Poetry books for children
Poetry books for children mix rhythm, rhyme, and playful language to draw young readers in. They might be nursery rhymes, short lyrical verses, or themed collections with lively illustrations. What makes them special is how they make words stick in the mind and feel fun to say out loud. Poetry sparks creativity, strengthens vocabulary, and builds fluency, all while giving kids a way to explore emotions and ideas. It’s an early doorway into the joy of language. This list features poetry for children by Emily Dickinson, Shel Silverstein, Roald Dahl, Sharon Creech, Nikki Grimes, Naomi Shihab Nye, Joy Harjo, Kwame Alexander, and Marilyn Singer.
Poetry books for children – our recommendations
Everything Comes Next by Naomi Shihab Nye. 
Sweet Dreamers by Isabelle Simler. 
The Father Goose Treasury of Poetry by Charles Ghigna, illustrated by Sara Brezzi. 
The Magic Hat by Mem Fox, illustrated by Tricia Tusa. 
Remember by Joy Harjo, illustrated by Michaela Goade. 
How to Write a Poem by Kwame Alexander and Deanna Nikaido. 
The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ekua Holmes. 
A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein. 
Poetrees by Douglas Florian. 
Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josée Masse. 
Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrated by Melissa Sweet. 
A Whale of a Time by Lou Peacock, illustrated by Matt Hunt. 
Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright!: An Animal Poem for Every Day of the Year by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Britta Teckentrup. 
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson, illustrated by Tatyana Feeney. 
Poetry for Kids: Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson. 
Explosion at the Poem Factory by Kyle Lukoff and Mark Hoffmann. 
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson, illustrated by Tim Hopgood. 
The Smell of Wet Dog by Barney Saltzberg. 
In and Out the Window by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Cathrin Peterslund. 
The One Thing You’d Save by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng. 
A Planet Is a Poem by Amanda West Lewis, illustrated by Oliver Averill. 
The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by James Stevenson. 
Great Gusts: Winds of the World and the Science Behind Them by Melanie Crowder and Megan Benedict, illustrated by Khoa Le. 
The Red Ear Blows Its Nose by Robert Schechter, illustrated by S. Federico. 
Home by Isabelle Simler. 
Poetry Comics by Grant Snider. 
Eating My Words by Brian P. Cleary. 
One Last Word by Nikki Grimes. 
Earth Verse: Haiku from the Ground Up by Sally M. Walker, illustrated by William Grill. 
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. 
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake. 
Ode to a Taxi Driver by Kwame Alexander. 
This Poem Is a Nest by Irene Latham, illustrated by Johanna Wright. Click the buttons below to purchase all of the books in this poetry for children book list, as well as classroom sets of any of these books and many more, from Bookshop.org. Or buy the 20 most popular titles from this list from Amazon – ideal for gifts or stocking your school library. If you are ordering from outside the US, have a look at our ‘worldwide orders’ page which makes this process easy.
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Poetry books for children – resources for teachers
- Library of Congress – Poetry 180 (full poem list) A ready-to-use bank of short, contemporary poems with plain-text pages—great for daily warm-ups, modeling tone/voice, or pairing with titles like Love That Dog and Everything Comes Next.
- Academy of American Poets – Teach This Poem Weekly, K–12-friendly poem lessons with prompts, guiding questions, and visuals; use to scaffold close reading beside How to Write a Poem, Remember, and classroom anthologies.
- NEH EDSITEment – Poetry (K–12) Standards-aligned lesson sets on forms (haiku, list poems, reversos) and poets; extend craft study from Firefly July, Poetrees, and Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright!.
- ReadWriteThink – Acrostic Poems (interactive) A no-login tool students use to draft, revise, and print acrostics—perfect for foundational structure practice tied to A Giraffe and a Half or nature poetry units.
- PBS LearningMedia – Poetry in America: Poetry Writing Short videos and prompts on imagery, metaphor, and sound devices that translate to mini-lessons across your picture-book poetry set.
- National Gallery of Art – “Edo: Art in Japan” Teaching Packet (PDF) Art + poetry connections (haiku, calligraphy) with reproducibles; use for ekphrastic writing and form study alongside The Stuff of Stars and Home.
BISAC JUV 070000 057000 Poetry & Stories in Verse | Thema YDP YFP
