Welcome, fellow word weavers, teachers, and budding bards, to another weekly roundup of children’s poetry news! It’s always a treat to see what’s happening in the wonderful world of rhymes, rhythms, and imaginative verses. This past week has brought us some delightful insights, creative challenges, and exciting announcements from our favorite poets and poetry advocates. Let’s explore the latest happenings together.
Children’s Poetry Summit
This week, the Children’s Poetry Summit featured an illuminating post with Marilyn Singer: Not Just the Facts – Nonfiction Poetry. In this entry, Marilyn Singer shares her fascinating approach to nonfiction poetry, explaining how poetry can open doors to subjects like history, ecology, and sociology through vivid imagery and lyricism. Her work often blends fact and fiction, as seen in her book Who Named Their Pony Macaroni?, and her newest book, Whose Tree Is This?, invites young readers to discover the intricate connections within an oak’s ecosystem.
Danna Smith Book Blog
Danna Smith’s blog announced some exciting news for fans of Little Golden Books! Her post, Little Golden Book Springtime Stories to Share: Exclusively at Sam’s Club, revealed that her books Springtime Babies and The Colors of Spring are included in a brand-new spring-themed Little Golden Book collection. This eight-tale bind-up, celebrating the season of new beginnings, is available exclusively at Sam’s Club.
David L. Harrison
David L. Harrison had a very busy week, sharing several updates on his blog! He shared his personal poem for April’s word of the month, My poem for April’s Word of the Month, depicting wind as a capricious force, and reminded readers there was still time to submit their own wind-inspired creations.
Celebrating Earth Day, his post Tim Rasinski salutes Earth Day highlighted Tim Rasinski’s weekly literacy update, featuring a poem from David L. Harrison’s own The Dirt Book, along with David Mallet’s “Garden Song.”
Looking to the future, David L. Harrison pondered the legacy of art in What do you put in a 100-year time capsule?, detailing his thoughtful selections for a Route 66 centennial time capsule, including personal poems and photos from his tenure as Missouri Poet Laureate.
Preparations for upcoming events were also a big theme, with posts announcing that Creek Rocks joins David Harrison and Friends on May 5 at The Library Center and Bob Stephens joins David Harrison and Friends at The Library Center on May 5, featuring popular Ozarks folk group The Creek Rocks and musician/writer Bob Stephens, respectively. He also thanked Brian Shipman for his video assistance in Video help from Brian Shipman, noting Brian Shipman’s contribution to promoting the May 5th event and transforming “Poetry from Daily Life” columns into a video library.
Finally, MOPATA in June shared news of David L. Harrison closing a workshop for the Missouri Parents as Teachers Association retreat, focusing on early literacy through “Fun Steps to Happy Reading.”
Imagine the Possibilities
For Poetry Friday, Rose Cappelli shared Poetry Friday: A Tanka for Earth Day, featuring Irene Latham’s roundup and a glimpse into her new novel, Some Starry Night. Rose Cappelli has been busy writing daily April tankas inspired by the Stuck Bumblebee Poetry Challenge, including a special Earth Day tanka. She also announced that next week’s Poetry Friday will be hosted on her blog.
Kate Williams
Kate Williams had two thoughtful posts this week. In World Earth Day Poems, she highlighted the importance of protecting our planet by sharing how her poems in Squeak! Squawk! Roar!, such as “Sing, Sang, Gone” and “Jungle Shrink,” address species disappearance through gentle verses. She encouraged readers to check out her YouTube channel for video readings and classroom discussion tips. Additionally, Daily Poem announced that Kate Williams is posting a new poem every day on her YouTube channel, @KatesPoems111, offering a child-friendly mix of funny, poignant, and imaginative pieces, perfect for teachers and families to enjoy.
Laura Purdie Salas
Laura Purdie Salas offered a beautiful ekphrastic poem for Poetry Friday in her post, Hallways, an Ekphrastic Poem. She shared a quick draft inspired by a favorite studio print, created amidst family medical care. She also highlighted the contributions of her fellow Poetry Sisters, including Liz Garton Scanlon, Sara Lewis Holmes, Tanita Davis, Tricia, and Mary Lee, and pointed readers to Irene Latham’s Poetry Friday roundup.
