SLS Library: 5th Grade Library: Poetry

April is National Poetry Month

Spoken Word

Poetry Activities

Dada Word Play and Chance Poetry
April Poetry Madness
No March Madness?! No NCAA brackets?! We will vote on the best poem of two, then that poem moves forward to be compared to another poem the next day, and so on, until at the end of the month, there is a winner!

Visualizing Poems

Robert Louis Stevenson's Foreign Lands - Animated
See an animation of a famous poem, Foreign Lands, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Try visualizing a poem while listening.

Found Poetry

Found poetry can be anywhere! Magazines, cereal boxes, news headlines, fortune cookies, graffiti, and book spines. Check out some found poetry below and do your own image search on Google or Pinterest.

Mrs. Juran's Spine Poem

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Blackout Poetry

Blackout Poetry is made by finding meaning in words that are already on the page. The poet blacks out the words around the "found" words to create a poem.

Poets.org for Kids

Poetryfoundation.org for Kids

Shel Silverstein

Shel Silverstein is one of the most famous children's poets of all time. Visit his website where he performs several of his poems!

Georgia Heard - our upcoming visiting poet!

Visit Georgia Heard's website!

Nikki Grimes

Poetry4kids - Kenn Nesbitt

Poetry for Every Subject

A science haiku for every element in the periodic table.

Science themed poems on Poets.org

Math themed poems at Poets.org

A Social Studies related poem about culture and heritage.

Novels in Verse

Novels in verse are novel-length narratives written in poetry rather than prose (typical book format). Just like in a novel, there are usually multiple characters, several voices, dialogue, and action. Here are some verse novels in the SLS library.

All of Me by Chris Baron
ISBN: 9781250305985
Publication Date: 2019-06-11
Ari has body-image issues. After a move across the country, his parents work selling and promoting his mother's paintings and sculptures. Ari's bohemian mother needs space to create, and his father is gone for long stretches of time on "sales" trips. Meanwhile, Ari makes new friends: Pick, the gamer; the artsy Jorge, and the troubled Lisa. He is also relentlessly bullied because he's overweight, but he can't tell his parents--they're simply not around enough to listen. After an upsetting incident, Ari's mom suggests he go on a diet, and she gives him a book to help. But the book--and the diet--can't fix everything.
Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
ISBN: 9780399545436
Publication Date: 2020-09-01
For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone's hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, he's as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJ's house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJ's mom explains it's because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career. ZJ can understand that--but it doesn't make the sting any less real when his own father forgets his name.
Alias Anna by Susan Hood; Greg Dawson
ISBN: 9780063083899
Publication Date: 2022-03-22
She wouldn't be Zhanna. She'd use an alias. A for Anna. A for alive. When the Germans invade Ukraine, Zhanna, a young Jewish girl, must leave behind her friends, her freedom, and her promising musical future at the world's top conservatory. With no time to say goodbye, Zhanna, her sister Frina, and their entire family are removed from their home by the Nazis and forced on a long, cold, death march. When a guard turns a blind eye, Zhanna flees with nothing more than her musical talent, her beloved sheet music, and her father's final plea: "I don't care what you do. Just live."
Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood
ISBN: 9781481468831
Publication Date: 2018-09-04
With Nazis bombing London every night, it's time for thirteen-year-old Ken to escape. And after five days at sea, the ship's officers announce that they're out of danger. They're wrong. Late that night, an explosion hurls Ken from his bunk. They've been hit. Torpedoed! The Benares is sinking fast. Terrified, Ken scrambles aboard Lifeboat 12 with five other boys. Will they get away? Will they survive?
Odder by Katherine Applegate; Charles Santoso (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781250147424
Publication Date: 2022-09-20
She doesn't just swim to the bottom, she dive-bombs. She doesn't just somersault, she triple-doughnuts. She doesn't just ride the waves, she makes them. Odder spends her days off the coast of central California, practicing her underwater acrobatics and spinning the quirky stories for which she's known. She's a fearless daredevil, curious to a fault. But when Odder comes face-to-face with a hungry great white shark, her life takes a dramatic turn, one that will challenge everything she believes about herself--and about the humans who hope to save her.
Starfish by Lisa Fipps
ISBN: 9781984814500
Publication Date: 2021-03-09
Ever since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she's been bullied about her weight. To cope, she tries to live by the Fat Girl Rules-like "no making waves," "avoid eating in public," and "don't move so fast that your body jiggles." And she's found her safe space-her swimming pool-where she feels weightless in a fat-obsessed world. In the water, she can stretch herself out like a starfish and take up all the room she wants.
Becoming Muhammad Ali by James Patterson; Kwame Alexander; Dawud Anyabwile (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9780316498166
Publication Date: 2020-10-05
Kwame Alexander and James Patterson join forces to vividly depict his life up to age seventeen in both prose and verse, including his childhood friends, struggles in school, the racism he faced, and his discovery of boxing. Readers will learn about Cassius' family and neighbors in Louisville, Kentucky, and how, after a thief stole his bike, Cassius began training as an amateur boxer at age twelve. Before long, he won his first Golden Gloves bout and began his transformation into the unrivaled Muhammad Ali.
Land of the Cranes by Aida Salazar
ISBN: 9781338343809
Publication Date: 2020-09-15
Nine-year-old Betita knows she is a crane. Papi has told her the story, even before her family fled to Los Angeles to seek refuge from cartel wars in Mexico. Then one day, Betita's beloved father is arrested by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to Mexico. Betita and her pregnant mother are left behind on their own, but soon they too are detained and must learn to survive in a family detention camp outside of Los Angeles.
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
ISBN: 9780399252518
Publication Date: 2014-08-28
The author shares her childhood memories and reveals the first sparks that ignited her writing career in free-verse poems about growing up in the North and South
Flooded by Ann E. Burg
ISBN: 9781338540697
Publication Date: 2020-10-06
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1889 was a lively, working-class factory city. Above the soot-soaked streets, an elite fishing and hunting club, built on a pristine man-made lake, drew America's wealthiest business barons. Though repeatedly urged to fix the deteriorating dam that held the lake, the club members disregarded the warnings. And when heavy rains came, the dam collapsed and plunged the city into chaos. On that fateful day, six children found themselves caught in the wreckage.
Unbound by Ann E. Burg
ISBN: 9780545934275
Publication Date: 2016-09-27
The day Grace is called from the slave cabins to work in the Big House, Mama makes her promise to keep her eyes down. Uncle Jim warns her to keep her thoughts tucked private in her mind or they could bring a whole lot of trouble and pain. But the more Grace sees of the heartless Master and hateful Missus, the more a rightiness voice clamors in her head-asking how come white folks can own other people, sell them on the auction block, and separate families forever.
Garvey in the Dark by Nikki Grimes
ISBN: 9781635925265
Publication Date: 2022-10-25
Garvey's finally happy--he's feeling close to his father through their shared love of music, bullies are no longer tormenting him, and his best friends Manny and Joe are by his side. But when the schools, stores, and restaurants close because people are getting sick, Garvey's improved life goes into lockdown as well. And when Garvey's father gets sick, Garvey must find a way to use his newfound musical skills to bring hope to both his father and himself.

