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Booklists
Lists of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on the lists. Titles are generally listed alphabetically by author.
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Booklists and Suggested Reading
Poetry Booklist
Page Modified: August 19, 2008
2005 & 2006: Poems for Youth and Adults
For Youth (children and teens):
- Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States
Author: Carlson, Lori Marie (edt)
Publisher: Holt $ 14.95 ISBN: 0805076166 Date: 2005
SLJBulletin
Ten years after the publication of the acclaimed Cool Salsa, editor Lori Marie Carlson has brought together a stunning variety of Latino poets for a long-awaited follow-up. Established and familiar names are joined by many new young voices, and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos has written the Introduction.
Updated 2.28.06 - Fold Me a Poem
Author: George, Kristine O'Connell
Publisher: Harcourt $ 16 ISBN: 0152025014 Date: 2005KirkusPW
A young boy creates a world filled with origami creatures of all shapes and sizes in this collection of 32 spirited poems that are combined with luminous illustrations. Includes an Illustrator's Note and a listing of origami-related Web sites and books.
Grades K-5
Updated 3.25.05 - Good Dog
Author: Gottfried, Maya
Publisher: Knopf $ 15.95 ISBN: 0375830499 Date: 2005Kirkus
In this heart-stealing picture book, artist Zakanitch presents six masterful, soulful, impossibly expressive portraits of dogs, and Gottfried wonderfully captures their voices and inner personalities in 16 enchanting poems.
Grades Preschool-3
Updated 3.25.05 - At Jerusalem's Gate
Author: Grimes, Nikki
Publisher: Eerdmans $ 20 ISBN: 0802851835 Date: 2005SLJKirkus
A combination of poetry and woodcut illustrations invites readers to explore the events surrounding the first Easter.
Grades K-3
Updated 3.21.05 - Oh, No! Where Are My Pants? and Other Disasters
Author: Hopkins, Lee Bennett (edt)
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 15.99 ISBN: 068817860x Date: 2005SLJ
From worm-in-the-apple days to friends-moving-away days, these funny and touching poems offer a look at the quintessential "worst moments" in a child's everyday life.
Grades K-4
Updated 3.21.05 - A Kick in the Head
Author: Janecsko, Paul B. (edt)
Publisher: Candlewick $ 17.99 ISBN: 0763606626 Date: 2005BooklistKirkusSLJPW
In this splendid and playful volume, acclaimed poetry anthologist Janeczko and Caldecott Honor illustrator Raschka present lively examples of 29 poetic forms, demonstrating not only the (sometimes bendable) rules of poetry, but also the spirit that brings these forms so wonderfully to life.
Grades 3+
Updated 3.25.05 - Looking for Jaguar: And Other Rain Forest Poems
Author: Katz, Susan
Publisher: Greenwillow $ 15.99 ISBN: 0060297913 Date: 2005BooklistKirkus
Readers can stroll through the astonishing rain forests of the world with this inviting and educational collection of 19 poems that feature the awesome (and often endangered) animals and plants that reside there.
Grades K-4
Updated 3.25.05 - Please Bury Me in the Library
Author: Lewis, J. Patrick
Publisher: Gulliver $ 16 ISBN: 0152163875 Date: 2005Kirkus
Grades 1-4
Inspired by the likes of Edward Lear, X.J. Kennedy, and Lewis Carroll, the author of "Arithme-Tickle" has created a collection of original poems about books and reading that ranges from sweet to silly to laugh-out-loud funny.
Updated 3.25.05 - A Wreath for Emmett Till
Author: Nelson, Marilyn
Publisher: Houghton $ 17 ISBN: 0618397523 Date: 2005BooklistKirkus
Newbery Honor-winning poet Nelson offers an evocative tribute to a 14-year-old boy whose lynching in 1955 helps spark the civil rights movement.
Grades 7-9
Updated 3.25.05 - A Maze Me: Poems for Girls
Author: Nye, Naomi Shihab
Publisher: Greenwillow $ 16.99 ISBN: 0060581891 Date: 2005Booklist
First love, friendships, family, hopes, and dreams are among the topics addressed in the 72 original poems written exclusively for this collection, accompanied by five full-color prints.
Grades 7-12
Updated 3.25.05 - Boris
Author: Rylant, Cynthia
Publisher:Harcourt $ 16 ISBN: 015205412x Date: 2005BulletinHorn Book | VOYA Pure Poetry Pick
From the Newbery Medalist comes a thoughtful, powerful collection of poems about a cat named Boris that explores love, compassion, and the continuous give-and-take of companionship.
