April is National Poetry Month!

April is my favorite themed month - National Poetry Month! My fellow bookseller Shara and I have huge, squishy soft spots for poetry, to the point of reading and reciting poems to each other, and fawning over each new poetry anthology that comes in. We hope you come in this month, especially on Poem in Your Pocket Day (the 14th!) and swap poems with us. For some inspiration, here are some of our newest and most favored poetry books.


Spinster Goose: Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Spinster Goose, Mother Goose's sister, reforms wayward, bad-mannered children. This tongue-in-cheek collection parodies well-known nursery rhymes with such poems as "Peter, Peter, was a cheater" and "The Fibber," which begins, "Mary had a little lamb./She said it was a horse." This collection blends manners mores a la Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales and Bad Child's Book of Beasts with Jon Scieszka's darkly goofy humor style in The Stinky Cheese Man.


For even more hilarious nonsense, one need go no further than Edward Lear. Even though these poems are from the Victorian era, like Lewis Carroll's stories and poems, their unexpected rhymes and pure ridiculousness are still popular. A new collection, His Shoes Were Far Too Tight, edited by Daniel Pinkwater, illustrated by Calef Brown (who has many wonderful poetry books of his own), has just been published this month.

Do you know what April 14th is? (Other than "I did mail my taxes, didn't I?" day)? It's Poem in Your Pocket Day - a day to carry about your favorite poem, share it with friends, co-workers, or your neighborhood's barista, and swap it for the poem in their pocket. To fill your pockets with odes and sestinas, there is Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets, edited by Bruno Navasky with the Academy of American Poets, which has 100 poems on tear away pages. Poets in the collections run from Grace Paley and Naomi Shihab Nye to e.e. cummings, Langston Hughes, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Great Poems for Grand Children, edited by Celestine Frost with illustrations by Brian Cronin, is the kind of collection that belongs on every nursery and teenager's bookshelf. Divided into topical sections including "nonsense verse," "animal friends," "fairies, witches, goblins & company," and "seasons of life," this collection features a range of poets from Shakespeare and Walt Whitman to Jack Kerouac and Galway Kinnell. I especially enjoy the inclusion of traditional standards, hobo ballads, and Native American songs.


One of our new books just in this week is a picture book biography of a famous Chilean poet: Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People written by Monica Brown and illustrated by Julie Paschkis. His life story and the inspiration for his poems are supplemented by Paschkis's rich paintings with English and Spanish words woven into the scenery.



After lyrical picture books and gorgeous anthologies of poetry, why not explore novels in verse? One of our book buyer's very favorite books is Sharon Creech's Love That Dog. Jack's new teacher, Miss Stretchberry, is teaching his class about poetry - which Jack resists fiercely until he discovers Walter Dean Myers and the power of a poem to confront and release powerful emotions. In the back of the book you can find the original poems that Jack is responding to.






And one last line to leave on: this September, HarperCollins will release a posthumous collection of previously unpublished poems and drawings from Shel Silverstein, called Everything On It.

When the world is puddle-wonderful...

In addition to a time of tulips and mud-luscious puddles, April is Poetry Month! You can celebrate with poems hilarious or poems dolorous, poems tall or poems small...whatever poem suits you, shout it all the time (they don't even need to rhyme).

Jack Prelutsky has been the Children's Poet Laureate - and he's up there with the ranks of Shel Silverstein and Dr Seuss for amusing kids with rhymes. Try out Something Big Has Been Here - it's recently in paperback, so it makes having a big collection of poems that much more affordable and comfortable. These poems can amuse preschoolers through elementary age, lots of talk of underwear, dinosaurs, and general silliness. One of my favorites is "Mold, Mold", which begins:


Mold, mold,
marvelous mold,
alluring to look at,
enthralling to hold...


For older humorists, The Tighty Whitey Spider by Kevin Nesbitt is full of "wacky animal poems" about yaks playing basketball, a lost chameleon, and of course, a spider that gets a tighty whitey wedgie (to the tune of the Itsy Bitsy Spider). You can download the poems as read by the author on the book's website. Also try Nesbitt's second collection, My Hippo Has the Hiccups.



The Tree That Time Built takes a different approach to poetry. This collection, edited by our current Children's Poet Laureate, Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston, a teacher, contains dreamy, wondrous poems about science and nature. The sections are divided into topics like "Prehistoric praise" and "Everything that lives wants to fly." The book includes an audio CD with selections of poetry and a glossary of terms.


My absolute favorite for teens is Poetry Speaks Who I Am, edited by Elise Paschen. I do love the Poetry Speaks project, and this is an incredible collection. The poets range from contemporary to classic, and the organization is brilliant: Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" across from Samuel Menashe's "Prowess", Shakespeare's sonnet # 130 ("My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun..") alongside "Litany" from Billy Collins. Of course, an audio CD of selected poems is included. If you've missed earlier books from this series, try out Poetry Speaks to Children, also edited by Elise Paschen and Hip Hop Speaks to Children, edited by Nikki Giovanni.


