Books in Verse/Poet Biography

Looking for some good books to add to your classroom poetry collections? Check these out!

The Dreamer, by Pam Munoz Ryan and Peter Sis

Which is sharper? The hatchet that cuts down the dream? Or the scythe that clears a path for another?

Neftalí Reyes hears music in the rain and sees his beloved Andes Mountains as a “white-robed choir.” Neftalí wants to read and write, and daydream about the objects he collects on his walks—twigs, feathers, waxy leaves, smooth stones. But his father, a railroad man, thinks Neftalí needs to beef up, become a man. He calls his son "dim-witted," "absent-minded," a "good-for-nothing." But this "good-for-nothing" doesn't stop dreaming, and becomes the great Pablo Neruda, poet of the people, unafraid to speak truth to power under Pinochet’s regime. Excerpts from several of his poems and odes are included at end of this beautiful book.

Lots of awards buzz about this book...hear an interview with author here and listen to author read from work at NPR.

Borrowed Names: Poems about Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C.J. Walker, Marie Curie, and Their Daughters

Three extraordinary women were born in 1867, two years after the Civil War ended. These women shared a love for work and motherhood, and all raised daughters who went on to shape the world in their own ways. Each section follows one daughter from young childhood to adulthood, capturing nuanced details of her life. You definitely get a sense of each daughter's personality, but also the complex and (in)tense relationships that existed between mother and daughter.

Reminded me a bit of Stephanie Hemphill’s Your Own, Sylvia and the Center for Cartoon Studies’ graphic novel biographies. A creative way to read/write biography. Would make a great reader’s theatre project.


Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse, by Marilyn Singer and Josée Masse

This book is so much fun!

Singer introduces the “reverso” poem, her own creation, in this witty take on classic fairy tales. When you read a reverso down, it is one poem. When you read it up, with changes allowed only in punctuation and capitalization, it is a different poem. The form works well when goal is to tell two sides of one story.

Use this book when teaching the double- or multi-voiced poem. Pair with Fleischman’s Joyful Noise, Phoenix Rising, and Big Talk.