Middle Grade/Juvenile
Mixed Feelings: Poems and Stories, by Avan Jogia, Andrews McMeel, Sept. 2019, ISBN-13: 9781449496210
Genre: Poetry, YA and Adult Crossover
BISAC: Poetry, Loss, Grief, Love Poems, Love and Loss
Description from publisher: From actor Avan Jogia comes a raw and moving collection of poetry, stories, and art about living as a mixed-race person in a world increasingly fixated on racial identity.
In Mixed Feelings, Avan Jogia explores his complicated emotions around race, identity, religion, and family through poetry and imagery. Drawing on the author's own life story as well as interviews he's conducted with friends and strangers, Mixed Feelings serves as a dialogue starter for difficult topics that now, more than ever, need to be discussed.
Poetry of Excellence for All Ages
NEW RELEASE AUDIOBOOK: The One Thing You'd Save
By Linda Sue Park, read by Nancy Wu, Maxwell Glick, Elizabeth Pan and a full cast, March 16, 2021, Ages 8-12,
Genre/BISAC: Middle grade, contemporary realistic, poetry, novels-in-verse
Listening Library Audiobook: 9780593458655
If your house were on fire, what one thing would you save? Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park explores different answers to this provocative question in linked poems that capture the diverse voices of a middle school class.
THE POET X by Elizabeth Acevedo, 9780062662811. $12.99. Ages 13 up. On Sale April 7, 2020. The National Book Award–winning debut novel by renowned poet Elizabeth Acevedo, about a young girl in Harlem who discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world – NOW IN PAPERBACK!] WRITE YOURSELF A LANTERN: A JOURNAL INSPIRED BY THE POET X by Elizabeth Acevedo, HarperCollins, 9780062982278. $14.99. Ages 13 up. NEW RELEASE! On Sale April 7, 2020. Featuring lines from The Poet X among its lined pages, this full-color, beautifully designed journal is perfect for readers, long-time writers, those trying their hand at poetry, or anyone with a voice all their own. Let Xiomara’s verses spark your own inspiration, as you pour your own thoughts and feelings onto the pages—and write the words you need most.
Page created with assistance from Childress Ink Intern Laura Standel, book blogger and vlogger @AReadingWarrior
Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners
By Naomi Shihab Nye, Greenwillow Books, 2018, 9780062691842
Age: 13-17
Genre: Middle Grade Poetry
Summary: Absolutely love love love this book@ Ninety-five poems pay tribute to essential voices past and present that have the power to provoke us, lead us, and give us hope.
The Legend of the Fairy Stones
By Kelly Anne White, Morgan James Kids, April 2019, Ages 8 and up, 9781642791952 (PA) $11.95; 9781642791969 (HC) $23
Genre: Rhyming Picture Book, Bedtime Story, Folk Tale, Fairy Tale; Virginia Folklore, Fairy Stones, Staurolite, Rocks and Gems, Jesus Stones, Art, STEM, Holiday-Easter, Gift Book, Adult Art Enthusiasts. Read Full Childress Ink Feature.
NEW RELEASES:
Picture Books
You Don’t Have to Be Everything: Poems for Girls Becoming Themselves
By Diana Whitney, Workman Publishing, March 30, 2021, Ages 12-18; Grades 6-12
Paperback; $14.95, 9781523510993
From Publisher: A thoughtfully compiled poetry anthology accompanied by striking works of art. A truly unique and representative collection, the anthology is filled with diverse poets grappling with questions of gender, sexuality, harassment, and pain while also celebrating beauty, risk, and making mistakes. Collected with girls in mind, these 68 poems ring with diversity, self-discovery and self-acceptance including a range of voices from award winner Elizabeth Acevedo to Instagram heroes Kate Baer and Nikita Gill to giants of the genres Maya Angelou and Mary Oliver to National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman and many more. Grouped by emotional experiences, such as loneliness, longing, attitude, rage, belonging these poems give readers permission to let go of shame and perfectionism, urging them to accept their own contradictions and embrace the complexity and fullness of who they are—and who they are becoming.
Brave the Page: A Young Writer’s Guide to Telling Epic Stories
By Rebecca Stern & Grant Faulker, PRH, 2019, 9780451480293
Age: 10-17
Genre: Informative, Nonfiction, Middle Grade
Description: A resource for Middle Grade writers on how to write their novel during NaNoWriMo including planning, writing, and committing to their goals.
A Fire Like You by Upile Chisala
Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing
March 10, 2020, ISBN13 9781449499587, Age: 14+
Genre: Poetry, Adult,
Description: This is the third book of a collection of poetry that deals with themes of love, loss, and desire. Upile Chisala explores identity and what it means to be a black Malawian woman while reflecting on her life and promoting empowerment and self-love.
A Book of Poems, compiled by Robert Carter
ISBN-13: 9781986174374 (PA)
Genre: Historical, 1940s, Life of English Teacher, Reflections of life of the times.
Absolutely moving and touching poems written by a woman who taught English all her life, and also kept poems about her experiences, good and bad, discovered, compiled, and published by her son, Media Producer for more than 35 years and currently Producer for Childress Ink LLC, shout out to my stepfather, reporter, storyteller, and journalist who once interviewed Robin Williams.
With a Star in my Hand: Rubén Darío, Poetry Hero, by Margarita Engle, NEW RELEASE, Simon & Schuster, ISBN-13 : 978-1534424937
Genre/BISAC: Novel-in-Verse, Juvenile, Middle Grade, Historical Fiction based on true story, Poetry, YA and Adult Crossover
I shared this book with my seventeen-year-old poetry writing daughter, and she read it in one sitting. I absolutely love this book, it has excellent classroom potential in so many areas, and makes a great gift to lovers of poetry. This book has been added to my permanent library.
Publisher Description:
A novel in verse about the life and work of Ruben Dario, a Nicaraguan poet who started life as an abandoned child and grew to become the father of a new literary movement. Includes historical notes. Includes bibliographical references.
What is Poetry? The Essential Guide to Reading & Writing Poems
By Michael Rosen, Illustrated by Jill Calder, Walker, 2016
ISBN-13: 9781844287635, Age: 10+
Genre: Nonfiction, Children’s educational, poetry
In this book the author demonstrates poetry through examples in order to help teach kids how to read and write poetry, by one of country’s leading children’s poets.
NEW RELEASE: Simon B. Rhymin’, by Dwayne Reed, March 2021, Little, Brown & Co. Books For Young Readers, Ages: 8-12, 9780316538978
Genre/BISAC: Middle grade, contemporary realistic, rap and poetry, humor, community, friendship, diversity. See Full Childress Ink Feature
Recent and Backlist Favorites
Young Adult (YA) - New Adult - Adult Interest
Wren
-contributed by reader Murray Alfredson
From the underbrush
then and now
like pins or tiny razors,
his twitters pierce the creek-bed stillness
deep in the ravine.
Do I in
just splits of moments
glimpse in leafage-gaps
a fleck of blue.
He teases;
side-glanced colour-flicker
but never when I look.
Pictured by mind’s eye
in dainty elegance,
disembodied voice.
Drab wren-dam!
Twig or twitch,
Are you there
Wren pair?
Murray Alfredson: Poet, essayist, story writer, poetry editor, professional skeptic, and author of The Gleaming Clouds. Brisbane: Interactive Press, 2013.