Poetry

A thoroughly researched, fictionalized account of the life of Emily Dickinson as a young girl. While most obviously useful for school support, the book will also appeal to budding writers and those who enjoy a strong heroine.

When Ernest Hemingway famously wrote, “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn,” he proved that an entire story can be told using a half-dozen words. In this book, a variety of writers try to sum up their life in six simple words. Clever and fun, this book is a perfect starting point for a similar writing lesson.

This collection of more than 100 poems that honestly and artfully confront topics ranging from poverty and motherhood to Van Gogh and Mandela is presented in Tupac Shakur’s own handwriting on one side of the page, with a typed version on the opposite side. 

 A realistic and emotional novel about a woman battling mental illness and societal pressures written by the iconic American writer Sylvia Plath.The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. 

Have you ever tried to write a poem about a pizza? How about a pig? This book gives you the inside scoop on writing poetry and shows you how you can turn your own experiences and stories about your family, your pets, and your friends into poems,

Despite the dry subtitle, this is actually a lively guide to poetry forms both familiar and obscure. In a picture-book format, Janeczko uses examples and informative language to illustrate a wide variety of poems.

Teenage Jessie shares the ups and downs of her life in these clever, and cleverly constructed, poems. This is a sequel to Technically It’s Not My Fault, which was told in the voice of her younger brother.

This classic poem, which may not be familiar to kids today, is given a contemporary update by illustrator Joe Morse, who moves the setting to the inner city. Contrast this version with other illustrated versions of the poem and examine how the illustrations and text work together to affect meaning.

When a high school class starts having Friday afternoon open-mike poetry, the kids tell their life stories and worries in the poems included in this book. This is a great introduction to spoken word poetry and an inspiration to budding poets.