Kid's Express: Anthologies by America's Children
Poems About Anger
Poems About Family
Poems About Friends
Poems About Myself
Poems About School
Jacqueline Sweeny, editor
Benchmark Books, 2003

"Children are natural poets. They are natural dancers, painters, and musicians too. Give a child a crayon and he will draw. Hand a child a harmonica and she will play. But every effort we can make to encourage these tender abilities is to be applauded," writes Billy Collins, poet laureate of the Library of Congress, 2001-2002, on the back of this set of moving anthologies written and illustrated by children all over America.

Poetry is not only for the philosophical among us. It is a form of expression available to everyone, including the very young. A poem can verbalize our emotions. It can capture a moment. It can share a sentiment. It can reveal our hearts. Poems, by their very nature, are slices of life, held in a few sentences.

Math
The easiest thing is math.
It's like a piece of cake in my mind.
It's like pure air-like the yellow in the sun.
-Lucas Keasbey, grade 3

This collection, cultivated from elementary schools across the country, taps into the emotional life of our children. Their feelings about school, anger, friends, family and their selves are honestly portrayed in their words and images. Each page has color children's drawings and paintings, complementing the poems, and showing their inner lives in another medium. Not only lovely to read, they can provide inspiration to kids, especially those who have not learned to write poems. Most of the poems are in free verse rather than following a structure such as a cinquain or a haiku. The free verse may give kids more flexibility but forms can be helpful to those who don't know where to start.

I Am Mad
I'm mad at my brother I'm mad at my mom I'm
mad at my father I'm mad at my dog. It looks
like I'm going to explode in the sun
-Casey Nelson Tompkins, grade 3

Parents do not need to be poets themselves to encourage their children to write. It's easiest if you give the child a topic; try to suggest something current or important to the child. And be a good role model and write with your child. Find the natural child within you. Another way to approach poetry is to write a poem about a picture your child has drawn.

The connection between art and writing is being researched in the education system. A recent study of first and second grade students, which examined combining art and writing, documented dramatic gains in the writing abilities of the students. At-risk students, in particular, made extraordinary gains. The programs, called Picture Writing and developed by Beth Olshansky at the University of New Hampshire, utilizes visual, verbal, and kinesthetic modes so that all kinds of learners can increase their literacy. One version, Image-Making Within the Writing Process, has the kids make collage poems or stories using hand-painted textured paper.

In Boulder, the Boulder Community School of Integrated Studies (BCSIS) uses a program combining the arts and literacy. Developed by BCSIS staff, Roberta D. Mantione, a literacy specialist, and Sabine Smead, a classroom teacher, they developed an art-integrated curriculum to help students develop reading comprehension strategies. Their innovative program offers kids a multitude of ways to use the arts so that the kids become more than just competent readers; they also become strategic thinkers. Their new book, Weaving Through Words: Using the Arts to Teach Reading Comprehension Strategies (International Reading Association, 2002) is a revolutionary step in giving kids a way to learn and to express themselves.

In stressful times or in happy times, poetry captures our emotional states. Like a footprint of a moment in time, poetry and art bring out inner lives into a beautiful form that speaks across borders, languages, and cultures. As Billy Collins reminds us, children are natural poets. Listen, read, and honor their emerging voices.

My Guitar
The wind is as cold as winter when I play my guitar.
As the wind blows my guitar keeps singing.
The music keeps going as the wind keep
going and will never stop!
Because the music is in my heart and it will stay
there in my heart.
I just wish my mom and dad could hear it.
-Sarah Murphy, grade 2
 

Copyright © 2003 Anna Stewart. All rights reserved worldwide.