Shel Silverstein has been at the center of school and library poetry month celebrations (or Shel-ebrations!) for years. With simple line drawings, funny text, and strong rhyme and rhythm, Shel's poetry is easy for kids to connect with and serves as a wonderful teaching tool for young writers.

In his powerful and moving poem, featuring illustrations from thirteen extraordinary artists, bestselling author and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Neil Gaiman draws together many different memories to answer the question, what do you need to be warm?

How much fun would it be to create your own illustrated poem as a class? Ask your students a simple question, and work together to turn the answers into a poem. Then, students can each illustrate a few lines of the poem to be collected into a new book for your classroom library!

Early morning wakeups and homemade pancakes,

Raucous bus rides and schoolyard games,

Family games and bedtime rituals…

These are the small moments that shape a child’s day. I’m From is an invitation into the vivid world of one small boy, a poetic account of all the people and places and things that shape who he is and define where he is from.

This is a poeteic, heartwarming ode to the small, defining moments of a boy's life.

At bedtime, when lights go out…sometimes thoughts stay on.

Scary things and worries flutter and flap around. It’s so hard to sleep!

But a little imagination (and a lot of love) can create a cozy nest for happy thoughts—and sweet dreams for little ones.

This lyrical and reassuring picture book from Maggie Smith, the bestselling author of the viral poem, "Good Bones" is a perfect book for teaching calming and mindfulness techniques.

Starring thirty-seven poets, with contributions from acclaimed authors, including Kwame Alexander, Ibi Zoboi, and Nikki Giovanni, this breathtaking Black YA poetry anthology edited by National Book Award finalist Amber McBride, Taylor Byas, and Erica Martin celebrates Black poetry, folklore, and culture.

This anthology has already received THREE starred reviews and was named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection.

The start of the school year is bringing a lot of changes for Rain: New school. No Circle Group. No Dr. McCalla. No Miss Walia. No step team. And Xander, her older brother and superhero, is away at college.

Although everyone else seems okay with change, Rain struggles to open up to her new counselor, her mom, Umi, Alyssa, and even Xander, who seems to have forgotten all about her while away at college. But when an older boy starts giving Rain more attention than she asked for—will she be able to open up again before things go too far?

Adnan Zakir loves table tennis. He's also colorblind and left-handed and has a fondness for the aviation alphabet. He's super close with his sister, Aaliyah, who is a great dancer and memorizer of the Quran, and he loves his little toddler brother, Rizwan, who only wants to grow up and play table tennis like his big brother.

All Adnan dreams of is making it to the Ultimate Table Tennis Championship in Florida, and if he qualifies for the tournament, he knows he will get to spend the Eid holiday with his cousins. But when the family travels there, unthinkable tragedy strikes, and Adnan swears he'll never play table tennis ever again. Slowly, he and his family must learn to make peace and move forward, as a family.

After a rocky first year, Anna’s family has settled into life in California—their small restaurant is even turning a profit. Then her parents make a shattering discovery: Their visas have expired.

Anna’s world is quickly overwhelmed by unfamiliar words like “undocumented” and “inequality.” She longs to share with a friend the towering secret that looms over every aspect of her life, but her parents strictly forbid her from telling anyone.

As Anna grapples with the complexities of being undocumented, the strain that it places on her family, and the loneliness of keeping it all to herself, she has to wonder—if America is the promised land, why does everything she’s hoped for feel like a lie?

Love at first sight isn’t a myth. For seventh graders Olivia and Eden, it’s fate. Olivia is a capital-P Poet, and Eden thinks she wants to be a musician one day, but for now she’s just the new girl. And then Eden shows up to Poetry Club and everything changes.

Eden isn’t out, and she has rules for dating Olivia: don’t call. Don’t tell her friends. And don’t let anyone know they’re together.

But when jealousy creeps in, it’s Olivia’s words that push Eden away. While Eden sets out to find herself, Olivia begins a journey to bring Eden back—using poetry. Both Olivia and Eden will learn just how powerful their words can be to bring them together . . . or tear them apart forever.

Seventh grade is driving identical twins Chaya and Maya apart. Chaya makes a choice to give her sister space, but that's the last thing Maya wants. Maya is fiercly loyal to her sister, until Chaya threatens to reveal her secret anxiety to their parents.

When they decide to swap identities at summer camp, will the sisters find a new understanding of one another or will the lie separate them even further?

Mirror to Mirror is Rajani LaRocca’s follow-up novel to her Newbery Honor winning and Walter Award-winning Red, White and Whole.

Omid needs the right words to connect with his newly met grandfather and distant Iranian heritage, words to tell a special girl what she means to him and to show everyone that he truly belongs in Tucson, Arizona, the only home he’s ever known. Neither the school play’s Shakespearean English nor his parents’ Farsi seems up to the task, and it’s only when Omid delves into the rhymes and rhythms of rap music that he starts to find his voice. But even as he does so, an act of terrorism transforms familiar accents into new threats.

Then a family member disappears, and it seems everyone but Omid knows why. When words fail altogether and violence takes their place, what will Omid do next?