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

Highlights from the Summer Challenge

 We are continuing the celebration today with some highlights from the Summer Challenge. If you participated in the challenge, and even if you didn't, we'd love to hear from you about how you connected with your kiddos with books and activities this summer.

Enjoy these highlights, and be sure to come back on Monday for some easy art projects to pair with your future story time reads.

Our own Rebecca J. Gomez enjoyed the book
Ice Cream Summer by Peter Sis, then
enjoyed some ice cream her hubby!

What goes better with ice cream than cake?


Salem didn't get to play in the dirt, but he 
did hear a story about a worm who lives in the dirt,
and that's good enough for us!

More dirt-themed book recommendations!

A great story time idea for the setting sail theme!


Mindy Baker recommends this fun, interactive
picture book!

For the red, white, and blue theme, Rebecca
shared 
United Tweets of America by Hudson Talbott


Some books about fireworks: 
Lion of the Sky: Haiku for all Seasons by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Merce Lopez
The Fabulous Firework Family by James Flora
Red, White and Boom! by Lee Wardlaw, illustrated by Huy Voun Lee

Mindy Baker shared a wonderful review of 
Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall for the pool theme,
complete with story time discussion ideas and a craft!
Here's a link to the original post

Some activity ideas for a night time story time:
toast marshmallows, play hide-and-go-seek in the dark,
make shadow puppets, look at the stars,
sit around a campfire, explore with flashlights,
listen for night sounds, make a starry sky art project.

Sharing a book and a zoo trip with the grandson,
just not on the same day!

It's not just about picture books! Mindy Baker
recommended this book for older readers as part 
of our wilderness theme.

Rebecca recommends a family favorite for back to school!

This is a great book to foster discussions about
wasteful habits, plastic dependence, and recycling.


 Julie (@365learnandplay on Instagram) made 
sand art (including this unicorn) on the beach
with her family. She recommends
Sandcake by Frank Asch.

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