In 2017, kids across Illinois awarded The Crossover the Rebecca Caudill Award, an honor given to the most outstanding book for fourth through eighth graders by fourth through eighth graders. If you somehow missed out on reading the multiple-award-winning book by Kwame Alexander, one thing you should know is that it was written in free verse.
You know what that means, don't you?
You guys love poets and you didn't even know it!
Or maybe you did. Either way, I've got great news for you: April is National Poetry Month. So, if you're loving poetry right now, here are a few new books you've definitely got to check out.
One Last Word: Nikki Grimes showcases fifteen poems from the Harlem Renaissance in this collection, as well as poetry of her own. What's remarkable is how she does it: when you read the last word of each of her original poems, you'll find a line of text from one of the featured poems. After you read it, you'll want to try it yourself!
Out of Wonder: Kwame Alexander wasn't born a poet, he was a kid who liked poetry first. In this poetry collection he and other authors, including poets Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, write poems inspired by some of their favorite poets from Robert Frost to Langston Hughes.
Emily Dickinson: This book contains thirty-five of Emily Dickinson's poems as well as definitions of the more unusual words she uses. You might be inspired to write a quatrain of your own.
Who is your favorite poet?
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