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Valerie Koehler, the owner of the Blue Willow Bookshops, shares some of her favorite poetry inspired books.
If you’re in the Memorial area of Houston and looking for a quaint little bookshop to take the kids or even just browse the shelves yourself head on over to Blue Willow Bookshop at 14532 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77079 or visit online at www.BlueWillowBookshops.com.
by Elizabeth Acevedo
A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world in this debut novel by renowned slam poet Acevedo.
by Rhett Miller
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Miller teams up with Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat in this collection of irreverent poems full of clever wordplay and bright visual gags
by Jason Reynolds
In this novel written in verse for teens, fifteen-year-old Will sets out to avenge his brother Shawn’s fatal shooting and is counseled on his elevator ride by seven ghosts who knew Shawn.
by Chris Harris
This hilarious debut molds wit and wordplay, nonsense and oxymoron, and visual and verbal sleight-of-hand in masterful ways that make you look at the world in a whole new wonderfully upside-down way.
by Nikki Giovanni
Newbery Honoree Ashley Bryan adds a visual layering to a dozen poems by National Book Award winner Giovanni that drum home the most important message: “You are loved.”
by Naomi Shihab Nye
Here are Naomi Shihab Nye’s most beloved poems, including “Famous,” “A Valentine for Ernest Mann,” “Kindness,” and “Gate A-4,” as well as new, unpublished poems.
by Christina Rossetti
Classic nursery rhymes by 19th-century poet Rossetti have embodied the simple essence of childhood for generations, and Ashley Bryan brings new life to them in this wonderfully illustrated selection.
by Jacqueline Kelly
In rural Texas in 1901, 13-year-old Callie nurses a butterfly with a broken wing and delivers a baby lamb, despite her mother’s disapproval of Callie’s “unladylike behavior.”