poetry

Recommended Poetry Books for Children

Poetry Books - Reading List by Lucinda Jacob & Sarah Webb

Suggested Reading for Adults

A short selection of books about poetry, creativity or teaching writing

 What is Poetry? By Michael Rosen Walker, 2016

 To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme by Sandy Brownjohn, Hodder and Stoughton, 1994

 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem by Ruth Padel, Vintage, 2004

 Real-World Writers: A Handbook for Teaching Writing with 7 – 11 Year Olds by Ross Young and Felicity Ferguson, Routledge, 2021 (Full of practical advice – aimed at teachers)

 Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Bloomsbury, 2015 (Not about poetry as such but the best book about creativity and the creative life that I’ve ever read – Sarah)

 How to Write Poems by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Matt Robertson

Bloomsbury, 2017 (For children but a great starter guide for adults too!)

 Recommended Books for Young Readers

Rhyming or Rhythmic Picture Books

 How to be a Lion by Ed Vere, Doubleday, 2018

 Be Wild, Little One by Olivia Hope, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus, Bloomsbury, 2022

 Poetry Collections for Younger Children

 Here’s a Little Poem: A First Book of Poetry Edited by Jane Yolen with Andrew Fusek Peters, Illustrated by Polly Dunbar, Walker Books 2007

 A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea: Favourite Rhymes from an Irish Childhood

Edited by Sarah Webb, illustrated by Steve McCarthy, The O’Brien Press

 Poetry Collections Age 8/9+

I am the Wind: Irish Poems for Children Everywhere

Edited by Lucinda Jacob and Sarah Webb, illustrated by Ashwin Chacko, Little Island 2023

 Something Beginning with P

Edited by Seamus Cashman, Illustrated by Corrina Askin and Alan Clarke

O’Brien Press, 2008 (paperback)

I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree: A Nature Poem for Every Day of the Year

Selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon Nosy Crow 2018

 Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright: An Animal Poem for Every Day of the Year

Selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Britta Teckentrup, Nosy Crow 2020

 Poems from a Green and Blue Planet, Selected by Sabrina Mahfouz, illustrated by Aaron Cushley, Hodder, 2019

 A World Full of Poems: Inspiring Poetry for Children, Selected by Sylvia M. Vardell, illustrated by Sonny Ross, Penguin Random House 2020

And Everything Will Be Glad to See You: Poems by Women and Girls, Selected by Emma Risbridger, illustrated by Anna Shepeta Nosy Crow, 2022

A Poem for Every Day of the Year, Edited by Allie Esiri, illustrated by Zanna Goldhawk, Macmillan Children’s Books, 2017

Single Poet Collections

Age 8/9+

 Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold By Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen, Clarion Books, 2014

 Poetry for Young People By Carl Sandburg (various illustrators

Sterling Juvenile, 2008

 Hopscotch in the Sky by Lucinda Jacob

Little Island, 2017

 Cloud Soup Poems by Kate Wakeling, illustrated by Elina Braslina

The Emma Press, 2021

 Let’s Chase Stars Together: Poems to Lose Yourself In by Matt Goodfellow

Bloomsbury, 2022

 Poetry Comics by Grant Snider

Chronicle Books, 2024