National Poetry Month was started by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world celebrating poetry’s vital place in our culture. Poetry's rhythmic style and playful way of learning how to hear the syllables within words supports reading fluency. Breaking down words into smaller chunks aids in content comprehension, helping your child see the patterns within language and improve skills in ‘sounding out’ words. We hope you enjoy this list of audiobooks we put together for you to introduce poetry to your child and get them reading.
Grade Level: K-5
When your science homework eats your dog, you spend lunch dodging flying food, and your backpack weighs a thousand pounds, you know you've got a great answer to the question, “What did you do at school today?”
Grade Level: K-3
This vibrant collection of twenty-one poems celebrates the joys (snack time!) and pitfalls (2 + 2 = 23?) of childhood. Brod Bagert's often silly, always winsome poems cover everything from the seasons and the stars to finger paint and kids who quack.
Grade Level: K-3
Usher in National Poetry Month with Mr. Tiffin and his students, stars of the hugely popular How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? and The Apple Orchard Riddle.
Grade Level: 9 an up
Features 41 of Poe's most memorable poems — among them "The Bells," "Ulalume," "Israfel," "To Helen," "The Conqueror Worm," "Eldorado" and "Annabel Lee" — reveal the extraordinary spectrum of Poe's personality and his virtuoso command of poetic language, rhythms and figures of speech. Alphabetic lists of titles and first lines.
Grade Level: 9 an up
Treasury of verse by the great Victorian poet includes the famous long narrative poem, Enoch Arden, plus "The Lady of Shalott," "The Charge of the Light Brigade," "Break, break, break," "Flower in the crannied Wall" and more. Also included are excerpts from three longer works: The Princess, "Maud" and "The Brook."
Grade Level: 7-9
Just in time for National Poetry Month, a fantastic collection of some of the best poems ever. These are some of the most amazing poems ever written, touching the heart, challenging the mind, and conjuring worlds of experience and imagination.
Grade Level: 7 and up
Padma Venkatraman s inspiring story of a young girl s struggle to regain her passion and find a new peace is told lyrically through verse that captures the beauty and mystery of India and the ancient bharatanatyam dance form.
Grade Level: 7 and up
Lupita, a budding actor and poet in a close-knit Mexican American immigrant family, comes of age as she struggles with adult responsibilities during her mother's battle with cancer. A novel in verse.
Grade Level: 4 and up
Shel Silverstein's masterful collection of poems and drawings is at once outrageously funny and profound.
Grade Level: 3-7
This historical middle-grade novel is told in poems from Mimi's perspective over the course of one year in her new town, and shows readers that positive change can start with just one person speaking up.
Grade Level: 3-7
Inspired, Emmaline writes her own first poem and secretly deposits it on Emily's desk. Emily answers with another poem, and a lively exchange begins. In this charming and fanciful introduction to Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Spires demonstrates the power of poetry to express our deepest feelings, while Claire A. Nivola's delicate pencil drawings capture the intricacies of life in Emily's world.
Grade Level: 3-7
In The President's Stuck in the Bathtub, the lives of the presidents are served up as fact-filled and fanciful poems that will make you laugh, cringe, and gasp with amazement at the colorful cast of men and women who have lived in the White House.
About Learning Ally
Learning Ally is a leading nonprofit ed-tech organization delivering a comprehensive learning solution for struggling readers in elementary, middle and high schools. Our proven solution includes the most extensive library of human-read audiobooks that students want and need to read both at home and at school. This reading experience helps accelerate learning, enables a new level of access to knowledge and powerfully increases confidence and self-belief.
Learning Ally empowers over 240,000 students with improved comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and critical thinking skills. For over 70 years, we have helped transform the lives of struggling readers by bridging the gap between their reading capability and their academic potential as they confidently become lifelong learners who thrive in school and beyond.