Poetry

 Non-fiction Grades K-3 Fiction K-3 (Picture Books)  Non-fiction Grades 4-6 plus Fiction K-3 (Chapter Books)  Youth Non Fiction Grades 7 and up Fiction Grades 4-6  Poetry/Novels in Poetry Youth Fiction Grades 7 and up  Suitable for All Grades Young Adult Grades 10 - 12  Books suitable for French Immersion Students  

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Dirty Dog Boogie by Loris Lesinski
 * Always keep a bit of boogie going in your head.


 * Lesinski’s humourous poetry demonstrates how much fun poetry can be.

The Elders are Watching by David Bouchard
 * They thought that you knew the way of nature
 * They thought you respected the land


 * The poetry of David Bouchard and the art of First Nations artist Roy Henry Vickers combine in a plea to respect and care for nature.

The Eco-Diary of Kirin Singer by Sue Ann Alderson (not yet in Doucette)


 * Older than grandma,
 * older than the city, 
 * thousands of years old 
 * our bog cleans the air.


 * A book of narrative poetry, partly poetry, partly a journal about saving the Camosun Bog in Vancouver. A good introduction to saving the earth, by starting with just one part of it. (08/Feb/2008)

For Laughing out Loud: Poems to Tickle Your Funnybone selected by Jack Prelutsky
 * A collection of humorous poems and nonsense verse by writers including Ellen Raskin, Karla Kuskin, Ogden Nash, and Arnold Lobel, suitable for K-3. (01/07)

Hailstones and Halibut Bones: Adventures in Color by Mary Le Duc O’Neill
 * Black is the night when there is no star
 * And you can’t tell by looking, where you are


 * Poems that capture the essence of each color and that can be used as a model for student writing.

[http://thoth.lib.ucalgary.ca/uhtbin/cgisirsi/0/X/0/57/5/3?searchdata1=^C2588300&searchfield1=GENERAL^SUBJECT^GENERAL^^&user_id=WEBSERVER Good masters!! Sweet ladies!! : voices from a medieval village] by Laura Amy Schlitz
 * Winner of the Newbury Award for 2008, this book captures the essence of life in the middle ages. Written in postry form and in the language of the time, it effectively captures the voices and the mindsets of an English village in 1255. (04/04/2008)

Monumental verses by J. Patrick Lewis
 * A King, who thought himself the Sun,
 * Reclined in bed and said to Moon,
 * “If you look after Everynight,
 * Then I will be in charge of Noon”.


 * This is the beginning of a poem about Versailles, one of 13 poems about some of the world’s most well known monuments, each illustrated by a beautiful National Geographic photograph. Ends with a challenge from the author to choose a building and “take a word picture” of it.(11/06)

No Two Snowflakes by Sheree Fitch (not in Doucette)
 * Free verse letters from a Canadian child describing snow to his penpal in a tropical country. Useful in helping children develop their descriptive writing.

Read a Rhyme, Write a Rhyme by Jack Prelutsky
 * A collection of poems and 'poemstarters' that get progressively more challenging. A great way to introduce students to writing poetry.

Rolling Harvey down the Hill by Jack Prelutsky (not in Doucette)
 * Described as hilarious funny, laugh-out-loud poetry.

This is Just to Say by Joyce Sidman
 * The premise of this book is that a teacher sets her class to writing letters of apology and a wide diversity of excellent poems of different types, styles and tones is the result. The poems are strong and this book could be an excellent resource for a similar project, but it is important to realize that the actual poems are not really the work of children but are all the work of author Joyce Sidman.(01/08)

If You’re not from the Prairie by David Bouchard
 * If you’re not from the prairie,
 * You don’t know the sun,
 * You can’t know the sun.


 * A love poem to everything that makes up the prairies. Speaks to the experience of anyone who’s grown up on the prairies.

Novels in poetry
Crazy Man by Pamela Porter
 * Powerfully told in sparse language that is evocative of the landscape and spirit of the prairies. When Emaline's father abandons the family farm in Saskatchewan after an accident that disbles her, her mother hires Angus, a patient at the local mental hospital to help run the farm, much to to consternation of their neighbours. In coming to know Angus, Emaline learns about prejudice against those who are different. Suitable for upper elementary, junior high. (03/07)

Love that Dog by Sharon Creech
 * A novel written in poetry – about writing poetry. Jack doesn't understand poetry or think he can write it until he is inspired by a dog and a poet, Walter Dean Myers.  Amazing book!  Kleenex recommended.

Heartbeat by Sharon Creech
 * A free verse novel, dealing with the issues in 12-year-old Anne’s life: a pregnant mother, her grandfather’s failing memory, trying to resist the pressure to become a member of the running team, and her art teacher’s requirement that she draw an apple 100 times.

Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
 * A powerful blank verse novel, most suitable for senior high because of its themes. Two inner city teenage girls struggle toward better lives when college-bound Laverne takes on a regular after-school babysitting job for a young teenage mother.  Laverne is a great role model for young women because she's strong-minded, straightforward, caring and ethical. (/9/07)

The Trial by Jen Bryant
 * Another excellent novel told in narrative poetry about a young girl in the 1930s living in the town from which the Lindbergh’s baby was kidnapped. When a man of German descent is captured she accompanies her journalist uncle to take notes about the trail and we’re left with questions about whether justice was really done.  Upper elementary or junior high.(11/06)

A Wreath for Emmet Till by Marilyn Nelson
 * A powerful poetic elegy about a real event - the 1955 lynching of a 14 year old African American boy for supposedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi, written in the form of a heroic crown of sonnets: a sequence of 15 interlinked sonnets each of which takes the last line of the previous sonnet as its first line.  Suitable for senior high.(01/08)