These 5 important contemporary books of poetry for teens should be added to your TBR list.
1. Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto by Paul B. Janeczko
via pinterest.com
“Accented with dramatic illustrations by prisoners, found after WW II, Janeczko’s spare and powerful poems convey Terezín’s tragic legacy on an intimate, profoundly moving scale.”
2. Walking on Earth & Touching the Sky: Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School
via pinterest.com
“This is an exceptional poetry collection written by Lakota students in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades at Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The historic school was founded in 1888 at the request of Chief Red Cloud of the Oglala Lakota. The poems enable readers to learn about the unique lives and heritage of students growing up in such distinctive circumstances and straddling cultures. The collection was compiled by a teacher at the school, working with school administrators, and contains never-before-published artworks by award-winning artist S. D. Nelson.”
3. Visiting Langston by Willie Permomo
via pinterest.com
“It’s a special day when a little girl and her father go to visit the house where the great poet Langston Hughes lived―especially when the little girl is a poet herself! This rhythmic tale is a wonderful introduction to the work and world of Langston Hughes, who was a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance and an American cultural hero.”
4. War Cries: Unheard Voices, Unmarked Graves by Kerry Arquette
via amazon.com
“WAR CRIES: UNHEARD STORIES, UNMARKED GRAVES provides a stage for the voices—many inspired by people present in Europe during World War II—to speak their truths. The characters behind the poems come from different religions, different professions, and different ideologies. Like all of us, they want to be heard. They want to be understood. Most of all…they want to be remembered.”
5. Kingdom Animalia by Aracelis Girmay
via pinterest.com
“The poems in this highly anticipated second book are elegiac poems, as concerned with honoring our dead as they are with praising the living. Through Aracelis Girmay’s lens, everything is animal: the sea, a jukebox, the desert. In these poems, everything possesses a system of desire, hunger, a set of teeth, and language. These are poems about what is both difficult and beautiful about our time here on earth.”
Receive top book recommendations directly in your inbox.
Leave a Comment
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *