Amanda Gorman’s second picture book (illustrated by Christian Robinson) Something, Someday will be released this fall on September 28th. Gorman gained global renown in 2021 when she became the youngest poet to read at a presidential inauguration. The poem she read, The Hill We Climb, was released shortly thereafter as a 32-page YA book. Besides Gorman, this poetry month book list features titles by award-winning poets like Ruth Forman, Kwame Alexander, Theresa tha S.O.N.G.B.I.R.D., and Nikki Giovanni, and includes middle-grade and young adult stories in verse.
For more poetry selections see History, Hoops, and Jimi Hendrix: Picture Books and Beauty and Emotion.
1. Bloom
Ruth Forman | Talia Skyles | Little Simon | April 26, 2022 | Bd Bk | Amazon | Bookshop
2. Baby Boy, You Are a Star!
Andrea Davis Pinkney | Brian Pinkney | Cartwheel Books | January 3, 2023 | Bd Bk | Amazon | Bookshop
3. Hands On!
Anne Wynter | Alea Marley | Balzer + Bray | January 4, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
4. Glow
Ruth Forman | Geneva Bowers | Little Simon | May 4, 2021 | BdBk | Amazon | Bookshop
5. Lullaby (for a Black Mother)
Langston Hughes | Sean Qualls | Clarion Books | September 28, 2021 | BdBk | Amazon | Bookshop
6. Something, Someday
Amanda Gorman | Christian Robinson | Viking BYR | September 26, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
7. Courage Out Loud: 25 Poems of Power
Joseph Coelho | Daniel Gray-Barnett | Wide Eyed Editions | April 18, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
8. An Earth Song
Langston Hughes | Tequitia Andrews | Cameron Kids | April 18, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
9. Windrush Child: The Tale of a Caribbean Child Who Faced a New Horizon
John Agard | Sophie Bass | Candlewick | April 11, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
10. How to Write a Poem
Kwame Alexander | Deanna Nikaido | Melissa Sweet | Quill Tree Books | April 4, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
11. Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual
Carole Boston Weatherford | Frank Morrison | Crown BYR | September 20, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
12. You So Black
Theresa tha S.O.N.G.B.I.R.D. | London Ladd | Millner/Simon & Schuster | January 10, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
13. Lovely Day
Bill Withers | Skip Scarborough | Olivia Duchess | Scholastic Inc | January 3, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
14. We Are Here
Tami Charles | Bryan Collier | Orchard Books | January 3, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
15. An American Story
Kwame Alexander | Dare Coulter | Little, Brown | January 3, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
16. Black Gold
Laura Obuobi | London Ladd | HarperCollins | October 11, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
17. Build a House
Rhiannon Giddens | Monica Mikai | Candlewick Press | October 11, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
18. A Library
Nikki Giovanni | Erin Robinson | HMH/Versify | September 27, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
19. Dear Black Child
Rahma Rodaah | Lydia Mba | HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray | September 27, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
20. Maya’s Song
Reneé Watson | Bryan Collier | HarperCollins | September 20, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
21. Playtime for Restless Rascals
Nikki Grimes | Elizabeth Zunon | Sourcebooks Jabberwocky | September 6, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
22. Black Girl Rising
Brynne Barnes | Tatyana Fazlalizadeh | Chronicle Books | June 28, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
23. Emile and the Field
Kevin Young | Chioma Ebinama | Make Me a World | March 15, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
24. The Hair Book
LaTonya Yvette | Amanda Jane Jones | Union Square Kids | May 3, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
25. Ambitious Girl
Meena Harris | Marissa Valdez | Little, Brown BYR | January 19, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
26. Garvey’s Choice: The Graphic Novel
Nikki Grimes | Theodore Taylor III | Wordsong | June 6, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
27. Forever Is Now
Mariama J. Lockington | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) | May 23, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
28. Eb & Flow
Kelly J. Baptist | Crown BYR | March 14, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
29. We Are All So Good at Smiling
Amber McBride | Feiwel & Friends | January 10, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
30. The Door of No Return
Kwame Alexander | Little, Brown BYR | September 27, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
31. Rain Rising
Courtne Comrie | HarperCollins | September 27, 2022 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
32. Booked (Graphic Novel)
Kwame Alexander | Dawud Anyabwile | Etch/Clarion Books | July 12, 2022 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
33. Inheritance: A Visual Poem
Elizabeth Acevedo | Andrea Pippins | Quill Tree Books | May 3, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
34. Nothing Burns as Bright as You
Ashley Woodfolk | Versify | April 5, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
35. Moonwalking
Zetta Elliott | Lyn Miller-Lachmann | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) | April 12, 2022 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
36. And We Rise: The Civil Rights Movement in Poems
Erica Martin | Philomel | February 1, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
37. Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor’s Life
Marilyn Nelson | Tammi Lawson | Henry Holt and Co. BYR | January 25, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
38. Vinyl Moon
Mahogany L. Browne | Crown BYR | January 11, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
39. Ain’t Burned All the Bright
Jason Reynolds | Jason Griffin | Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy | January 11, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
40. When Winter Robeson Came
Brenda Woods | Nancy Paulsen Books | January 11, 2022 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
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