Do you want to help kids express themselves through writing? Show them how reading and writing poetry is a perfect way to express their thoughts and feelings. Celebrating poetry is a fun and creative way to get kids excited about writing with expression!
Struggling and advanced readers and writers alike will enjoy reading these timeless poems as they learn to respect and appreciate different points of view and style while perfecting their own! Meaningful words and ideas will come to life as they explore the different forms of poetry. Read on to discover 45 of our favorite poetry books for kids!
Poetry Books for Pre - K to 8 years
1. If Animals Kissed Good Night
Challenge kids' imaginations with this adorable poetry book! Imagine if animals did the same things as humans? Book 1 of a 6 book series takes children into the world of their favorite furry animals with lives just like theirs!
2. Photo Ark ABC: An Animal Alphabet in Poetry and Pictures (National Geographic Kids)
Learning the ABC's has never been so much fun! With stunning photographs from National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore and eloquent poetry by New York Times best-selling U.S. Children's poet, Debbie Levy, children are sure to become alphabet experts while learning about some of their favorite animals!
3. National Geographic Children's Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar!
Introduce kids to the wonderful world of animals with this adorable poetry picture book. One of the year's best and most accessible poetry books, it is sure to please kids and adults alike!
4. National Geographic Children's Book of Nature Poetry: More than 200 Poems With Photographs That Float, Zoom, and Bloom!
Show kids the magic of nature and the universe with a collection of modern and classic nature poems. From Billy Collins to Robert Frost, you and your child will go on an adventure through rivers and mountains, survive snowstorms and so much more!
5. The Hugging Tree: A Story About Resilience
Teach children it is normal to be upset when bad things happen in life with this award-nominated book about resilience. Everyday life can be difficult even for young kids and even harder to understand! Help show students that falling down happens BUT getting back up is even better! It might just hit home for some adults!
6. Why the Butterfly: Why do seasons and weather change?: The Question Academy Series
Help students make non-fiction fun with this fantastic series book! Teach them to ask questions about the world through rhymes and vivid illustrations! Six different characters will help their imaginations soar. Add this to your collection of books for children to see what their creative minds can do!
7. Green Eggs and Ham
Kids will love exploring poetry through the magic of Dr. Seuss! This literary classic helps young kids learn to read while having fun with rhymes and colorful characters. The gift of language comes to life in the world of Dr. Seuss!
8. Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings
Let Shel Silverstein show kids how fun poetry can be with his classic masterpiece of funny poems! Kids will love the hilarious poems and adults will take a walk down memory lane as they journey through their childhood of favorite poems with classic poetry that only Shel Silverstein can deliver.
9. Wondrous You: Empowering Poems for Magical Kids
Teach kids they are awesome with this uplifting poetry book! A Silver Medal Award winner, this book teaches kids that they are important and what they think matters! Give kids the tools needed to have conversations with adults and children while making sense of the world and themselves.
10. Days Like This: A Collection of Small Poems
Did you ever want to jump on the bed or sleep outdoors? What else do you like to do during the day? In Days Like This, Simon James takes kids on an adventure with imaginative illustrations and inspiring poems meant to spark the imagination about what can happen in a day.
11. Rainy Day Poems
Teach kids to read with this book about having fun on rainy days with humorous poems to express themselves! Perfect for reading out loud in any classroom or home setting. Rainy Day Poems will help expand the imagination while also helping them increase their success in reading and language.
12. 8 Little Planets: A Solar System Book for Kids with Unique Planet Cutouts
Find out what makes our solar system so unique with this enjoyable concrete poetry picture book for kids. Poems for kids will help young children will learn that each planet has its own distinct qualities just like them!
13. The Wonderful Things You Will Be
Show your kids how much you believe in them with this rhythmic book by U.S. Children's Poet Emily Winfield Martin. With beautiful expressions, it will allow many parents to say what is in their hearts. Great as a gift or bedtime reading, it is a poetry book all families should have.
14. Winter Lights: A Season in Poems & Quilts
Poems for kids are a fantastic way to help kids light up their imaginations. With this clever book about ALL the different Winter lights. kids will also see gorgeous illustrations while learning. In an astonishing unfurling creation, we see how everything from Christmas lights to the Northern Lights and everything in between, these original "quilt" creations will show them the beauty of poetry while learning why we are drawn to light in the dark.
Poetry Books for Ages 8 - 14
15. Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z
Attention Kids: WORDS ARE NOT BORING! This imaginative book flows like a dictionary and shows kids there are SO many wonderful words that show how We can make the world a better place! These delightful poems and pictures and stories, kids will see just how big a difference one person can make!
