Don’t dissect poetry, enjoy it every day! There shouldn’t be a day without poetry – it fits into every area of the curriculum, every area of life. It’s very important. –Lee Bennett Hopkins

Lee Bennett Hopkins, collector of poems, teacher, anthologist, poetry promoter, has written and published over 50 books, mostly books of poetry for children. He’s collected books of Christmas poems, Thanksgiving poems, Halloween poems, and Valentine poems. He’s published short anthologies of baseball poems, animal poems, weather poems, school poems, space poems, and poems about famous Americans. And I missed his birthday on April 13th.

If you haven’t already figured out some poetry activities to do with your children, here are a few resources:

Reading Is Fundamental
List of 40 Favorite Poetry Books for Children with ideas for activities to go with them.
Ways to Celebrate Poetry from the Academy of American Poets

And these are my favorite classic poetry books for children:

I Can’t Said the Ant by Polly Cameron
Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O’Neill
If Wishes Were Horses and Other Rhymes illustrated by Susan Jeffers (out of print)
Lavender’s Blue: A Book of Nursery Rhymes compiled by Kathleen Lines
The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown
Over in the Meadow illustrated by John Langstaff

I also recommend Mr. Hopkins’ subject anthologies. Find a subject that interests you or your children, and Lee Bennett Hopkins has probably edited a book of poems on that subject.