It's National Poetry Month!

Did you know that it’s National Poetry Month? That’s right; April is the month that we celebrate our favorite poems and poets.

Do you remember the first poem that inspired you or touched your life in the way that only poetry can? This month, we invite you to celebrate the poems that inspired your imagination and taught you the extraordinary power of words.  We also invite you to share the beauty of poetry with children so that they too can learn how transformative and magical poetry can be.

First Book loves a good celebration and we know that the best way to celebrate poetry is to read great poems by great poets. So if you’re a teacher or program leader who would like to give the gift of poetry to children, here are some poetry books available on the First Book Marketplace:

101 Great American Poems
By American Poetry and Literacy Project

“I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deck- hand singing on the steamboat deck…” -excerpted from Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing”

Edgar Allen Poe: The Raven and Other Favorite Poems
By Edgar Allan Poe

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore–
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
‘Tis some visiter,’ I muttered, ‘tapping at my chamber door–
Only this and nothing more… “- excerpted from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”

Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken and Other PoemsBy Robert Frost

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth…”- excerpted from Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”

If you work with children from low-income communities, be sure to register your classroom or program with First Book so we can help you get books for your kids in April, and throughout the year.