16. Poetry for Kids: Emily Dickinson
Introduce kids to late poet Emily Dickinson with this engaging introductory book. With beautiful illustrations and thoughtful explanations, kids and families alike will fall in love with the beauty of Dickinson's poems. What an opportunity to introduce kids to a classic while re-visiting what makes Emily Dickinson a legend in this beautiful book of poetry.
17. Poetry for Kids: William Shakespeare
Help show kids of all ages that Shakespeare is for everyone! Artists and actors alike will love 31 of the Bard's most popular and timeless works that have been illustrated and explained to show kids that you are never too young for Shakespeare.
18. Poetry for Kids: Robert Frost
Show kids how to take the Road Not Taken by helping them learn about poetry with award-winning poet, Robert Frost. With keywords and colorful commentary, these lyrical poems will come to life as kids journey through a cold abandoned house or experience a blizzard cold winter's evening as they see that the world they live in is different from coast to coast.
19. Rocks in My Head: Poems for Young People About Rocks, Minerals, and Crystals
Rocks, rocks, and more rocks! Combine science verse and poetry with this unique collection of poetry. From haikus, free verse, and narrative this book is sure to capture the attention of middle school students across the globe.
20. Poetry for Kids: Walt Whitman
Introduce kids to classic American poet Walt Whitman with Poetry For Kids: Walt Whitman. In this easy-to-understand edition, children will be introduced to classic American poems such as " I Hear America Singing" and "O Captain! My Captain!" This book allows kids and even adults new to the world of poetry to easily understand.
21. ABSOLUTE NONSENSE: Stories, Poems and Ponderings by Michael Riggs
Reminiscent of Shel Silverstein, this HILARIOUS book of funny poems will leave kids and adults laughing. Meant to be nonsensical, this form of poetry shows that we do not always lose our imagination but instead forget where we put it. Take a trip with your kids as you learn to embrace your silly!
22. Patrick Picklebottom and the Penny Book
Teach the kids the importance of breaking free from electronics and exploring a good book! Help their imaginations soar as they learn whether Patrick will give in to the modern technology world or go on the greatest adventure of all, reading! Adults just might learn something as well.
23. A Diamond in the Sky
Take a swim through this poetic journey of discovering that being yourself is always the best thing to do. Dive under the sea with Kya as she learns that sometimes what we wish for is not as good as what we already have.
Poetry Books for Ages 12 - 18
24. The One-Minute Gratitude Journal
Give kids the tools to express their gratitude through poetry, journal writing, or drawing with this creative gratitude journal. With inspirational quotes to encourage young minds, even adults might find it helpful. After all don't we all need to find the joyful noise inside of us?
25. 33 Things Every Girl Should Know: Stories, Songs, poems, and Smart Talk by 33 Extraordinary Women
Who am I? What am I here for? Am I good enough? These are questions all young girls face. Encourage them to believe in themselves while navigating the changes in their life with this inspiring book of diverse poems, stories, and songs while realizing that there are different types of poetry. With practical day-to-day advice, girls of all ages will surely find a mantra to help them through their challenging times.
26. Winter Poems
Show kids winter does not have to be dull and boring with this masterful collection of familiar favorites by acclaimed poets such as Shakespeare, Millay, Frost, and Poe. This celebration of poetry with incredible illustrations of the season is brought to life by a Caldecott Medalist and helps to showcase these famous writers and their seasonal poems. Sit by the hearth, ride down the hill on a sled, or build a snowman after being inspired by Winter Poems.
27. A Poem for Every Summer Day (A Poem for Every Day and Night of the Year)
Engage children's imaginations about Sumer with a poem for every summer day! Show kids how to take a lyrical journey while imagining swimming in a pond, eating a popsicle as it melts, or collecting seashells on the beach as you read through selections from Lord Byron, Rudyard Kipling, Sylvia Plath, and many more esteemed poets of their time!
28. A Poem for Every Autumn Day (A Poem for Every Day and Night of the Year)
From colorful leaves, fall festivals, and cool crisp weather, Autumn is a favorite season. Show kids the beauty of this season with classic poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, Amy Lowell, Shakespeare, and more. Kids will learn to appreciate the beauty of Autumn while reading alone or with family on a clear fall night.
29. A Poem for Every Spring Day (A Poem for Every Day and Night of the Year)
Teach kids to use poetry to explore the first signs of new life in nature to the religious season of Easter. With a poem for every day of Spring, kids are sure to learn about the magnificence of the awakening while creating a deeper understanding of the world around them.
