Poetry is perfect for summer.
You don’t have to read a poetry book from beginning to end.
You don’t even have to read the whole book to get something out of it.
Jump in anywhere.
Read a poem, or five.
Shut the book when it’s time to swim.
You can’t lose your place.
Try a poem with lunch, and another two while you sit in the car.
If you read a poem that reminds you of yourself, write a poem of your own.

A CRACK IN THE CLOUDS: And Other Poems
by Constance Levy
illustrated by Robin Bell Corfield
McElderry Books
ISBN: 0689822049
48 pages

 

Connie’s poems make you feel like nature is all around, even if you are stuck sitting in a hot room; they invite you to listen to the world in a different way.

 

HEART TO HEART: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century Art
edited by Jan Greenberg
Abrams
ISBN: 0810943867
80 pages

I have a poem in this anthology, but my favorite is the poem Jane Yolen wrote to go with Grant Wood’s famous “American Gothic” painting, which ends: “We own what we would be.”

 

POETRY FROM A TO Z
by Paul Janeczko
illustrated by Cathy Bobak
Atheneum
ISBN: 0027476723

 

 

This is an anthology and also a how-to book, full of writing ideas I would never have thought of myself. My favorite is the “C” listing: a curse poem full of creative unpleasant wishes for an enemy.

 

LEARNING TO LIVE IN THE WORLD: Earth Poems
by William Stafford
Harcourt
ISBN: 0152002081
70 pages

 

 

William Stafford wrote mainly for adults, but his best poems speak to readers of all ages, I think. I call at least a dozen poems here my “favorite,” but one I like best today is “It’s All Right.”

 

Janet Wong is the author of several award-winning picture books and poetry collections for children and young adults, including BEHIND THE WHEEL: Poems about Driving, NIGHT GARDEN: Poems from the World of Dreams, and A SUITCASE OF SEAWEED (all published by McElderry/Simon & Schuster). 

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