Live Your Poem
Irene Latham’s blog was buzzing with activity. For Poetry Friday, she hosted An Emily Dickinson Poetry Friday Roundup!, where she and Lee Alexander discussed their novel Some Starry Night, which imagines an encounter between Emily Dickinson and Vincent van Gogh. The post also featured insights into Emily Dickinson’s poetics and an ArtSpeak segment. Earlier in the week, she welcomed everyone to Progressive Poem is Here!, introducing the 2026 Kidlit Progressive Poem, a collaborative project where poets add a new line as the poem travels from blog to blog, accompanied by Tabatha’s art.
Liz Garton Scanlon
Liz Garton Scanlon continued her delightful National Poetry Month tradition of daily haiku, sharing several this week. Haiku 24 — April 24, 2026 celebrated April as a month of birthdays and new beginnings, and she invited readers to explore her friends’ ekphrastic poems. In Haiku 23 — April 23, 2026, she presented a haiku about a dog’s heroic odyssey. Haiku 22 — April 22, 2026, written on Earth Day, found solace in a wren nesting on her porch amidst environmental concerns. Haiku 21 — April 21, 2026 painted a picture of a meditative drive through Texas wildflowers, while Haiku 20 — April 20, 2026 captured a quiet morning moment. Haiku 19 — April 19, 2026 reflected on the intense alertness of wild animals, inspiring a poem about a vigilant rabbit. Finally, Haiku 18 — April 18, 2026 celebrated the generous Central Texas spring and its beauty.
Miss Rumphius Effect
Tricia Stohr-Hunt shared an exciting array of playful poetry experiments for National Poetry Month. For Poetry Friday, Poetry Sisters Write Ekphrastic Poems detailed her challenge to write a poem to a photograph, resulting in a somber sonnet inspired by Jacob Lawrence’s “War Series.” Her daily NPM 2026 posts explored various poetry generation methods: NPM 2026 – Day 24 involved playing with metaphor dice to craft poems about life and baseball; NPM 2026 – Day 23 used a Roll-a-Poem grid to create a free-verse poem about imagination; NPM 2026 – Day 22 featured Mad Libs-ing Robert Pinsky’s “Samurai Song” into a running-themed piece; NPM 2026 – Day 21 drew inspiration from paint chips with words like “night,” “pine,” and “blizzard” for a sound-focused poem; NPM 2026 – Day 20 generated an online blackout poem; and NPM 2026 – Day 19 used a Poem Dice prompt to create a villanelle for an archaeologist.
My Juicy Little Universe
Heidi Mordhorst’s blog, “My Juicy Little Universe,” offered several inspiring NaPoWriMo posts this week, many of which are fueling drafts for her middle-grade book, TREEOGRAPHY. One post welcomed readers to the Land of Poetry and provided an overview of the National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem, explaining its collaborative nature and rules. Another entry discussed using NaPoWriMo prompts for daily drafts, featuring a reflection on Jaswinder Bolina’s Mood Ring and a challenge to write poems with self-dialogue, including a prose-poem draft titled “Barefoot; Boots.” A separate post explored a prompt to write a poem about names and nicknames, echoing Monika Kumar’s thoughts on identity, and included a whimsical “Place Names” section with imagined locations. Yet another post highlighted an April 20 prompt about using a mythic animal as a metaphor for contemporary life, featuring a draft poem titled “Front Yard Dogwood.”
Poetrepository
Mary Lee Hahn’s Poetrepository offered a diverse range of reflections this week. In Less of a Poem, More of a TED Talk, she explored the difficulty of finding poetic moments in current events. A post titled A World Apart mentioned an image-based post, but the descriptive text was not provided in the source. Similarly, the post Today’s News is Outside Your Front Door also referenced images without additional descriptive text in the source. In A River Runs Through It, Mary Lee Hahn marked the 50th anniversary of Norman Maclean’s novella and its lasting impact. She highlighted a New York Times article in Shooting Spree, which reported on a tragic event. Another entry, Primatology, also consisted of image URLs with no description in the provided text. Finally, Making Good introduced “The Good List,” a weekly inventory of joyful ideas from Melissa Kirsch via The New York Times.