Ages 14+
Updated 3.16.06 - Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems
Author: Sidman, Joyce
Publisher: Houghton $ 16 ISBN: 0618135472 Date: 2005BooklistPW
With a unique blend of whimsy, science, poetry, and hand-colored woodcuts, this collection invites readers to take a closer look at the world's hidden ponds and wetlands, and at the same time celebrate their beauty and mystery.
Grades K-3
Updated 3.25.05 - Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook
Author: Silverstein, Shel
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 17.99 ISBN: 0060256532 Date: 2005KirkusPW
The legendary creator of Where the Sidewalk Ends welcomes readers to the world of Runny Babbit and his friends Toe Jurtle, Skertie Gunk, Rirty Dat, Dungry Hog, Snerry Jake, and many others who speak a topsy-turvy language all their own. Conceived many years ago and completed before Silverstein's death, this new book of poems and drawings is filled with wordplay rhymes and clever spoonerisms.
Grades 4-7
Updated 3.25.05 - Central Heating: Poems About Fire and Warmth
Author: Singer, Marilyn
Publisher: Knopf $ 15.95 ISBN: 0375829121 Date: 2005SLJBulletin
As a companion volume to her poetry collections about earth and water, Marilyn Singer now examines the nature of fire, an overlooked subject in the realms of poetry. Meilo So combines strong linocut art with her signature brushwork in striking illustrations reproduced in fire-red.
Grades 4-7
Updated 3.21.05 - Worlds Apart: Traveling With Fernie and Me
Author: Soto, Gary
Publisher: Putnam $ 14.99 ISBN: 039924218x Date: 2005Kirkus
Soto's accessible and humorous poems that depict the travels of two friends will elicit nods of recognition and bursts of laughter as readers enjoy this outrageous jaunt around the globe.
Grades 4-7
Updated 3.25.05
For Adults:
- Damnatio Memoriae: Erased from Memory
Author: Barker, Sebastian
Publisher: Enitharmon $ 22.95 ISBN: 1900564092 Date: 2005Booklist
Damnatio Memoriae opens with an autobiographical sequence of poems in which he evokes post and present loves, the urban landscape of London, and the hidden beauties of the Lea Valley. They are all occasions that point towards the reflections to come on the sacred dimension of love and the evil that arises when this dimension is lost. These reflections become a springboard into the mam section of the book, in which Barker draws upon Christian. Jewish, Muslim and Ancient Near Eastern traditions to chart the search of the soul for faith in the face of cynicism, cruelty corruption, and despair. Damnatio Memoriae is in the highest European tradition of St John of the Cross or the "terrible sonnets" of Gerard Manley Hopkins. It is a salutary reminder that we ignore our spiritual needs at our peril. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.16.06 - The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry: From Ancient to Contemporary, the Full 3000-Year Tradition
Author: Barnstone, Tony (edt)
Publisher: Anchor $ 15.95 ISBN: 0385721986 Date: 2005LJ
Updated 3.21.05 - Words for the Hour: A New Anthology of American Civil War Poetry
Author: Barrett, Faith (edt)
Publisher: Univ of Mass $ 24.95 ISBN: 1558495096 Date: 2006Booklist
Words for the Hour presents a readable and illuminating account of the Civil War, told through the words of poets North and South. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.16.06 - The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan
Author: Berrigan, Ted
Publisher: Univ of California $ 49.95 ISBN: 0520239865 Date: 2005PW
Ted Berrigan was an important avant garde poet and literary figure who helped define the Lower East Side art community in the 1960s--the Frank O'Hara of the second generation. Most of his poetry is no longer in print.
Updated 3.27.06 - Belinni in Istanbul
Author: Bever, Lillias
Publisher: Tupelo $ 16.95 ISBN: 1932195262 Date: 2006Booklist
The incident at the center of this cycle of poems is Italian painter Gentile Bellini's sojourn to Istanbul in 1479. Poems undulate out from this event and carve plaintive sculptures that explore the themes of art, archaeology, and the idea of cultural transmission. These insightful contemplations are delicately honed by the author's own experiences in Turkey, ultimately fashioning a personal mirror to history, reflecting the landscape of self. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.16.06 - First Hand: Poems
Author: Bierds, Linda
Publisher: Putnam $ 25 ISBN: 039915261x Date: 2005LJ
Updated 2.28.06 - Edgar Allan Poe & the Juke-Box - Uncollected Poems, Drafts and Fragments
Author: Bishop, Elizabeth
Publisher: FSG $ 30 ISBN: 0374146454 Date: 2006PW
This revelatory and moving selection brings readers into the poet's laboratory, showing the initial provocative images that moved her to begin a poem, illustrating terrain unexplored in the work published during her lifetime, and revealing the kind of artistic resolution she exercised.
