Celebrate Spring With These Poetry Collections for Children
April is National Poetry Month and spring is here! Let's celebrate with children's poetry about nature. From the smallest insect to the mightiest thunderstorm, these poems will have children marveling at the world around them.
When Green Becomes Tomatoes
by Julie Fogliano; pictures by Julie Morstad
A poetic celebration of the seasons blends describes such elements as flowers blooming, sheets of snow, and happy frogs dancing in the rain.
The Dirt Book: Poems About Animals That Live Beneath Our Fee
by David L. Harrison; illustrated by Kate Cosgrove
A collection of poems about dirt and the many organisms that live there such as grubs, trap door spiders, moles, earthworms, chipmunks, and doodlebugs.
The Popcorn Astronauts and Other Biteable Rhymes
by Deborah Ruddell; illustrated by Joan Rankin
A collection of seasonal poems pays tribute to favorite foods with entries ranging from "Strawberry Queen" and "Only Guacamole" to "21 Things to Do With an Apple" and "The Cocoa Cabana."
The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies
poems and pictures by Cicely Mary Barker
All of the well-loved illustrations and poems from Barker's eight original books, as well as a selection of fairy rhymes.
Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems
by Deborah Ruddell; illustrated by Joan Rankin
Celebrates the beaver, woodpeckers, snails, skunks, and other animals of the forest as they go about their playful tasks.
National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry: More Than 200 Poems With Photographs That Float, Zoom, and Bloom!
edited by J. Patrick Lewis
When words in verse are paired with the awesomeness of nature, something magical happens. From trickling streams to deafening thunderstorms to soaring mountains, discover majestic photography perfectly paired with contemporary and classic poems.
Hello, Earth!: Poems To Our Planet
by Joyce Sidman; illustrated by Miren Asiain Lora
Poems addressed to the earth itself explore scientific concepts including plate tectonics, water cycles, and the creation of tides.
Swirl By Swirl: Spirals in Nature
by Joyce Sidman; illustrated by Beth Krommes
Celebrates the shape of a spiral in nature, from rushing rivers to flower buds and even the shape of an ear.
This Poem Is a Nest
by Irene Latham; art by Johanna Wright
What can you find in a poem about a robin's nest? Irene Latham masterfully discovers "nestlings" or smaller poems about an astonishing variety of subjects—emotions, wild animals, natural landmarks on all seven continents, even planets and constellations. Each poem is a glorious spark of wonder that will prompt readers to look at the world afresh.
Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature
by Nicola Davies; illustrated by Mark Hearld
An illustrated treasury of poems reflects the experiences of children as they encounter nature for the first time.
Trees
by Verlie Hutchens; trees by Jing Jing Tsong
Every tree has its own story to tell in this evocative collection of poems celebrating the many varieties from maple to willow to oak.
Hidden city: Poems of Urban Wildlife
by Sarah Grace Tuttle; illustrated by Amy Schimler-Safford
Science-themed poems illuminate examples of nature thriving in urban environments, from falcons that perch on skyscrapers and streetlights that attract insects for hungry bats to the flora and fauna that shelter in an overgrown lot, in a collection that also features supplementary facts about the poems' natural-world subjects.
Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year
selected by Fiona Waters; illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon
Contains 366 nature poems—one for every day of the year. Filled with familliar favorites and new discoveries by a vast array of poets, including Langston Hughes, Lilian Moore, Emily Dickinson, Jack Prelutsky, William Shakespeare, N.M. Bodecker, Kanoko Okamoto, and many more.
A Mirror to Nature: Poems about Reflection
by Jane Yolen; photographs by Jason Stemple
In this nature-inspired poetry picture book, contemplative poems and photos about water combine allowing young readers to see the world in new ways.
Looking for Jaguar and Other Rainforest Poems
by Susan Katz; pictures by Lee Christiansen
Experience wild and endangered animals as they exist in their wild habitats in a collection of nineteen poems.
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
by Paul Fleischman; illustrated by Eric Beddows
Features poems for two voices that reveal the mysterious, passionate, pulsing world of insects
Silver Seeds: A Book of Nature Poems
by Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer; illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
Beginning with daybreak and ending with a beautiful interpretation of night, a collection of illustrated poems done in a creative acrostic format shows the world of nature in a different light.
One Leaf Rides the Wind: Counting in a Japanese Garden
by Celeste Davidson Mannis; pictures by Susan Kathleen Hartung
In this collection of haiku poems, a young girl walks through a Japanese garden and discovers many delights, from one leaf to ten stone lanterns. Includes notes about Japanese religion and philosophy.
Earth Is Painted Green: A Garden of Poems About Our Planet
edited by Barbara Brenner; illustrated by S.D. Schindler
A collection of nearly one hundred poems, from authors including Carl Sandburg, Shel Silverstein, John Ciardi, and Margaret Wise Brown, offers an evocation and celebration of the miracle of nature and the wonders of Earth.
Sail Away
poems by Langston Hughes; art by Ashley Bryan
The great African American poet Langston Hughes penned poem after poem about the majesty of the sea, and the great African American artist Ashley Bryan, who's spent more than half his life on a small island, is as drawn to the sea as much as he draws the sea. Their talents combine in this windswept collection of illustrated poems.
Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.