I read a bunch of children's poetry books by multiple authors and illustrators. đź“š
I volunteered to be a reader for the poetry committee for the Beehive Book Awards. With their 2026 shortlist meeting deadline looming I finally got to reading as many of the titles as I could this weekend.
Bonus, this deadline forced me out of my reading paralysis–I hadn’t been able to commit to a book to be my first for 2025. This freed me to just read 22 different small books instead, no pressure.
I don’t want to share all my notes and ratings and not sure if I should, anyway, but below is the full list of the books I read in the past two days from the longlist (which I’m also not sure I should share in full.) I’ve bolded the titles that were my personal favorites, and included their covers in the .gif associated with this log entry.
(I’d already read and favorited some others from the longlist last year, such as–Poetry Comics, Louder Than Hunger, And Then, Boom!, Kin: Rooted in Hope.)
Read on 2025-01-18
- Home, poems and illustrations by Isabelle Simler, translated by Vineet Lal
- Welcome to the Wonder House, poems by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Georgia Heard, illustrations by Deborah Freedman
- The City Sings Green and Other Poems about Welcoming Wildlife, by Erica Silverman, illustrated by Ginnie Hsu
- The Mighty Pollinators, poems by Helen Frost, photographs by Rick Lieder
- Tree Whispers: a Forest of Poems by Mandy Ross, illustrated by Juliana Oakley
- The Museum of the Moon: The Curious Objects on the Lunar Surface, by Irene Latham, illustrated by Myriam Wares
Read on 2025-01-19
- Zilot & Other Important Rhymes by Bob Odenkirk with illustrations by Erin Odenkirk
- Aloha Everything by Kaylin Melia George, illustrated by Mae Waite
- Windsongs: Poems about Weather by Douglas Florian
- What You Need to Be Warm by Neil Gaiman, various illustrators
- Bless Our Pets: Poems of Gratitude for Our Animal Friends, various authors, illustrated by Lita Judge
- Eating my Words and 128 Other Poems by Brian P. Cleary, illustrated by Andy Rowland and Richard Watson
- Forward Always: Poems to be read aloud by Matthew Hodson
- We Who Produce Pearls: An Anthem for Asian America, by Joanna Ho, illustrated by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya
- This Is a Tiny Fragile Snake, poems by Nicholas Ruddock, pictures by Ashley Barron
- T Is for Trails: A Hiking Alphabet by Judy Young, illustrated by Sharisse Steber
- Skating Wild on an Inland Sea by Jean E. Pendziwol, illustrated by Todd Stewart
- Pickle Words: Crunchy, Punchy Pickles and Poetry, by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Jialei Sun
- Haiku, Ew!: Celebrating the Disgusting Side of Nature by Lynn Brunelle, illustrated by Julia Patton
- Great Gusts: Winds of the World and the Science Behind Them, by Melanie Crowder and Megan Benedict, illustrated by Khoa Le
- Red Bird Danced by Dawn Quigley
I’m excited to see which titles the committee ultimately picks.
P.S. The GIF turned out a mess but I don’t really care I’m just going to go with it and get on with my life.