Poetry Anthologies

Thanku: Poems of Gratitude

How do you give thanks?

Gratitude isn’t something we need to save up for a special holiday. What are you grateful for right now, today?

This anthology brings together a diverse group of poets who express gratitude for everything from a puppy to hot cocoa to the sky itself. Each writer uses a different poetic form, and readers will encounter a concrete poem, a sonnet, a pantoum, a sijo, and much more.

Stunning illustrations from Marlena Myles invite close examination, making this a collection to return to and savor again and again.

Contributors include Joseph Burchac, Naomi Shihab Nye, Kimberly Blaeser, Sun Yung Shin, Ed DeCaria, Becky Shillington, Padma Venkatraman, Gwendolyn Hooks, Jane Yolen, Janice Scully, Charles Waters, Carole Lindstrom, Sylvia Liu, Carolyn Dee Flores, Sarvinder Naberhaus, Lupe Ruiz-Flores, Baptiste Paul, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Pattie Richards, Chrystal D. Giles, Margarita Engle, Kenn Nesbitt, JaNay Brown-Wood, Diana Murray, Megan Hoyt, Jamie McGillen, Renée M.

No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change

Fans of No Voice Too Small will be inspired by young climate activists who made an impact around climate change in their communities, countries, and beyond.

It features 14 poems by bestselling authors that will encourage kids aged 5 to 9 to make a positive impact in their own lives!

Climate change impacts everyone, but the future belongs to young people. No World Too Big celebrates twelve young activists and three activist groups on front lines of the climate crisis who have planted trees in Uganda, protected water in Canada, reduced school-bus climate footprint in Indonesia, invented alternate power sources in Ohio, and more. Fourteen poems by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, David Bowles, Rajani LaRocca, Renée LaTulippe, Heidi E. Y. Stemple, and others honor activists from all over the world and the United States. Additional text goes into detail about each activist’s life and how readers can get involved.

The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets

Scoring a goal against your own team. Copying a classmate’s schoolwork. Accepting a dare to jump down the stairs . . . and getting hurt.

This engrossing poetry anthology explores making mistakes and learning from them. Twenty brave poets―Linda Sue Park, Margarita Engle, Allan Wolf, David Elliott, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Lacresha Berry, George Ella Lyon, Jaime Adoff, Vikram Madan, Kim Rogers, Douglas Florian, Tabatha Yeatts, Jorge Argueta, Jane Yolen, Charles Waters, JaNay Brown-Wood, Irene Latham, April Halprin Wayland, Darren Sardelli, and Naomi Shihab Nye―share real-life mistakes they made as young people . . . and what happened next. Edited by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, with brilliantly evocative illustrations by Mercè López, this is a book for all who are growing and discovering and still figuring out who we are. (Which is to say . . . all of us!)

If I could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility

An ode to imagination and the power of “if,” this exhilarating poetry collection features the voices of thirty-one diverse poets.

If I could choose a best day

it would be sunny

it would be summer

and I would be with you.

Imagine what you could do with if. Build a tree house, ride your bike back in time, catch a firefly like a tiny star in the palm of your hands and let it go to make a wish—anything, when it starts with if. Because if is where your imagination begins, where the impossible becomes possible, if only you imagine. And if you do, just think of how much better our world could be. Thirty-one poets, selected by “poetic forever friends” and frequent collaborators Irene Latham and Charles Waters, begin each of their poems with the word if and imagine the possibilities the gift of if can hold. Olivia Sua’s cut-paper and painted-mosaic illustrations add warmth and meaning to the poems, allowing the reader’s mind to soar with possibility. In an end note, the anthologists offer insight into their selection process, aimed at gathering a comprehensive and representative collection of poems.

With poems by:

Lacresha Berry * Robyn Hood Black * JaNay Brown-Wood * Joseph Bruchac * Siv Cedering * Emily Dickinson * Rebecca Kai Dotlich * Nikki Grimes * Jolene Gutiérrez * Georgia Heard * Anna Grossnickle Hines * Irene Latham * Renée M. LaTulippe * Nancy Tupper Ling * Sylvia Liu * Rebekah Lowell * Vikram Madan * Guadalupe García McCall * Lilian Moore * Eric Ode * Bob Raczka * Lisa Rogers * Sydell Rosenberg * Laura Purdie Salas * Janice Scully * Teresa Owens Smith * Gabi Snyder * Sarah Grace Tuttle * Amy Ludwig VanDerwater * Charles Waters * Janet Wong

For the Win: Poems Celebrating Phenomenal Athletes

Love sports? This is the book for you!

This action-packed poetry anthology, edited by award-winning poetic collaborators Irene Latham and Charles Waters, features twenty contemporary athletes who have overcome obstacles, broken records, and inspired fans around the globe. Poets zoom in on a meaningful moment from each athlete’s career—including Juan Soto’s father predicting on his tenth birthday that one day he’d play in the World Series and Simone Biles coming back to compete after getting the twisties during the Tokyo Olympics. The collection includes JaNay Brown-Wood writing about LeBron James, Jaime Adoff writing about Mookie Betts, and Kao Kalia Yang writing about Suni Lee. It’s a slam dunk, a home run, and a perfect 10!