40 Books to Celebrate National Poetry Month

The forty poetry books listed offer a range of diverse topics from Phillis Wheatley’s ruminations on various subjects to Mahogany L. Browne’s Black Girl Magic—from laughing feet to family love—Harlem to hair. April is National Poetry Month, and there’s something here for personal, classroom, and community enjoyment or inspiration. Poetry Month is “the largest literary celebration in the world,” so go here for ideas on how to celebrate all month long and here for more poetry selections from Nikki Grimes, Marilyn Nelson, Kwame Alexander, and other poets. Happy Poetry Month!

My People – Langston Hughes, Illustrator – Charles R. Smith Jr.

I Am Loved – Nikki Giovanni, Illustrator – Ashley Bryan 

My Feet Are Laughing – Lissette Norman, Illustrator – Frank Morrison 

Young Cornrows Callin Out the Moon – Ruth Forman, Illustrated by Cbabi Bayoc 

Bronzeville Boys and Girls – Gwendolyn Brooks, Illustrator – Faith Ringgold 

Love to Langston – Tony Medina, Illustrator – R. Gregory Christie 

Hey Black Child – Useni Eugene Perkins, Illustrator – Bryan Collier 

Read and Rise – Sandra L. Pinkney, Illustrator – Myles Pinkney 

I Am the Virgin Islands – Tiphanie Yanique 

I Live in Music – Ntozake Shange, Illustrator – Romare Bearden

We Are Shining – Gwendolyn Brooks – Jan Spivey Gilchrist

In Your Hands – Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrator – Brian Pinkney 

That Is My Dream! – Langston Hughes, Illustrator – Daniel Miyares 

Some Kind of Love: A Family Reunion in Poems – Traci Dant Illustrator – Eric Velasquez 

Life Doesn’t Frighten Me – Maya Angelou, Illustrator – Jean-Michel Basquiat 

Oh, Brother! – Nikki Grimes, Illustrator – Mike Benny 

Sail Away – Langston Hughes, Illustrator – Ashley Bryan

Ostrich and Lark – Marilyn Nelson, Illustrators – San Artists of the Kuru Art Project in Botswana 

Crowning Glory – Joyce Carol Thomas, Illustrator – Brenda Joysmith 

Harlem – Walter Dean Myers, Illustrator – Christopher Myers 

Poetry for Young People: Maya Angelou – Dr. Edwin Graves Wilson Ph.D., Illustrator – Jerome Lagarrigue    

The Angels Lullaby – Joyce Carol Thomas, Illustrator – Pamela Johnson 

Wonders: The Best Children’s Poems of Effie Lee Newsome – Rudine Sims Bishop (Compiler), Illustrator – Lois Mailou Jones 

I See the Rhythm – Toyomi Igus, Illustrator – Michele Wood 

Under the Moon & Over the Sea: A Collection of Caribbean Poems – James Berry & Grace Nichols 

Daddy Calls Me Man – Angela Johnson, Illustrator – Rhonda Mitchell 

Children of Long Ago – Lessie Jones Little, Illustrator – Jan Spivey Gilchrist 

America, My New Home – Monica Gunning, Illustrator – Ken Condon 

Soul Looks Back in Wonder – Tom Feelings (Editor) Illustrator – Tom Feelings 

Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art – Belinda Rochelle 

The Pioneers (Poetry from the Masters) – Wade Hudson 

The Poems of Phillis Wheatley: With Letters and a Memoir – Phillis Wheatley 

Carver: A Life in Poems – Marilyn Nelson 

Poetry from the Masters: The Black Arts Movement – Eugene Useni Perkins 

Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People – Carole Boston Weatherford    

Martin Rising: Requiem for a King – Andrea Davis Pinkney, Illustrator – Brian Pinkney 

How I Discovered Poetry – Marilyn Nelson, Illustrator – Hadley Hooper 

One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance – Nikki Grimes, Illustrators – Various Artists 

Out of Wonder – Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley, & Marjory Wentworth, Illustrator – Ekua Holmes 

Black Girl Magic – Mahogany L. Browne. Illustrator – Jess X. Snow 

What are your thoughts on our poetry selections? Let us know in the comments below.

And since you’re here, please know that your thoughtful donation will support our mission to promote awareness of children’s and young adult literature by Black authors. Our stories matter. Thank you!