Poetry Box
Good news from Aotearoa, New Zealand! Paula Green’s Poetry Box is back online for 2026, as announced in Poetry Box is waking up!, with a renewed commitment to sparking creativity in children. The blog’s first major update, Poetry Box Giselle Clarkson review and poem challenge: Birds, featured a glowing review of Giselle Clarkson’s Omnibird: An Avian Investigator’s Handbook and launched a monthly poem challenge for children up to Year 8, inviting them to submit bird-themed poems by May 26th for a chance to be featured and win books.
Poetry Pop
Danna Smith’s Poetry Pop offered a creative challenge this week with A Complete Guide to Writing Skinny Poems (with Template). This post introduced readers to the “Skinny Poem,” a playful and ultra-concise poetry form conceived by Truth Thomas, designed to capture a vivid image with the fewest possible words, perfect for poets looking to refine their conciseness.
Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme
Matt Forrest Esenwine shared insights from his recent school visits in Poetry Friday: “Let Them Play With Words,” my Kids Discover interview. During his writer-in-residence visits to two New Hampshire schools, he engaged students in poetry and creative writing, helping them craft poems on the spot. The post also included a teacher interview about teaching poetry, a poem by fellow New Hampshire poet Thom Smith, and details about his school visit presentations.
Read Write Believe
For Poetry Friday, Sara Lewis Holmes shared Poetry Friday: A Clogyrnach for my Birthday. She bravely tackled the rarely used traditional Welsh form, the clogyrnach, as part of April’s challenge to write a poem to an image. Her ekphrastic poem, “On in years,” thoughtfully explored themes of aging and celebration, and she mentioned her poetry sisters’ contributions to the challenge.
Reflections on the Teche
Margaret Simon’s blog had a few wonderful updates. For Poetry Friday, she shared Poetry Friday: Cypress Giraffes, hosted by Irene Latham, providing updates on the Progressive Poem and her involvement with a Storied Ink Substack challenge. The post also featured a haiku about the Atchafalaya Swamp’s resilient cypress trees, accompanied by beautiful bayou photos. Earlier, for National Poetry Month, NPM26: Onomatopoeia Poem invited readers to Ethical ELA to see her prompt for an onomatopoeia poem and encouraged celebrating Earth Day with poetry. In Slice of Life: Think You Notes, she expressed gratitude to the Two Writing Teachers community and shared a sweet moment with her grandson writing a “think you” note, also mentioning her haiku work with Ethical ELA and her participation in the Progressive Poem.
Salt City Verse
Janice Scully celebrated Poetry Friday with COMICS AND ART, hosted this week by Irene Latham. She reflected on National Poetry Month, shared her readings of Irene Latham’s Some Starry Night and For the Win, and discussed her participation in The Progressive Poem. The post also touched on discovering Grant Snider’s Poetry Comics through Mary Lee Hahn and her own plans for a potential comic and a desert-inspired painting, all while expressing gratitude for the Poetry Friday community.
Shaun Jex
To celebrate National Poetry Month, Shaun Jex offered a creative activity with A Poetry Remix!. This post invited readers to engage in a poetry remix challenge by rewriting classic poems, filling in blank spaces, and then reciting their new creations aloud. He encouraged sharing these remixes and reminded readers to check out his new poetry book, A Catalog of Curious Creatures.
The Poem Farm
And Amy Ludwig VanDerwater continued her wonderful National Poetry Month project, writing daily handwritten index-card poems inspired by sounds and listening. In listen – day 25, she shared a “sneeze music” poem and encouraged noticing everyday conversations as poetic inspiration. listen – day 24 explored how everyday sounds like a fireplace crackle or a cat’s purr shape memory and mood. listen – day 23 concluded with a fun potato-chips poem. In listen – day 22, she reflected on the power of tiny interactions, such as mail delivery greetings. listen – day 21 used a grandfather clock’s chimes as a source of life counsel, demonstrating how sound can teach and shape perception. listen – day 20 offered brief lessons and example poems to explore how sound, the page, and performance shape poetry. Finally, in listen – day 19, she invited others to join her in writing daily poems, reflecting on listening, rain, and the small sonic details of daily life, encouraging deeper listening and gratitude.
- Weekly Children’s Poetry Roundup – Saturday, April 25, 2026 - April 25, 2026
- A Spring in My Step - April 20, 2026
- Weekly Children’s Poetry Roundup – Saturday, April 18, 2026 - April 18, 2026