Updated 3.27.06 - While We've Still Got Feet: New Poems
Author: Budbill, David
Publisher: Copper Canyon $ 15 ISBN: 155659223x Date: 2005Booklist
For more than three decades, David Budbill has lived on a remote mountain in northern Vermont writing poems, reading Chinese classics, tending to his garden and, of course, working on his website. Budbill has been featured more than any other author on Garrison Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac. - Publisher Marketing Updated 3.16.06
- Decreation: Poetry, Essays, Opera
Author: Carson, Anne
Publisher: Knopf $ 24.95 ISBN: 1400043492 Date: 2005Booklist
In dazzling original poems, essays, screenplay, and libretto gathered here, the author draws on personal experience and the work of others to illuminate "decreation"--the state in which the self dissolves.
Updated 3.16.06 - Watercolor Women/Opaque Men: A Novel in Verse
Author: Castillo, Ana
Publisher: Curbstone $ 15 ISBN: 1931896208 Date: 2005BooklistLJ
Watercolor Women / Opaque Men is a wild and raucous narrative of a single, working mother, the daughter of Chicano migrant workers, and her struggles for upward mobility. With a remarkable combination of tenderness, wicked humor, and biting satire, the main character, Ella-or "She"-moves toward establishing her sexual identity (she has affairs with both men and women) and finding her rightful place in the world while simultaneously raising her son to be independent and self-sufficient. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.16.06 - Visiting Frost: Poems Inspired by the Life & Works of Robert Frost
Author: Coghill, Sheila (edt)
Publisher Univ of Iowa: $ 17.95 ISBN: 0877459630 Date: 2005Booklist
By reacting to specific Frost poems, by reinventing others, and by remembering aspects of Frost or by quarreling with him, the contributors speak on behalf of us whose lives have been brightened by the memorization and recitation of such poems as "The Road Not Taken" or "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." As the poets pay tribute to Frost's place in American poetry and history, they suggest--more than forty years after his death-just how alive and vital he remains in our collective memory. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.16.06 - Poems of Charles Reznikoff: 1918-1975
Author: Cooney, Seamus (edt)
Publisher: Black Sparrow $ 45/21.95 ISBN: 1574232045/037 Date: 2005PW
The son of Russian immigrants, Charles Reznikoff (1894P1976) was a blood-and-bone New Yorker who breathed the life of the Jewish tenements into his remarkable poetry. This collection--scrupulously edited, with notes, by Seamus Cooney--includes all of Reznikoff's shorter poems, with the exception of the book-length "Testimony" and "Holocaust."
Updated 3.27.06 - School of the Arts
Author: Doty, Mark
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 22.95 ISBN: 0060752459 Date: 2005LJ
The darkly graceful poems in Mark Doty's seventh collection explore the ways in which we are educated by the implacable powers of time and desire. The world constantly renews itself, and the new brings both possibility and erasure. Given the limits of our own bodies, how are we to live within the inevitability of despair? - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.21.05 - Averno
Author: Gluck, Louise
Publisher: FSG $ 22 ISBN: 0374107424 Date: 2006PWLJ
Gluck presents her 11th collection of poems that takes its name from Averno, a small crater lake in southern Italy regarded by the ancient Romans as the entrance to the underworld.
Updated 3.27.06 - Budget Travel Through Space and Time
Author: Goldbarth, Albert
Publisher: Graywolf $ 14 ISBN: 1555974163 Date: 2005LJ
A new kaleidoscopic itinerary of poems by Albert Goldbarth, twice winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.21.05 - Overlord
Author: Graham, Jorie
Publisher: Ecco $ 22.95 ISBN: 0060745657 Date: 2005Booklist
Updated 3.25.05 - The Quick of It
Author: Grennan, Eamon
Publisher: Graywolf $ 14 ISBN: 155597418x Date: 2005LJ
The latest collection by Irish poet Eamon Grennan, winner of the 2003 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.21.05 - Self/Pity
Author: Hahn, Susan
Publisher: Northwestern Univ $ 15.95 ISBN: 0810151650 Date: 2005Booklist
Drawing on history, myth, folk rhymes, human physiology, and the psyche's crevices, Susan Hahn's Self/Pity is a relentless journey of the self through time, into the labyrinth of the present with its own stimuli and despairs. She strikes a delicate balance of contrast and collision between the various linked poems in this collection, which all deal with birth, the body, and the soul. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.8.06 - Funny
Author: Hecht, Jennifer Michael
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin $ 26.95/14.95 ISBN: 0299214001/044Date: 2005PW
A tour de force, Funny is a masterpiece of poetic, as well as philosophic and comic, invention. It creates a musing world, where the issues are philosophical but the focus is always on people, on our most private ways of balancing our accounts. The poems are psychological; tender and humane, and somehow ruthless. This is poetry that swarms with ideas, that revels in rhythmic intricacy and literary references, but is also clear as a bell, and tells marvelous stories. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.27.06 - Pieces of Air in the Epic
Author: Hillman, Brenda
Publisher: Wesleyan $ 22.95 ISBN: 0819567876 Date: 2005LJ
Innovative lyric poetry breathes new life into 21st century nature and culture.