30. Glamor of Winter: Haiku
Introduce children to an exciting poetic form by introducing them to the exciting world of Haiku poems with this fun book of 6 Winter Haikus. Show them how an easy 3-5-3 or 5-7-5 pattern can create different types of poetry that will easily be remembered.
31. Book of Bittersweet Poems
In this collection, kids will learn that the modern world and poetry can collide! Through digital art, kids learn to realize that things are often taken for granted in our daily life instead of appreciating what we have. Adults and kids alike can benefit from this unique take on poetry and the world we live in.
32. Self Love Notes: Uplifting Poetry, Affirmations & Quotes
Fill teenagers up with hope as they read uplifting and inspiring notes to help them during life's trials. Teens, more than others, need to be reminded of their self-worth and that they are loved. Encourage your overthinkers and self-doubters to read this book and absorb the message!
33. Healing Words: A Poetry Collection For Broken Hearts
Help teens learn that they are not alone when dealing with loss, sadness, and heartbreak. Show them how reading and writing poetry can help express their feelings, heal the broken ones, and start on the path to becoming the best version of themselves they can be!
34. Be My Moon: A Poetry Collection For Romantic Souls
Have you ever stared at the moon while dreaming of your love? For women and girls, this "Moon" is their unique voice of love. This charming collection of poetry will show you your own inner beauty while opening up your heart to the endless possibilities of the moon.
35. 150 Most Famous Poems: Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and many more
Where would the world of poetry be without English poetry? This collection highlights many of the best-known English poets to verse a line and takes the reader on an unparalleled poetic journey. From Shakespeare to Dickinson, this book has something for everyone.
36. A Poetry Book For Sad, Messed-Up Teenagers (Giving Up On Giving Up)
Teenagers often feel alone but they do not need to! Book 1 of 2 helps teens realize that no matter how bad life seems, there is ALWAYS a way through it with time, patience, love, and humor. Through poetry, the book chronicles the life of a real-life teenager that we can all relate to.
37. Young Heart, Old Soul: Poetry and Prose
Self-expression is hard for teens, so show them it does not need to be. This book teaches us that falling in love with ourselves is even BETTER than falling in love with someone else! These powerful poems will teach teens that patiently waiting for the right person to find us is well worth the wait.
38. Poetry Speaks Who I Am: 100 Poems of Discovery, Inspiration, Independence, and Everything Else for Teens (A Poetry Speaks)
Who am I? Where do I fit in? Where do I belong? These are all questions that teens ask themselves daily. Help them realize these are normal thoughts as they discover pieces of themselves in these poems that make them angry, make them laugh or cry, or speak to them on a personal level.
39. IMPERFECT: poems about mistakes: an anthology for middle schoolers
Does anyone make more mistakes than a middle schooler? They definitely don't think so! Through this beautiful collection of poems, help them understand that mistakes are part of life and if we choose to, we can learn from them and turn them into something beautiful!
40. When the Stars Wrote Back: Poems
In this compilation of poems, teens can learn how to cope with all that life throws at them. Growing up is never easy but Trista Mateer somehow helps teens feel like maybe the world is not out to get them and that maybe, just maybe, they too can be happy.
41. The sun will rise and so will we
Sometimes it is hard for teenagers to choose happiness over sorrow. Show them they can choose to make the best of things without ignoring the pain. This book of thoughtful poetry reminds us that no matter how bad the day is, we will wake up the next day with a chance to start again.
42. PS: It's Poetry: An anthology of contemporary poetry from around the world.
Show teens the popularity of poetry around the world with this collection of diverse poems. This book will invoke a sense of personal connection while teaching new viewpoints and perspectives.
43. The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe (Signet Classics)
As one of the most famous Romantic poets of all time, Poe teaches that poetry does not have to be sappy and sweet. The poetic language of these classic poems will teach teens that our "dark" side can be used for creativity instead of evil.
44. Poetry for Young People: Maya Angelou
American poet Maya Angelou will take teenagers through self-exploration in this collection of some of her best and most vivid poems. From the original poem "Still I Rise" to "Harlem Hopscotch" this book will introduce teens not only to the vibrant culture of American poems but to a true American icon.
45. 100 Poems To Break Your Heart
With a collection of 100 poems from the last 200 years, teens will see that suffering and heartache are not new or unique to them. Through verse, teens can begin to understand that suffering is a part of life that we must all go through. It is how we handle it that determines who we are.
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