Poetry Month

April is Poetry Month.

We invite you to read and write poetry this month.

You can write any kind of poem you want.  You can email your poem to jperryman@milanlibrary.org or bring it to us after we reopen. You can put it on a "leaf" cut out of paper or submit it in any form and we'll add it to a leaf.

Once we reopen, we'll add your poems to our Poetree (poetry + tree) in the library.  As a thank you for participating, we will also have a random drawing to award prizes to a few people who participate.

Take a look at these resources to read and listen to poetry and try some poetry activities:

Poems for kids on poets.org - poetry for you to read

Shel Silverstein - read aloud videos, activities, and more

ReadWriteThink - interactive poetry writing.  Choose acrostic poems, haiku poems, or more and the site will walk you through from brainstorming to writing a poem.  Flash is required for this website.

Scholastic Poetry - Jack Prelutsky, Karla Kuskin, and Jean Marzollo each share one of their poems and writing tips for you to create your own poetry.

The following ebooks are available thouugh MeL in the Poetry & Short Story Reference Center
Click on the link for the book below and then choose PDF full text in the left column.

Poetry for Kids: Walt Whitman
Poetry for Kids: Robert Frost 
Emily Dickinson: Poetry for Kids 

Here is one of our previous Poetrees (poetry + tree). 
We hope to have your poems to add to our Poetree this year when we reopen.

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Additional resources:

Online reading, learning, and fun resources
Printable activity pages, story starters and more
Screen-free things to do at home
Resources about COVID-19 - books for children, journal pages, tips for talking with your child

Projects:

Share a Smile - Share artwork and letters with Meals on Wheels recipients.
Share Your Story - Share your experiences and daily life during this pandemic.
Poetry Month - Write a poem to add to our Poetree.

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month. We're celebrating with our first annual "Hello Haiku" and poetry-themed book clubs.

Hello Haiku!

The library invites you to submit haiku by April 30 (for children and teens) or April 25 (for adults  by April 30 for adults now, too!)  Poems will be displayed in the library.  Everyone who enters a poem will be entered in a prize drawing. 

Haiku is a traditional form of Japanese poetry.  Haiku poems contain 3 lines.  The first line has 5 syllables.  The second line has 7 syllables.  The third line has 5 syllables.  

Here is a haiku about haiku! Five syllables first Then seven in the middle Five more at the end

Here is another example of haiku: Libraries are great They have books, movies, and more I can't wait to go!

Youth may pick up an entry form from the library or download one here to submit your haiku.  Entry forms for adults are available at the library.

 Book Clubs

Children's book clubs this month will be poetry themed. 

Book Buddies (kindergartners - 2^nd graders) are reading any book of poetry.

Bookworms (2^nd - 3^rd grade) are reading poetry by Jack Prelutsky.

Chapter Chatters (3^rd - 5^th graders) are reading poetry by Shel Silverstein.

Children will bookmark their favorite poems as they read.  During the program, we'll share our favorite poems and write our own poetry to add to the Poetree (poetry + tree!)

See more information and register here.  

National Poetry Month Poetree

April is National Poetry Month.  Our Bookworms and Chapter Chatters book clubs wrote poetry to create a "poetree" this month.

Bookworms read poetry by Jack Prelutsky and shared their favorites during book club.  Did you know most of his poetry can be sung to the tune of "99 Bottles of Pop on the Wall?"  We had fun reading and singing his poetry.

Chapter Chatters read poetry by Shel Silverstein and shared their favorites before writing their own.

Stop in to read a poem or check out a book of poetry. See our catalog here for poetry books in our children's area or browse the nonfiction 811 areas of our library. 

Bookworms' Poetry

Bookworms (2nd and 3rd graders) read poetry by Jack Prelutsky this month. They each marked a few (or a lot!) of their favorites to share during the monthly meeting yesterday. They read some and sang some after learning that many of Prelutsky's poems can be sung to the tune of the Girl Scout song or 99 Bottles of Pop on the Wall. We briefly discussed haiku, shape poems, and acrostic poems and then wrote our own poetry.

Poetry written by
Outstanding poets who
Enjoyed sharing their favorite poems,
Mingling with each other, and
Singing poems to the tune of the Girl Scout song.

(Click on an image to see it larger.)

Poetry Month

April is Poetry Month. We're celebrating with poetry book clubs.

Bookworms (2nd and 3rd graders) will meet Tuesday, April 17 at 4:45 to discuss poetry by Jack Prelutsky. See a list of books in our library here. Bookmark a few of your favorite poems to share at the program. We’ll discuss the books and write our own poetry.

Chapter Chatters (4th and 5th graders) will meet Tuesday, April 24 at 4:45 to discuss poetry by Shel Silverstein. See a list of books in our library here. Bookmark a few of your favorite poems to share at the program. We’ll discuss the books and write our own poetry.

A few new books of poetry have recently arrived and are located on the new nonfiction bookshelves. Click on the titles to see the items in our catalog. (The catalog takes several seconds to load and briefly displays the home page before showing the selected book.)

Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies
Forgive Me, I Meant to do it: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine
I've Lost My Hippopotamus by Jack Prelutsky
Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem by Jack Prelutsky
The Arrow Finds its Mark: A Book of Found Poems edited by Georgia Heard

Also, browse the 811 area in our children's nonfiction sections for more poetry books.