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Advice

Great Poetry to Read Aloud 

Plant the seeds for growing a love of poetry with these titles that will captivate when read aloud.
Black male teachers reads aloud to young children in a library Adobestock
By: National Education Association
Published: March 22, 2024

This list of recommended titles includes collections of poems that highlight diverse cultures, introductions to a variety of poetic forms, and lots of playful language for read aloud fun. 

Find these titles and many more recommendations of great poetry available at your local library through World Cat. 

Picture Books and Elementary 

BookSpeak! Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas 

A Hatful of Dragons: And More Than 13.8 Billion Other Funny Poems by Vikram Madan 

Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems by Eloise Greenfield 

How to Write a Poem by Kwame Alexander and Deanna Nikaido 

Imagine by Juan Felipe Herrera 

Just Like Me by Vanessa Brantley-Newton 

The Poetry of US: More Than 200 Poems That Celebrate the People, Places, and Passions of the United States edited by J. Patrick Lewis  

Remember by Joy Harjo 

Song of the Wild: A First Book of Animals by Nicola Davies 

Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems) by Linda Sue Park 

Middle Grade 

Counting in Dog Years and Other Sassy Math Poems by Betsy Franco 

Hypnotize a Tiger: Poems About Just About Everything by Calef Brown 

I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris 

I Remember: Poems and Pictures of Heritage compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins 

Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman 

Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems by Naomi Shihab Nye 

Night Garden: Poems from the World of Dreams by Janet S. Wong 

One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes 

Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets by Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth  

Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice by Mahogany L. Browne with Elizabeth Acevado and Olivia Gatwood 

Young Adult 

Beauty Is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability edited by Jennifer Bartlett, Sheila Black, and Michael Northen  

Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman 

Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems About Love by Pat Mora 

A Fire in My Hands by Gary Soto 

For Everyone by Jason Reynolds  

Inheritance: A Visual Poem by Elizabeth Acevedo 

Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry collected by Joy Harjo 

Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States edited by Lori Marie Carlson 

Say Her Name by Zetta Elliott 

Wearing My Mother's Heart by Sophia Thakur 

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April 2024

Discover the Power of Poetry

Books of the month:

Books of the month:

Elementary

How to Write a Poem

How to Write a Poem

How to Write a Poem

by Kwame Alexander and Deanna Nikaido

A poem itself, this book invites readers to explore and observe the world around them and discover the poetry within it.
Learn more

Middle Grade

Moonwalking

Moonwalking

Moonwalking

by Zetta Elliott and Lyn Miller-Lachmann

In this verse novel told in alternating voices set in 1980s Brooklyn, new student JJ Pankowski, an autistic punk rock lover, befriends Pie Velez, an Afro-Latinx math geek and graffiti artist.
Learn more

Young Adult

Abuela, Don’t Forget Me

Abuela, Don't Forget Me

Abuela, Don’t Forget Me

by Rex Ogle

Rex Ogle celebrates the woman who supported him through a coming of age marked by violence and dysfunction in this memoir in verse.
Learn more

Are you an affiliate?

Jump to updates, opportunities, and resources for NEA state and local affiliates.
Hidden Figures cover detail

Recommended Books by Theme from NEA's Read Across America

Spread the joy of reading with these lists from NEA and Colorín Colorado to connect children and their families to diverse books, languages, and cultures.
National Education Association

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The National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest professional employee organization, is committed to advancing the cause of public education. NEA's 3 million members work at every level of education—from pre-school to university graduate programs. NEA has affiliate organizations in every state and in more than 14,000 communities across the United States.
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