April is National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month.  This year it is celebrating its 20th anniversary!  National Poetry Month has evolved into the largest literary celebration in the world with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry's vital place in our culture.  I will be the first to admit that I got really bored with poetry when I was in school...all that breaking down of lines and figuring out meaning...it just didn't capture my interest.  But as an adult, I have learned to enjoy children's poetry books as they are colorful and so much more easier to read and understand!

Here's a list of children's poetry books that I have been published within the past couple of years that I have enjoyed.  I hope you and your child will be charmed by their beauty too!

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night 
by Joyce Sidman
A collection of poems that celebrates the wonder, mystery, and danger of the night and describes the many things that hide in the dark.  This beautifully illustrated book won a 2011 Newbery Honor.







Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings
by Douglas Florian
Here's a fun illustrated collection of poems and collages about dinosaurs.  And of course its perfect for dinosaur fans.  They'll really devour this one!

Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems
Selected by Paul B. Janeczko
A selection of short American poems dealing with the four seasons and the different weather events and animal patterns that can occur within each.  Also, I'm a big fan of Melissa Sweet's artwork too.

Flutter and Hum: Animal Poems = Aleteo y Zumbido: Poemas de Animales 
by Julie Paschkis
All sorts of animals flutter and hum, dance and stretch, and slither and leap their way through this joyful collection of poems in English and Spanish. Julie Paschkis's words and art sing in both languages, bringing out the beauty and playfulness of the animal world.





Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse 
by Marilyn Singer
Here's a collection of short poems called "reversos" which, when reversed, provide new perspectives on the fairy tale characters they feature.  So you can read it forwards and backwards and still read the same poem!  This is such a fun and creative way to read poetry!

Orangutan Tongs: Poems to Tangle Your Tongue 
by Jon Agee
Have you ever gotten tripped up trying to say a silly succession of similar syllables? Try out these hilarious tongue twisters for yourself for lots of silly fun!






Santa Clauses: Short Poems from the North Pole 
by Bob Raczka
25 haiku give readers a fresh, humorous perspective on Santa's December preparations. And rich illustrations pull readers into every wintry scene.  Read now, or save to read later during the winter holidays.

Stardines Swim High Across the Sky And Other Poems 
by Jack Prelutsky
Here's a collection of 16 humorous poems about imaginary strange creatures such as the stardine, slobster, and magpipe.  Plus, the illustrations really make those make-believe critters seem awfully real too!

Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold 
by Joyce Sidman
When winter comes, how will the animals brave the long and cold season of the north?  Read poems of the Tundra Swan, the Big Brown Moose, and the Beaver, among other animals.  There's also poems about snowflakes and ice.  Each poem is accompanied by facts and background matter related to the subject at hand.  I just love the linoleum block art illustrations in this book.

World Rat Day: Poems About Real Holidays You've Never Heard Of by Patrick J. Lewis
Here's a collection of wild and wacky holidays that should be worth celebrating such as: Dragon Appreciation Day, Frog Jumping Day, Ohio Sheep Day, Worm Day, and National Sloth Day.  Don't let these days go by without a small celebration of your own!  Plus, this book is perfect for transitional readers to read on their very own thanks to the large font size and easier vocabulary.

Kari's Favorite Picture Books!

Slugs by David Greenberg was an all-time childhood favorite of mine. It is a perfect mix of delightfully gross and disgustingly hilarious. In rhyming verse, Greenberg imagines more and more creative and horrible things people can do to the slimy slug while Victoria Chess's illustrations make you want to laugh and cringe at the same time. My favorite part of the book however, comes when the slugs take their revenge!

The basis for the 2007 film Meet the Robinsons, A Day With WilburRobinson by William Joyce was another childhood favorite of mine. A search for Wilbur's grandfather's false teeth leads the reader through the strange and fantastical world of the Robinson family. What I really enjoyed about the book as a young reader was that most of the action and humor took place in the illustrations. For example, the text merely mentions Cousin Pete walking the cats, but the accompanying illustration enlightens careful readers to the fact that the cats in question are in fact tigers. These delightful and often humorous details kept me coming back to re-read the story again and again to look for details I might have missed! 

Picture Book Lists

We want to make finding books easy for you and your kiddos.
When you select books on subjects your child enjoys, you are promoting early literacy.
Here are a few of our most popular picture book subjects

Trains
Dinosaurs
Alphabet
Rhyming
Numbers & Counting
Feelings
Books Toddlers will love!

Tumblebooks

There are so many ways to enjoy picture book e-books. One way is through Library2Go and 3M Cloud. However, kids and go through picture books pretty fast and the Library2Go and 3M have limited check out. Enter Tumblebooks!
Sometimes, the events of the day are exhausting and even the act of reading to your child is too much. Enter, Tumblebooks!
Kids who follow along with the reader can become better readers than kids who simply listen to a story. Enter, Tumblebooks!
This is such a great way to share books with your kids. There are hundreds of great titles avialable with read-aloud options and animated images with unlimited use.
Enjoy Tumblebooks! together tonight.

STEAM Saturday

Are you looking for a charming and funny non-fiction picture book about...um...disgusting critters?
Well, they're only disgusting because of their bad reputation, because these guys are important!
Find out why when you read Elise Gravel's Disgusting Critters series.

While reading aout The Worm, I learned that there is a worm that can grow to be over 98 feet long!
It's called the Ribbon Worm.

STEAM Activity:
Take a tape measure out and mark off 98 feet! How many inches is that? How many centimeters does that equal. How many meters is 98 feet?
You can let us know what your results were by leaving a comment.

Staff Picks Are Coming to a Library Near You!

A great thing about working at the Tigard Public Library is working with a staff full of readers. Coworkers are always sharing interesting titles with each other.  Now, we want to share them with you!  Beginning today, Wednesday, December 10, find out what books have enthralled, entertained and energized library staff.  Look for the staff picks displays in the Children’s Room and on the second floor near the top of the stairs. The selections are as diverse as the staff!  Read a staff pick today!