Updated 2.28.06 - The Sugar Mile
Author: Maxwell, Glyn
Publisher: Houghton $ 23 ISBN: 0618562435 Date: 2005LJ
Glyn Maxwell's last book of poems, The Nerve, was declared "one of the most enjoyable books of the year" by the New York Times Book Review. In The Sugar Mile, Maxwell returns to the extended verse narrative he so brilliantly employed in Time's Fool, to juxtapose two cities on the brink of irrevocable change. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 2.28.06 - Spain in Our Hearts
Author: Neruda, Pablo
Publisher: New DIrections $ 8.00 ISBN: 081121642x Date: 2005LJ
This bilingual New Directions Bibelot edition presents Spain in Our Hearts as a single book as it was first published, a tribute to Neruda's everlasting spirit. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 2.28.06 - Landing Light
Author: Paterson, Don
Publisher: Graywolf $ 20 ISBN: 1555974171 Date: 2005LJ
The U.S. publication of the latest collection by Don Paterson, winner of the 2003 Whitbread Poetry Award and two-time winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.21.05 - Luck is Luck
Author: Perillo, Lucia
Publisher: Random $ 19.95 ISBN: 140006323x Date: 2005Booklist
Down-to-earth, full of playful twists of language, and woven from grand themes in an accessible, appealing way, these poems pierce the heart and delight the mind. Not one word is wasted. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.16.06 - Crush
Author: Siken, Richard
Publisher: Yale Univ $ 26/14.95 ISBN: 0300107218/897 Date: 2005LJ
Announcing the 2004 winner of the Yale Younger Poets competition, North America's oldest annual literary prize.
Updated 2.28.06 - Poems 1955-2005
Author: Stevenson, Anne
Publisher: Bloodaxe $ 64.95 ISBN: 1852247215 Date: 2005Booklist
Updated 3.16.06 - Eternity on Hold
Author: Susko, Mario
Publisher: Turtle Point $ 16.95 ISBN: 1885586345 Date: 2005LJ
Solitude, war, exile and suffering are illuminated with unforgettable subtlety, style and detail by Mario Susko, described by Hugh Seidman as "one man speaking before the unalterable and uncaring universe." Susko maintains his spirit of wonder in these vivid and exquisitely crafted poems. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 2.28.06 - Monlogue of a Dog: New Poems
Author: Szymborska, Wislawa
Publisher: Harcourt $ 22 ISBN: 0151012202 Date: 2005LJ
Szymborska writes with verve about everything from love unremembered to keys mislaid in the grass. The poems will appear, for the first time, side by side with the Polish originals, in a book to delight new and old readers alike.
Updated 2.28.06 - Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass
Author: Whitman, Walt
Publisher: Oxford $ 22 ISBN: 0195183428 Date: 2005LJ
This anniversary edition captures the typeface, design and layout of the original edition supervised by Whitman himself. The Afterword discusses the 1855 edition in its social and cultural contexts: its background, its reception, and its contributions to literary history.
Updated 3.21.05 - Black Maria: Being the Adventures of Delilah Redbone and A.K.A. Jones
Author: Young, Kevin
Publisher: Knopf $ 24.95 ISBN: 1400042097 Date: 2005Booklist
Kevin Young follows his acclaimed exploration of the blues in Jelly Roll with another playful riff on a vital art form, giving readers a film noir in verse. Charming, funky, bleak, humorous, picaresque, and full of pathos, Black Maria is brimming with originality and stark lyricism.
Updated 3.25.05 - To Repel Ghosts: Remixed from the Original Masters
Author: Young, Kevin
Publisher: Knopf $ 17.95 ISBN: 037571023x Date: 2005LJ
Young's poetic channeling of Basquiat--a jostling, poignant brand of downtownspeak--makes for an urban epic in the tradition of Langston Hughes's "A Dream Deferred." To Repel Ghosts, along with Young's Jelly Roll: A Blues and Black Maria, his recent book of film noir verse, forms an American trilogy--Devil's Music--that explores other art forms through poetry. In its creation, Yound has become a poet whose work speaks both for and beyond his genre, with a music all its own. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 2.28.06
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