Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship
by Irene Latham and Carolrhoda Books
Nominated by: Linda Baie
Listen into this honest conversation written in verse between a Black Boy and a White Girl. They have to work together on a classroom project and imagine it will be too difficult if not impossible. But they talk, listen and learn, about each other, about racism, and about the power of letting go of stereotypes and working together. The reader’s heart will soon listen closely as these two students wonder just how are we different and how are we the same.
H Is For Haiku: A Treasury of Haiku from A to Z
by Sydell Rosenberg, illustrated by Penny Candy Books
Nominated by: Rosemary Kiladitis
In the words of late author Sydell Rosenberg’s daughter, Amy Losak, who was instrumental in getting her mother’s book published, the poems contained within are more than just well-constructed haiku: they are “miniature stories…gentle and gently humorous observant slices of life.” And that is a perfect way of describing this lovely, touching, and fun collection. With 48 books nominated in the poetry category, any shortlisted title needed to be outstanding in substance, interest, and form – and H is for Haiku succeeds at all of these. From a cat dozing within the ring of its tail to a young girl pedaling her bike through falling autumn leaves, Rosenberg says much more in 17 syllables than most folks can in 17 pages.
In the Past: From Trilobites to Dinosaurs to Mammoths in More Than 500 Million Years
by David Elliott, illustrated by Candlewick Press
Nominated by: Maggi Rohde
Elliott pays tribute to prehistoric creatures with succinct poems filled with subtle humor. Both the subject matter and the humor will entice kids to open this book. The poems will leave them laughing while the facts at the end will send them on to learn more about the creatures.
Long Way Down
by Jason Reynolds
Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Nominated by: Deb Nance at Readerbuzz
Fifteen-year-old Will knows the rules of the street- don’t cry, don’t snitch, and get revenge. When his older brother Sean is shot and killed, Will believes it’s his job to avenge the murder. On the way down in the elevator, he encounters the ghosts of a number of people- an uncle, a childhood friend, his father, and finally, his brother, Sean- who have all died as a result of gun violence. Jason Reynold’s novel-in-verse perfectly captures the reality of so many urban adolescents, and ends with a question that is sure to get readers talking. Definitely a book that will turn kids onto poetry.
Mary’s Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein
by Lita Judge
Roaring Brook Press
Nominated by: Rebecca Herzog
Mary’s Monster is a gripping verse novel filled with imagery and emotion that draw readers into Mary Shelley’s tragic life…and into her process for creating the most famous “creature” of British literature. Lita Judge’s text perfectly captures the mood and atmosphere of Mary’s turbulent world and times. Her book is an empathic portrayal of an independent, imaginative teenager who defied tradition, suffered great personal losses, and wrote the world’s first science fiction novel.
The Poet X
by Elizabeth Acevedo
HarperTeen
Nominated by: sprite
Xiomara’s thoughts and feelings – secrets
reveal – an authentic voice
a free verse story that grips hearts
one poem at a time, page after page after page.
Traveling the Blue Road: Poems of the Sea
edited by Seagrass Press
Nominated by: Alex Baugh
In Traveling the Blue Road, Lee Bennett Hopkins invites readers to think of the sea not just as a wide expanse of water, but also as a road, a route along which travelers have journeyed for centuries. Arranged chronologically from the journey of Columbus and his crew in the late 15th century, to later journeys on slave ships, to the present-day journeys of refugees and itinerant fishermen, these 14 illustrated poems are written by poets including Margarita Engle, Marilyn Nelson, Naomi Shihab Nye, Allan Wolf and Jane Yolen.
Collectively, these haunting poems encourage readers to reflect on both the promise and perils of sea journeys, to gain greater insight into the bravery and fears of the travelers, and to empathize with the willing, and most-especially, the unwilling, voyagers. Evoking many thought-provoking images, the poems in Traveling the Blue Road are targeted to the older end of the picture book range and are a wonderful resource for classrooms and homes, to be read and pondered as a set, or individually.