A few of the Poetry Books in the SLS Library

A Light in the Attic Special Edition with 12 Extra Poems by Shel Silverstein (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9780061905858
Publication Date: 2009-09-22
From New York Times bestselling author Shel Silverstein, the creator of the beloved poetry collections Where the Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, and Every Thing On It, comes an imaginative book of poems and drawings--a favorite of Shel Silverstein fans young and old. This special edition contains 12 never-before-published poems. A Light in the Attic delights with remarkable characters and hilariously profound poems in a collection readers will return to again and again. Here in the attic you will find Backward Bill, Sour Face Ann, the Meehoo with an Exactlywatt, and the Polar Bear in the Frigidaire. You will talk with Broiled Face, and find out what happens when Somebody steals your knees, you get caught by the Quick-Digesting Gink, a Mountain snores, and They Put a Brassiere on the Camel. Come on up to the attic of Shel Silverstein and let the light bring you home. And don't miss Runny Babbit Returns, the new book from Shel Silverstein!
The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-to Poems by Paul B. Janeczko; Richard Jones (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9780763681685
Publication Date: 2019-02-25
Today I walked outside and spied a hedgehog on the hill. When she and I met eye to eye, she raised up straight and still. Be they practical (how to mix a pancake or how to bird-watch) or fanciful (how to scare monsters or how to be a snowflake), the poems in this book boast a flair and joy that you woń€™t find in any instruction manual. Poets from Kwame Alexander to Pat Mora to Allan Wolf share the way to play hard, to love nature, and to be grateful. Soft, evocative illustrations will encourage readers to look at the world with an eye to its countless possibilities.
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9780060256678
Publication Date: 2014-02-18
Come in . . . for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein's world begins. You'll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist. \
I Remember by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Editor)
ISBN: 9781620143117
Publication Date: 2019-10-22
I Remember: Poems and Pictures of Heritage brings together the work of fourteen award-winning poets and sixteen illustrators of diverse backgrounds who share aspects of their childhood experiences in honest portraits of what it was like for them growing up in the United States.
Thanku by Miranda Paul; Marlena Myles (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781541523630
Publication Date: 2019-09-03
How do you give thanks? Gratitude isn't something we need to save up for a special holiday. What are you grateful for right now, today? This anthology brings together a diverse group of poets who express gratitude for everything from a puppy to hot cocoa to the sky itself. Each writer uses a different poetic form, and readers will encounter a concrete poem, a sonnet, a pantoum, a sijo, and much more.
Cast Away by Naomi Shihab Nye
ISBN: 9780062907691
Publication Date: 2020-02-11
A deeply moving, sometimes funny, and always provocative poetry collection for all ages. "How much have you thrown away in your lifetime already Do you ever think about it Where does this plethora of leavings come from How long does it take you, even one little you, to fill the can by your desk" Naomi Shihab Nye National Book Award Finalist, Young People's Poet Laureate, and devoted trash-picker-upper Naomi Shihab Nye explores these questions and more in this original collection of poetry that features more than eighty new poems.
Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes
ISBN: 9781681199443
Publication Date: 2021-01-05
For centuries, accomplished women--of all races--have fallen out of the historical records. The same is true for gifted, prolific, women poets of the Harlem Renaissance who are little known, especially as compared to their male counterparts. In this poetry collection, bestselling author Nikki Grimes uses "The Golden Shovel" poetic method to create wholly original poems based on the works of these groundbreaking women-and to introduce readers to their work. Each poem is paired with one-of-a-kind art from today's most exciting female African-American illustrators.
A Songbird Dreams of Singing by Kate Hosford; Jennifer M. Potter (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9780762467143
Publication Date: 2019-11-05
Learn more about the variety of fascinating ways animals sleep: from upside down and holding hands, to sleeping while swimming or flying! Did you know otters sleep while holding hands; zebra finches rehearse their songs while dreaming; ducks and dolphins sleep with one half of their brains at a time; and, frigate birds sleep while flying? A Songbird Dreams of Singing: Poems about Sleeping Animals is a book of poetry with a scientific-and child-friendly-underpinning. With a poem for every animal, followed by a paragraph explaining the fascinating science behind how that animal sleeps, this artfully compiled book captures the wonder of our ecosystem.