Big Book of Bad Things, Michael Rosen, Puffin books, 2010
Michael Rosen’s A to Z- The Best Children’s Poetry Selected by Michael Rosen, Puffin Books, 2009
Untangling Spaghetti, Steven Herrick, University of Queensland, 2009
I’m Just No Good At Rhyming, Chris Harris, Little brown & Company, 2017
Mongrel Doggerel, Elizabeth Honey, Allen & Unwin, 1998
A Paddock of Poems, Max Fatchen, Omnibus Books, 1987
The Kingfisher Book of Comic Verse, Selected by Roger McGough,1986
Nailing The Shadow, Roger McGough, Viking Kestrel, 1987
Tadpoles In The Torrens, Poems for young readers, Edited by Jude Aquilina, Wakefield Press, 2016
The Man From Snowy River, A B Paterson, Collins, 1977
The Dream of the Thylacine, Margaret Wild, Allen & Unwin, 2011
Poems To Perform, Julia Donaldson, McMillan’s Children’s Books, 2013
You Wait Till I’m Older Than You, Michael Rosen, Puffin books, 1997
The Death of the Hat, Poems Selected by Paul Janeczko, Candlewick Press, 2015
In The Swim, Douglas Florian, Harcourt Brace Books, 1997
Insectopedia, Douglas Florian, Voyager Books, 2002
Poetrees, Douglas Florian, Beach Lane Books, 2010
Comets, Stars, The Moons and Mars, Douglas Florian, Harcourt Books, 2007
Salting The Ocean, 100 poems by young poets, Naomi Shihab- Nye, Greenwillow Books, 2000
Twilight Comes Twice, Ralph Fletcher, Clarion Books, 2017
Hello Harvest Moon, Ralph Fletcher, Clarion Books, 2001
Neighbourhood Odes, Gary Soto, HMH Books, 2005
Joyful Noise, Poems for Two Voices, Paul Fleischman, Harper Trophy, 1988
Waterbombs, Steven Herrick, Jam Roll Press, 1992
Everything All A Once, Steve Camden, McMillan’s Children’s Books, 2018
The Best Ever Book of Funny Poems Chosen by Brian Moses, McMillan’s Children’s Books, 2021
Our Home Is Dirt By Sea- Australian Poems for Australian Kids, Selected by Diane Bates, Walker Books, 2016
Fire, Jackie French, Scholastic, 2014
Sky Scrape/City Scape- Poems of City Life, Selected by Jane Yolen, Wordsong, 1996
If I Were In Charge Of The World, Judith Viorst, Atheneum Books, 1984
A Pocketful of Poems, Nikki Grimes, Clarion Books, 2018
What The Poemster Found, Alan j Wright, Balboa, 2019
I Bet There’s No Broccoli On The Moon, Alan j Wright, Balboa, 2016
Searching For Hen’s Teeth, Alan j Wright, Balboa, 2014
This Poem Is A Nest, Irene Latham, Wordsong, 2020
You Took The Last Bus Home, Brain Bilston, Unbound 2017
Limelight, Solli Raphael, Puffin Books 2018
The One Thing You’d Save, Linda Sue Park, Clarion Books, 2021
Lost Magic, The Very Best of Brian Moses, McMillan Children’s Books, 2016
The Dreaming Tree, Jo Oliver, New Frontier Publishing, 2016
Refugees, Brian Bilston, Palazzo Editions, 2019
Sea Prayer, Khaled Hosseini, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017
To This Day, Shane Koyczan, Walker Books, 2014
A World Full of Poems, Selected by Sylvia Vardell, DK Publishing, 2020
A Is Amazing-Poems About Feelings, Edited by Wendy Cooling, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2012
Poems Out Loud, Various Authors, Penguin Random House, 2019
Imperfect- Poems About Mistakes: An Anthology for Middle Schoolers, Tabatha Yates, Editor, History House Publishers, 2018
Sister Heart, Sally Morgan, Freemantle Press, 2015
Love That Dog, Sharon Creech, Joanna Cotler Books, 2001
The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo, Harper Collins 2018
The Art of Taxidermy, Sharon Kernot, The Text Publishing Company, 2018
Pearl Verses The World, Sally Murphy, Walker Books, 2009
Worse Things, Sally Murphy, Walker Books, 2020
Bindi, Kirli Saunders, Magabala Books, 2020
On Track, Kathryn Apel, University of Queensland Press, 2015
Naked Bunyip Dancing Steven Herrick. Allen & Unwin, 2005
Pookie Aleera Is Not My Boyfriend, Steven Herrick, University of Queensland Press, 2012
Another Night In Mullet Town, Steven Herrick, University of Queensland Press, 2016
Locomotion, Jacqueline Woodson, Puffin Books, 2003
Rhyme Schemer, K.A.Holt, Chronicle Books, 2014
The Crossover, Kwame Alexander, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014 Inside
Out & Back Again, Thanha Lai, Harper Collins, 2011
Witness, Karen Hesse, Scholastic, 2001
The Way of Dog, Zana Fraillon, UQP 2022
The Little Wave, Pip Harry, UQP, 2019
Starfish, Lisa Fipps, Nancy Paulsen Books 2021
Stand Up Ferran Burke, Steven Camden, McMillan, 2023
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