The County Library discussion

April is National Poetry Month. Your challenge is to read a book of poetry. This can be a collection of poems, like Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Poems and Drawings of Shel Silverstein, or something by Pablo Neruda, or it can be a novel in verse like, Dust of Eden or What My Mother Doesn't Know. In your comment tell us what you read and what you liked or didn't like about the book you chose. Have fun!

I would love to read "Where the Sidewalk Ends" again. Maybe I can get my grand daughter to read it with me. :)

Jackie wrote: "I would love to read "Where the Sidewalk Ends" again. Maybe I can get my grand daughter to read it with me. :)"
That's a great read aloud. If you decide to do it, let us know what your favorite poem is. I'm a sucker for "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout, Would not take the Garbage out."

I got The Essential Rumi for my birthday, so I'll read that. One of my favorite collections is The Moon Before Morning if anyone needs a suggestion.

Elizabeth wrote: "Jackie wrote: "I would love to read "Where the Sidewalk Ends" again. Maybe I can get my grand daughter to read it with me. :)"
That's a great read aloud. If you decide to do it, let us know what yo..."

HA! So many great ones in there, but I will let you know. :)

This will be a hard challenge for me because Poetry isn't one of my favorite genres.

This is perfect! In another challenge, I have selected two poetry books to read so this will help me finish another challenge. If you don't care for poetry, try Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses. I loved it when I was a kid and still love it today. And I don't care for poetry. It's not terribly long and the poetry is not complex.

For those of an older bent of mind, several of the poems that Bullwinkle (Bullwinkle and Rocky) quotes are from this book. "Oh how I love to go up in a swing. Up in a swing so high..." I can just hear Bullwinkle's voice.

So many good suggestions.

I bought an illustrated edition of Longfellow's poem"Evangeline" as a souvenir on a trip last year, so I started that. There is a bunch of historical info in an introduction by someone else, but I ended up skipping some of it to get to the poem.

Carolyn wrote: "I bought an illustrated edition of Longfellow's poem"Evangeline" as a souvenir on a trip last year, so I started that. There is a bunch of historical info in an introduction by someone else, but I ..."

Brave woman!

Linda wrote: "This will be a hard challenge for me because Poetry isn't one of my favorite genres."

Linda, you can read a juvenile poetry book, a lot of them are super short. It would help you read it quickly and just get it over with. :)

Dr. Seuss counts as poetry for most, if not all, stories. For sure The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham.

I have 3 books of poetry I haven't read yet. I need to dig them out though.

My main problem is that I keep forgetting to post my books for these challenges. I shouldn't wait for the last day.

Donna wrote: "My main problem is that I keep forgetting to post my books for these challenges. I shouldn't wait for the last day."

I forget if I don't post the day I finish. That's why sometimes you will see me post more than once with something that fits the challenge, especially for the summer challenges. So take heart, you aren't alone in the forgetting camp.

I tried Prelude to Bruise, a contemporary collection, and it was too painful to complete. The author was abused by his father for cross dressing.
I'll try Rumi, a Dr. Seuss I haven't read, or re-read one of the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker.

I have finished Stag's Leap: Poems by Sharon Olds.
This work won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2013. Olds writes of the breakup of her 30 (?) year marriage in a way that promotes a sense of discovery and surprise but lacking the anger one would expect. I found the poetry more comforting than upsetting. I rarely read poetry, it often feeling like a chore but I found this small collection very readable. It took me less than a week to read. Highly recommended.

Teresa wrote: "I tried Prelude to Bruise, a contemporary collection, and it was too painful to complete. The author was abused by his father for cross dressing.
I'll try Rumi, a Dr. Seuss I haven..."

Extra points for trying something new. I'm sorry it wasn't something you liked, for lighter fair, you might enjoy I Could Chew on This: And Other Poems by Dogs

Debbie wrote: "I have finished Stag's Leap: Poems by Sharon Olds.
This work won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2013. Olds writes of the breakup of her 30 (?) year marriage in a way that promotes..."

What an interesting take, I'll have to check that one out.

I decided to save "Evangeline" for another time. Instead, I read my favorite Dr. Seuss with my cute niece. "I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew".

Through the library search, I came across "Love That Dog" by Sharon Creech. It is a short fiction book in poetry form. It was very good. I am glad I found it.

Linda wrote: "Through the library search, I came across "Love That Dog" by Sharon Creech. It is a short fiction book in poetry form. It was very good. I am glad I found it."
There's a sequel--"Hate That Cat", I think. It's excellent as well.

I love that book! And Hate That Cat by the same author is very good as well. It's meant to be read after Love That Dog. The Crossover is another book written in poetry.

I have a recommendation for those who don't love poetry. I should have thought of it sooner. Joyce Sidman writes poetry for children about nonfiction topics. The combination of poetry, factual information and wonderful illustrations make her books very engaging, in my opinion. Try Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature or Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold or Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors or Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night. All are wonderful.

There are more and more novels written in verse, it seems. Crossover was excellent. Another one that I really liked was Inside Out & Back Again. Brown Girl Dreaming is also wonderful.

All the Broken Pieces was also amazing.

@Jenny

Swirl by Swirl is fantastic, and the pictures are great! So's Brown Girl Dreaming.

Excellent book.

I intended to read my Rumi poetry book, but that is not a book to read cover to cover, a characteristic I find of most poetry. So, I read Stag's Leap: Poems on Debbie's recommendation. This was an unusual poetry book as it read well from cover to cover, telling the story of the end of the author's marriage. Very poignant and well written.

"and I saw, again, how blessed my life has been,
first, to have been able to love,
then, to have the parting now behind me,
and not to have lost him when the kids were young,
and the kids now not at all to have lost him,
and not to have lost him when he loved me, and not to have
lost someone who could have loved me for life."

I read Mirror Mirror; Follow Follow; and Echo Echo. Highly recommend them. They are picture book format and the poems are "reverso poems". Very cool.

I finished "Where the Sidewalk Ends". Always a great read. :)

Only a couple more days to finish the April challenge. If you haven't read a poetry book yet, remember that children's poetry books count, and a lot of them aren't that long. PLUS, they often have excellent illustrations that accompany them. You could check out the 2016 Beehive Book Award Winner for Poetry, Hi, Koo!

As a quick note, I will be out of the office until May 3, so the April Reading Challenge winner will be announced then. Thank you!

I know it's no longer April, but I did read Under the Freedom Tree a poetry book about slaves escaping to freedom during the Civil War and The Pet Project: Cute and Cuddly Vicious Verses. Both were fun reads. I am almost finished (will probably finish today) Songs of Innocence and of Experience by Blake.

Alyson is our winner for reading All the Broken Pieces. Congratulations!

Hooray Alyson!