Roberto Innocenti

J. Patrick Lewis

Sur le linteau de la porte, une date gravée : 1656. L'année de la construction. Une année de peste. La Maison est bâtie de pierre et de bois. Au fil du temps, ses fenêtres se sont mises à voir et son toit à entendre. Elle a vu des feuilles grandir, des arbres tomber, entendu des rires et le son du canon. Elle a connu bien des familles, des tempêtes, des marteaux et des scies, des deuils et enfin l'abandon. Puis un jour, à nouveau, des enfants se sont aventurés dans son ombre, à la recherche de champignons et de châtaignes et une vie nouvelle lui a été donnée à l'aube d'un âge moderne. Vue de sa vieille colline, ceci est son histoire du XXe siècle.

La maison

Aided by Roberto Innocenti's enchanting illustrations, readers can join J. Patrick Lewis's narrator in puzzling out the literary identities of the visitors at a peculiar seaside resort.

The Last Resort

"Lewis's poetics are perfectly complemented by Kelley's evocative pastel illustrations, which both inspire and unsettle." –New York Times They went by many names, but the world came to know them best as the Harlem Hellfighters. Two thousand strong, these black Americans from New York picked up brass instruments—under the leadership of famed bandleader and lieutenant James Reese Europe—to take the musical sound of Harlem into the heart of war. From the creators of the 2012 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor Book, And the Soldiers Sang, this remarkable narrative nonfiction rendering of WWI -- and American -- history uses free-verse poetry and captivating art to tell century-old story of hellish combat, racist times, rare courage, and inspired music.

Harlem Hellfighters

Jane Yolen

Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis and the inimitable Jane Yolen team up in this ironic and witty take on the last moments in the lives of a variety of animals. Each satirical poem in this darkly humorous collection is an epitaph of a different animal. Grouped by animal type, these posthumous poems are full of clever wordplay and macabre humor that will appeal to kids (and adults) of all ages. From the humble chicken to the great blue whale, this laugh-out-loud poetry collection is sure to be a hit at storytimes and around Halloween.

Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs

A joyful celebration of books, reading, and all things literary is presented through an amusing collection of poems from the author of Scien-Trickery, and is enhanced with full-color illustrations from a debut artist.

Please Bury Me in the Library

Rhymed text, featuring rebuses, describes the wonders of the store run by Mr. Nickel and Mrs. Dime.

a rebus adventure

The Fantastic 5 & 10 [cent] store

Yevgenia Nayberg

Wren and the Sparrow

Thirteen classic poems by poets such as Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, and David McCord are paired with parodies that honor and play off of the original poems in a range of ways. For example, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is paired with "Stopping by Fridge on a Hungry Evening" to hilarious effect, whereas the combination of Emily Dickinson's "'Hope' is the thing with feathers" with Lewis's "'Grief' is the thing with tissues" is profound, and both David McCord's "This Is My Rock" and Lewis's "This Is My Tree" hum with a sense of wonder. This playful introduction to classics will inspire imagination and wonder even as it tickles funny bones.

Classic Poems and Playful Parodies

Keep a Pocket in Your Poem

A stone-and-mortar house watches a century pass and inhabitants come and go in this gorgeously illustrated book from 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Roberto Innocenti.

The House

poems to fly

Skywriting

An Even Number of Odd Riddle-Rhymes

Arithme-Tickle

A Children's Poet Laureate presents a sumptuously illustrated collection of poems inspired by the achievements and words of 17 civil rights heroes, including Coretta Scott King, Mohandas Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

Poems for Civil Rights Leaders

When Thunder Comes

Thirteen witty and wacky poems pose riddles that challenge readers to name the popular children's book it is describing, while delightful illustrations also give clues to the answers.

A Riddle Book of Book Riddles

Spot the Plot

Combines photography with lyrical text celebrating the animal world, in a compilation that includes works by such poets as Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost and Rudyard Kipling.

200 Poems with Photographs that Squeak, Soar, and Roar!

National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry

"Robert Johnson was born in rural Mississippi and died young, leaving little behind except blues like no one sung the blues before him. A legend says that Robert sold his soul to the devil in return for becoming King of the Delta Blues."--From source other than the Library of Congress

Black Cat Bone

Kenn Nesbitt

Children's Poets Laureate J. Patrick Lewis and Kenn Nesbitt team up to offer a smart, stealthy tour of the creatures of shadowy myth and fearsome legend—the enticing, the humorous, and the strange. Bigfoot, the Mongolian Death Worm, and the Loch Ness Monster number among the many creatures lurking within these pages. Readers may have to look twice—the poems in this book are disguised as street signs, newspaper headlines, graffiti, milk cartons, and more!

Bigfoot is Missing!

What lurks inside that mysterious store at the end of town? Only Benny Penny is adventurous enough to find out. . . . In this book, you can read the words and the pictures. Perfect for children just learning to read, this silly, kid-friendly rebus picture book is sure to be a hit in the classroom and at home. (In a rebus, words are represented by images, or by an image plus a letter. And even beginning readers can take pleasure in reading pictures!) The pairing of Valorie Fisher’s full-page art with J. Patrick Lewis’s funny rhyming poem will give young readers plenty of clues for solving these fun and engaging picture puzzles.

A Rebus Adventure

The Fantastic 5 & 10 Cent Store

math puzzlers in classic poems

Edgar Allan Poe's apple pie

Douglas Florian

This paperback picture book features fresh, quirky poems by two picture-book poetry veterans which explore practically every kid's favorite topic: CARS! The U.S. Children's Poet Laureate and an award-winning children's poet join their prolific forces in this picture book of poems about cars. But they're not just any cars: there's the "Sloppy-Floppy-Nonstop-Jalopy" ("So unique there is no copy"); the Bathtub Limosine ("With hot water heating / And porcelain seating"); and the "High Heel Car." Each of the thirteen quirky, inventive poems will speak directly to the imaginations of children, as will Holmes's high-concept, detail-filled illustrations.

Crazy Car Poems

Poem-mobiles

"An allegorical tale about Nazi occupied Poland in which a town's residents are forced to turn over their musical instruments. A young student rescues the hurdy-gurdy of her teacher, who has presumably befallen a terrible fate, and later, a young boy finds the instrument and intends to pass it--and the importance of remembering--on to his future grandchildren"--

J. Patrick Lewis

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