Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship
10 best books like Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship (Irene Latham): Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems, I Am Loved, Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan, Martin Rising: Requiem For a King, Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold, When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons, Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems, Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph, Stardines Swim High Across the Sky: and Other Poems, On the Wing
"I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by."
"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea."
Admission: I have a great weakness for sea poetry. Like Melville's Ishmael,...
| Author | Nikki Giovanni |
| ISBN | 1534404929 |
Newbery Award honoree Ashley Bryan has hand-selected a dozen of National Book Award winner Nikki Giovanni’s poems to illustrate with his inimitable flourish.
There is nothing more important to a child than to feel loved, and this gorgeous gathering of poems written by Nikki Giovanni celebrates...
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan
| Author | Ashley Bryan |
| ISBN | 1481456903 |
Newbery Honor Book
Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book
Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, Ashley Bryan offers a moving and powerful picture book that contrasts the monetary value of a slave with the priceless...
| Author | Andrea Davis Pinkney |
| ISBN | 0545702534 |
A Washington Post Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
* "Unique and remarkable." --Publishers Weekly, starred review
* "Each poem trembles under the weight...
| Author | Joyce Sidman |
| ISBN | 0547906501 |
First thing: there is a fox on the cover and a fox on each page and yet there is not a poem to a fox; why? OK, the poems are about animals surviving the cold winter in nature. They are good poems. Then on the side they give a block of text on how the animals actually survive the cold with facts. My niece loves the...
When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons
| Author | Julie Fogliano |
| ISBN | 1596438525 |
december 29
and i woke to a morning
that was quiet and white
the first snow
(just like magic) came on tip toes
overnight
Flowers blooming in sheets of snow make way for happy frogs dancing in the rain. Summer swims move over for autumn sweaters until the snow comes back...
| Author | Paul B. Janeczko |
| ISBN | 0763648426 |
Celebrated poet and anthologist Paul B. Janeczko pairs with Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet for a collection of short poems to sample and savor.
It only takes a few words, if they’re the right words, to create a strong image. Whether listened to in the comfort of a cozy lap or read independently,...
| Author | Roxane Orgill |
| ISBN | 0763669547 |
What happens when you invite as many jazz musicians as you can to pose for a photo in 1950s Harlem? Playful verse and glorious artwork capture an iconic moment for American jazz.
When Esquire magazine planned an issue to salute the American jazz scene in 1958, graphic designer Art Kane pitched...
Stardines Swim High Across the Sky: and Other Poems
| Author | Jack Prelutsky |
| ISBN | 0062014641 |
The poet, author, and indomitable naturalist Jack Prelutsky, having returned safely from far-flung places with an extensive collection of unique creatures that are a blending of the animate and inanimate, has worked in close collaboration with the fine artist Carin Berger, who herself conducted...
| Author | David Elliott |
| ISBN | 0763653241 |
David Elliott’s witty verse takes flight with gorgeous illustrations in an enchanting look at fifteen avian species for birders of all ages.
Take to the sky to explore a glorious array of all things avian, from the tiny, restless hummingbird to the inscrutable horned owl to the majestic...
| Author | Bob Raczka |
| ISBN | 1626722366 |
Who says words need to be concrete? This collection shapes poems in surprising and delightful ways.
Concrete poetry is a perennially popular poetic form because they are fun to look at. But by using the arrangement of the words on the page to convey the meaning of the poem, concrete or shape poems...
| Author | Amy Ludwig VanDerwater |
We read. We read for reasons varying from day to day from the time we first read until the last time we read. We read to know and to grow. We read to find ourselves and to find others. We read for the laughter, the joy, and the hope. We read.
Whether you are a new reader or a reader having spent decades...
| Author | Rick Lieder |
| ISBN | 0763669040 |
Illuminated by exquisite photographs of eleven species of birds, a spare and elegant poem inspires readers to open their wings and soar.
Baby robins, open-beaked in their nest. Mallards winging to a new clime. Whether chickadees or cardinals, sparrows or starlings, here are commonly seen...
| Author | Marilyn Singer |
| ISBN | 0803739923 |
A new book of unique reversible poems based on Greek myths from the creator of Mirror Mirror
What happens when you hold up a mirror to poems about Greek myths? You get a brand-new perspective on the classics! And that is just what happens in Echo Echo, the newest collection of reverso poems...
What is poetry? Is it glistening morning dew? Spider thinks so. Is it crisp leaves crunching? That’s what Squirrel says. Could it be a cool pond, sun-warmed sand, or moonlight on the grass? Maybe poetry is all of these things, as it is something special for everyone—you just have to take the time to...
| Author | Margarita Engle |
| ISBN | 0805098763 |
Musician, botanist, baseball player, pilot—the Latinos featured in this collection come from many different countries and from many different backgrounds. Celebrate their accomplishments and their contributions to a collective history and a community that continues to evolve and thrive...
Are You an Echo?: The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko
In early-1900s Japan, Misuzu Kaneko grows from precocious bookworm to instantly-beloved children’s poet. But her life ends prematurely, and Misuzu’s work is forgotten. Decades later her poems are rediscovered—just in time to touch a new generation devastated by the tsunami of 2011. This...
Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
I’m in the minority here because I wasn’t thrilled by this collection so I’ll be as brief as I can. I am a fan of Kwame Alexander, who along with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth wrote poems in response to some of their favorite poets, including Maya Angelou, Bashō, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sandra...
One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance
| Author | Nikki Grimes |
| ISBN | 1619635542 |
In this collection of poetry, Nikki Grimes looks afresh at the poets of the Harlem Renaissance -- including voices like Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and many more writers of importance and resonance from this era -- by combining their work with her own original poetry. Using "The Golden...
| Author | Elaine Magliaro |
| ISBN | 1452111243 |
With playful prose and vivid art, Things to Do brings to life the small moments and secret joys of a child's day. There are wonders everywhere. In the sky and on the ground—blooming in a flower bed, dangling from a silken thread, buzzing through the summer air—waiting ...waiting to be found. In this...
Flutter and Hum / Aleteo y Zumbido: Animal Poems / Poemas de Animales
| Author | Julie Paschkis |
| ISBN | 1627791035 |
This is a book of poems by Julie Paschkis. All the poems are about animals. The poems are written in both English and Spanish. Because the poems are simple and they are about a wide variety of interesting animals, they would appeal to younger children. Many of the poems are alliterative or rhyming and they...
"Dream Variation," one of Langston Hughes's poems about the dream of a world free of discrimination and racial prejudice is now a picture book.
To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done....
Follow...
Poem-Mobiles: Crazy Car Poems
| Author | J. Patrick Lewis |
| ISBN | 0375866906 |
The U.S. Children's Poet Laureate and an award-winning children's poet join their prolific forces in this picture book of poems about cars. But they're not just any cars: there's the "Sloppy-Floppy-Nonstop-Jalopy" ("So unique there is no copy"); the Bathtub Limosine ("With hot water heating / And...
| Author | Jane Yolen |
| ISBN | 1590789369 |
In this collection of poems, noted children’s poet Jane Yolen takes readers on an expedition underground, exploring everything from animal burrows and human creations, like subways, near the surface—to ancient cities and fossils, lower down—to caves, magma, and Earth’s tectonic plates,...
