Ten Books for National Poetry Month (plus a weekly poetry challenge)

  April is a mere five days away, and that means it’s almost National Poetry Month! To help you get a kick start to celebrating poetry throughout April, we’ve put together an assortment of book recommendations. You’ll find a little bit of everything in this list of ten books: poetry collections, picture book stories told in poems, biographies of poets, even a novel in verse! We hope this list is just the beginning of a month of reading, discussing and doing (that is, writing ) poetry! We have a month long celebration planned in which we challenge our readers and the children in their lives to read, discuss, and write four different types of poems—one challenge per week. You can join the weekly poetry fun by subscribing to our newsletter , visiting the website regularly for updates, following us on Instagram (@readdiscussdo), or all of the above! To read : Choose a book from this list or any poetry book. To discuss : Do you usually like poetry? Why or why not? Can you think of a poem y

The Read, Discuss, Do SUMMER CHALLENGE!

It's the official launch day for Read, Discuss, Do!'s new home on the web! Thank you for dropping by! We are all set to kick off the fun with a SUMMER CHALLENGE aimed at getting you and the young readers in your life (offspring, grandkids, day care tots?) engaging together through book-inspired discussions and activities! 

This is not your ordinary summer reading program. There's no need to keep a log or count pages or track minutes spent reading. This challenge is all about sharing books and engaging in book-related fun while strengthening connections between readers and, yes, keeping your kids reading through the summer. What better way to prevent the "summer slide"? 

Your challenge then, should you choose to accept it, is as follows: 

  • Look for the weekly theme, shared each Friday from June 4 to August 13. The themes will be shared here on the website, in our newsletter and on social media (Instagram and Twitter).
  • Each week, READ a book (or several) inspired by the theme with the children in your life. We'll recommend a few titles each week, but they are only suggestions. 
  • DISCUSS the books you read! Some general discussion topics could be: favorite characters, alternate endings, favorite part of the story, favorite illustration, if/how you can relate to the characters or situations, etc.
  • DO a fun activity each week inspired by that week's reading. These activities are totally up to you and can be as simple as drawing a picture or as epic as going on a real life adventure. 
  • Share the fun on Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #RDDSummerChallenge.
Plan to join in the fun? Let us know in the comments! At the end of the summer challenge you'll earn a certificate for you and your young readers and have a chance to enter a giveaway. Commenting on this post is not required, but we would love to hear from you.

Have fun reading, discussing, and doing! 

Rebecca

Comments

Love this, Becky! Such a great idea!
Karen Condit said…
This is great! Way to shake up the usual summer-reading-log idea. The "doing" is the best part...beside the reading ;)!