Poetry readings
I absolutely LOVED Love That Dog by Sharon Creech! I felt very connected to the boy, the narrator, because one of my dogs also died a few months ago 
. I loved that you could follow his emotions and writing improvements. It was also hysterical during some places. For example, when he writes a letter to Walter Dean Myers and he keeps saying how clean his school was. The teacher in this book was also a strong character, although she did not have any dialogue. Jack would mainly speak to her in his journal writings and respond to what she would ask him. His teacher seemed to understand how children will learn to love poetry and writing o their own if they are given positive environments.
All the small poems and fourteen more by Valerie Worth is a great read for kids beginning a poetry unit. I remember reading the “Sidewalk” poems in elementary school which were simple, and fun poems about random things. This reminded me a lot of those. The poems in this book are easy to read and understand, a great way NOT to scare kids with poetry!Very inspiring for children.
Brown Angels by Walter Dean Myers is a very interesting and unique book. The photographs give the poetry another dimension that might not have been grasped otherwise. I really loved how the photos match perfectly with the poems. The feelings sync the two together very nicely. WDM was very clever to do this and I think children would really like reading these sweet and simple poems.
