Looking Ahead: Some Children's Poetry Books of 2010

Poetry is food for me! I like the way it tastes on my tongue when I read it aloud. Here are two poems about "eating" poetry that I selected for posting today--along with the titles of some children's poetry books that I can't wait to begin feasting on as soon as they're published.

Eating Poetry
By Mark Strand

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.

There is no happiness like mine.

I have been eating poetry.

The librarian does not believe what she sees.

Her eyes are sad

and she walks with her hands in her dress.

The poems are gone.

The light is dim.

The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.

You can read the rest of the poem here.

How to Eat a Poem
By Eve Merriam

Don't be polite.

Bite in.

Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that
may run down your chin.

It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are.

You do not need a knife or fork or spoon

or plate or napkin or tablecloth.

You can read the rest of the poem here.

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I thought that 2009 was a fine year for children’s poetry. It looks like 2010 is going to be another good year for those of us who get excited about reading new children’s poetry books as well. Here are some of the books I’m looking forward to reading this winter and spring. I’ve arranged the titles by their publication dates.

Ocean Soup: A Book of Tide Pool Poems
Written by Stephen R. Swinburne
Illustrated by Mary Peterson
Charlesbridge (February 2010)

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Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse
Written by Marilyn Singer
Illustrated by Josee Massee
Dutton (March 4, 2010)

From the starred Booklist review by Patricia Austin: This ingenious book of reversos, or poems which have one meaning when read down the page and perhaps an altogether different meaning when read up the page, toys with and reinvents oh-so-familiar stories and characters, from Cinderella to the Ugly Duckling. The five opening lines of the Goldilocks reverso read: “Asleep in cub’s bed/Blonde/startled by/Bears,/the headline read.” Running down the page side-by-side with this poem is a second, which ends with: “Next day/the headline read:/Bears startled/by blonde/asleep in cub’s bed.”

********************Everybody Was a Baby Once and Other Poems
Written by Allen Ahlberg
Illustrated by Bruce Ingman
Candlewick (March 9, 2010)

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Poetrees
Written & illustrated by Douglas Florian
Beach Lane Books (March 9, 2010)

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the poems in the book:
Click here to read Paper Birch.
Click here to read Dragon Tree.
Click here to read Giant Sequoias.

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Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems
Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by David Diaz
Margaret K. McElderry (March 9, 2010)

Lee Bennett Hopkins showed me an F&G of Sharing the Seasons at the NCTE Convention in November. The book is gorgeous!

Click here for a peek inside the book.

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Volcano Wakes Up!
Written by Lisa Westberg Peters
Illustrated by Stephen W. Jenkins
Henry Holt (March 30, 2010)

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Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors
Written by Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by Beckie Prange
Houghton Mifflin (April 5, 2010)

From the starred Booklist review by Gillian Engberg: The creators of the Caldecott Honor Book Song of the Waterboatman and Other Pond Poems (2005) offer another winning blend of poetry, science, and art in this picture-book collection that celebrates the earth’s most resilient and long-lived species. Following Waterboatman’s format, each dynamic spread in this remarkable volume features a poem, a prose paragraph, and a captivating illustration that work together perfectly to reinforce both the science concepts and the awe they inspire.

The book trailer for Ubiquitous: Celebrating Natures Survivors

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Amazing Faces
Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet
Lee & Low (May 2010)

Click here to find out about this book from the publisher.

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have a poem by Karen Swank-Fitch titled I Leave Bits of Me Everywhere.

Liz Garton Scanlon is doing the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.