NAVIGATION
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New to First Book?
Join us to connect with thousands of fellow educators and access exciting educational events and resources for you and your students.
Before my years at First Book, I was a poet.
The poetry I knew as a child was the poetry of songs — folk music at home, hymns at church, show tunes in choir — so the idea of saying something big through something rather small was there from the beginning. As I began to read poetry in school, I started to craft my own and writing poetry became a way to put my increasingly very big feelings into a small, concrete space. The value and emotional connection of poetry even inspired me to focus my traditional English degree on Creative Writing. While I was destined to become a librarian and eventually First Book’s Director of Merchandising, I never stopped reading poetry.
I was working towards my degree in Library Science when I encountered my first novel in verse, and I was immediately hooked. The idea of putting a novel into the tight lines of poetry knocked my socks off. These were not the classical epics I had previously read in college. They were personal, intimate, everyday stories. They were short but thought-provoking, lyrical but approachable. As one of the kids that came through the library said after reading Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson, "It was weird, but good, like I was inside Lonnie's head."
This Poetry Month, let's look at the everyday from a new angle, find those small ways to say something big, and get close to characters, perhaps even inside their head, who may be nothing — and everything — like us.It will be weird, but good.
Explore First Book’s Marketplace to add new poetry books to your collection. With Amanda Gorman breathing new life into what poetry can mean for young and adult readers alike, network members can choose from our suggested titles orexplore our fullcollection on Marketplacethis month.
As always, featured Marketplace titles tend to sell out quickly, but more are on their way, so check back often! First Book supporters,not currently eligibleto join the network, can purchase books throughBookshop.orgto still directly impact kids in need; 10% of your order is donated directly to First Book.
Educators can join First Book’s network — the largest and fastest growingnetwork of educators, schools, and programs serving children in need across the United States and Canada — to bring these titles and many more to your classroom.
