“Poems don’t have to rhyme. Poems are about beauty and emotion; in other words, poems are about feelings.” – Nikki Giovanni
April is National Poetry Month. Acclaimed poet Nikki Giovanni’s quote simply states what poetry is about, beauty and emotion. Giovanni has penned several poetry books for children and has a new picture book release, A Library (Versify), due out later this year. The books featured offer a great variety of topics for all ages, from picture books that extol the beauty of Black people to middle-grade and young adult verse novels that emote pain, pride, and promise. Also included is Kwame Alexander’s Free Write: A Poetry Notebook, “an exciting, interactive, poetry notebook [that empowers] kids to express themselves in verse.” So grab a copy or two for your aspiring young poets. Happy Poetry Month!
1 America, My Love, America, My Heart
Daria Peoples-Riley | Greenwillow Books | April 6, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
2 What the Road Said
Cleo Wade | Lucie de Moyencourt | Feiwel and Friends | March 23, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
3 The ABCs of Black History
Rio Cortez | Lauren Semmer | Workman Publishing Company | December 22, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
4 Curls (Board Book)
Ruth Forman | Geneva Bowers | Little Simon | December 22 | BdBk | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
5 All Because You Matter
Tami Charles | Bryan Collier | Orchard Books | October 6, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
6 I Am Every Good Thing
Derrick Barnes | Gordon C. James | Nancy Paulsen Books | September 1, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
7 A Place Inside of Me
Zetta Elliott | Noa Denmon | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) | July 21, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
8 Who Will You Be?
Andrea Pippins | Schwartz & Wade | April 7, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
9 A Girl Like Me
Angela Johnson | Nina Crews | Millbrook Press | February 4, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
10 Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration
Samara Cole Doyon | Kaylani Juanita | Tilbury House | January 7, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
11 The Thing About Bees: A Love Letter
Shabazz Larkin | Readers to Eaters | August 1, 2019 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
12 Thinker: My Puppy Poet and Me
Eloise Greenfield | Ehsan Abdollahi | Sourcebooks Jabberwocky | April 2, 2019 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
13 Hands Up!
Breanna J. McDaniel | Shane W. Evans | Dial Books | January 22, 2019 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
14 A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks
Alice Faye Duncan | Xia Gordon | Sterling | January 1, 2019 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
15 Life Doesn’t Frighten Me
Maya Angelou | Jean-Michel Basquiat | Harry N. Abrams | January 9, 2018 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
16 Hey Black Child
Useni Eugene Perkins | Bryan Collier | Little, Brown BYR | November 14, 2017 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
17 Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library
Carole Boston Weatherford | Eric Velasquez | Candlewick | September 12, 2017 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
18 Some Kind of Love: A Family Reunion in Poems
Traci Dant | Eric Velasquez | Two Lions | April 1, 2010 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
19 Looking Like Me
Walter Dean Myers | Christopher Myers | Carolrhoda Books | October 27, 2009 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
20 My People
Langston Hughes | Charles R. Smith Jr. | Atheneum BYR | January 6, 2009 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
21 Bronzeville Boys and Girls
Gwendolyn Brooks | Faith Ringgold | HarperCollins | December 26, 2006 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
22 There Is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Me
Alice Walker | Stefano Vitale | HarperCollins | May 09, 2006 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
23 My Feet Are Laughing
Lissette Norman | Frank Morrison | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) | March 21, 2006 | PB | Amazon | IndieBound
24 The Sun Is So Quiet
Nikki Giovanni | Ashley Bryan | Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) | October 15, 1996 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
25 Everett Anderson’s Goodbye (Everett Anderson Series)
Lucille Clifton | Ann Grifalconi | Square Fish | July 15, 1988 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
26 Kwame Alexander’s Free Write: A Poetry Notebook
Kwame Alexander | Sourcebooks Wonderland | November 3, 2020 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
27 Becoming Muhammad Ali
Kwame Alexander | James Patterson | Dawud Anyabwile | Jimmy Patterson | October 5, 2020 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
28 Before the Ever After
Jacqueline Woodson | Nancy Paulsen Books | September 1, 2020 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
29 Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice
Mahogany L. Browne | Elizabeth Acevedo | Olivia Gatwood | Theodore Taylor III | Roaring Brook | March 10, 2020 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
30 The Women Who Caught The Babies: A Story of African American Midwives
Eloise Greenfield | Daniel Minter | Alazar Press | September 1, 2019 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
31 Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance
Nikki Grimes | Bloomsbury Children’s Books | January 5, 2021 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
32 Finding Langston (The Finding Langston Trilogy)
Lesa Cline-Ransome | Holiday House | August 14, 2018 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
33 The Red Pencil
Andrea Davis Pinkney | Shane Evans | Little, Brown BYR | September 16, 2014 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
34 Catching a Storyfish
Janice N. Harrington | Wordsong | September 20, 2016 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
35 The Way a Door Closes
Hope Anita Smith | Shane W Evans San Val | March 15, 2011 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
36 The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country
Amanda Gorman | Viking BYR | March 30, 2021 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
37 Home Is Not a Country
Safia Elhillo | Make Me a World | March 2, 2021 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
38 Chlorine Sky
Mahogany L. Browne | Crown BYR | January 12, 2021 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
39 Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel
Jason Reynolds | Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books | October 13, 2020 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
40 Concrete Kids (Pocket Change Collective)
Amyra León | Ashley Lukashevsky | Penguin Workshop | October 13, 2020 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
41 Punching the Air
Ibi Zoboi | Yusef Salaam | Balzer + Bray | September 1, 2020 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
42 The Black Flamingo
Dean Atta | HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray | May 26, 2020 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
43 Clap When You Land
Elizabeth Acevedo | Quill Tree Books | May 5, 2020 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
44 Say Her Name
Zetta Elliott | Loveis Wise | Jump At The Sun | YA | January 14, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
45 Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir
Nikki Grimes | Wordsong | October 08, 2019 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
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