Poetry, Animal Albums, And More Fun Kids’ Books!

This Indigenous poetic picture book, an homage to trees, will be released on Tuesday. It explores the author’s relationships with trees, influenced by her Algonquin ancestors’ beliefs. Each of the 12 poems centers different trees as the seasons pass. As winter turns into spring, a child gazes at a maple. Another child rests beneath a willow tree in the summer. During the winter, two children build a snowman by a pine tree. The soft, painted illustrations are lovely.

This picture book also centers nature, this time animals. Sixteen gentle and beautiful poems explore encounters with animals, from a canoeing child watching herons to hornets gathering around a lemonade pitcher and a cat eyeing a chipmunk in a water drain. Barron’s cut-paper collage illustrations are vibrant, as are Ruddock’s rhythmic poems.

Snider collects poems into comic panels in this imaginative seasonal middle grade collection following two children. In spring, the children write poems about snails, shapes, empty lots, and more. In summer, poems explore festivals, clouds, basketball, and more. These are short, accessible poems with lively illustrations.

Jane Yolen is a well-known children’s poet, and this is her largest anthology to date. It contains more than one hundred of her playful poems accompanied by small, black-and-white illustrations by Cathrin Peterslund. The poems are divided into “In” and “Out” sections surrounding seven themes: At Home, Animals, School, After School, Sports, Career Poems, and Calendar Poems. While listed as middle grade, poetry readers of any age will enjoy these.