Since April is also Roald Dahl month, we can't forget Dahl's various collections of poetry! His chapter books are known for their bizarre humor and kind of gross weirdness, and his poems don't disappoint there. Revolting Rhymes are retold fairy tales in which the heroes or heroines are necessarily always heroic (Jack escapes the Giant in the beanstalk because he finally bathes!). Also try Dirty Beasts, or Vile Verses, which contains both Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts and poems from the chapter books.

In addition to these choices, we have a whole poetry section with other anthologies and collections ranging from Mother Goose, Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses and individual poet selections. For beginning poetry enthusiasts, I recommend the Poetry for Young People series; they are short, illustrated books from writers such as Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Lewis Carroll, and so on.

National Poetry Month -- pip, pip!

We're celebrating National Poetry Month!

Silly poems and serious poems, sunny poems and sad poems, scary poems and every other kind of poem can be found in the many anthologies we carry in our poetry section. To give you a sampling, we've each chosen our favorite from a collection you can find there.

"Snails" from Polka-Bats and Octopus Slacks by Calef Brown
selected by Miruna

It never fails, those pesky snails
are always in the pudding.
Lousy guests, those nasty pests,
they're always up to something.

I've tried like mad to find their nest
but snails are smart I must confess.
The trails they leave can fool the best,
and snails are good at hiding.

Oh well, at least they don't make threats,
they don't eat meat,
they don't place bets,
they almost always pay their debts,
and never puff on cigarettes.
I think I'll keep those snails as pets
and feed them lots of pudding.

"Table Manners" from The Goops and How to Be Them by Gilette Burgess
selected by Katie

The Goops they lick their fingers
And the Goops they lick their knives
They spill their broth on the tablecloth --
Oh, they lead disgusting lives!

The Goops they talk while eating
And loud and fast they chew
And that is why I'm glad that I
Am not a Goop -- are you?

"in Just-" by e.e. cummings from Favorite Poems Old and New (edited by Helen Ferris)
selected by Michelle

in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from
marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman
whistles far and wee
and bettyandisabel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed

balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee

"Spring and Fall" by Gerard Manley Hopkins
selected by book buyer Donna

Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What héart héard of, ghóst guéssed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

"The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear from Poetry Speaks to Children (edited by Elise Paschen) -- read and hear three other poems from this collection at NPR
selected by merch buyer Ellen

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

"Twinkletoes" from When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne
selected by Bethany

When the sun
Shines through the leaves of the apple-tree,
When the sun
Makes shadows of the leaves of the apple-tree,
Then I pass
On the grass
From one leaf to another,
From one leaf to its brother,
Tip-toe, tip-toe!
Here I go!

"Poor Potatoes Underground" from Ride a Purple Pelican by Jack Prelutsky
selected by Rachel

Poor potatoes underground
never get to look around,
do not have a chance to see
butterfly or bumblebee.

Poor potatoes never look
at the fishes in the brook,
never see the sunny skies --
what a waste of all those eyes!

"It's a Dog-Dust Day" by Janeen Brian inspired by "A Break Away" by Tom Roberts, from Side by Side: New Poems Inspired by Art from Around the World (edited by Jan Greenberg)
selected by general manager Bindy

It's a dog-dust day.
Sky clamps the brown land in blue heat.
Hawks swing lazy circles
near an archway of tall eucalyptus.

It's a dog-dust day
on the sheep-filled track;
woolly animals hemmed in by crouching dogs
sloe-eyed, sharp-eared, firecrackers when need be.

It's a dog-dust day.
Stockmen shuffle the mob along
with cracks of cries and whistles that split the air.
Then the scent of water, a tumble,

and the sudden leap of a dream-startled sheep
and the mob explodes, scatters, bounds over
fences where none exist!

A break away!

A confusion of bleating and bustling that chokes the track
and a stockman swerves his horse and swipes his hat,
on that shattered, scattered,
dog-dust day.

"Olf" from Dutch Sneakers and Flea Keepers by Calef Brown
selected by Anne

Olf is a terrible pirate,
with a rabbit instead of a parrot.
He couldn't afford
the usual sword,
so he has to get by with a carrot.

Olf makes a racket
wherever he goes.
Screaming "Shiver me fingers!"
and "Off with your nose!"

His leg has no peg,
and his beard isn't blue,
but Olf is a pirate.
I'm frightened,
aren't you?

You can also celebrate by visiting fellow blogs The Miss Rumphius Effect and Poetry for Children, which explore poetry in children's literature all year long. The "30 Poets in 30 Days" feature at GottaBook offers a never before published poem by a great children's poet every day in April. And don't forget to bring in a poem this Thursday, April 30, for Poem in Your Pocket Day! Not only will you get one of the CG staff's favorite poems in exchange, but you'll get 10% off your purchase!

Poem in Your Pocket Day

Celebrate the second annual Poem in Your Pocket Day here with us at Curious George! On April 30th, for the close of National Poetry Month, just select a poem you love and carry it in your pocket to share with friends, schoolmates, co-workers. Then come to the store with your poem and get 10% off your purchase!