It’s time for this week’s Children’s Poetry Blog Post Roundup! Each week, I gather up the latest news and insights from around the world of children’s poetry, bringing you updates on new books, creative prompts, and reflections from fellow poets and educators. Here’s what’s been happening in our vibrant community over the past seven days.
Children’s Poetry Summit
The Children’s Poetry Summit featured an inspiring post by Billie Manning titled Extraordinary Voices – The Tower Hamlets Junior Slam. This post highlighted a wonderful initiative where Key Stage Two classes received workshops from professional poets, culminating in a performance of their own poems to an enthusiastic audience at Rich Mix. The program focused on an “extraordinary” theme, helping students build confidence in reading, writing, and speaking, with strong peer support and various awards.
Danna Smith Book Blog
Danna Smith shared insights into the creative process with her post The Hidden Homework of Whimsical: Researching for Children’s Fiction. She discussed how effective whimsy in children’s fiction isn’t just pure imagination but is often grounded in solid research, using a playful example of a Blue Gnu planning a party to illustrate her point.
David L. Harrison
A busy week for David L. Harrison began with exciting news in his post Poet Laureate for National Route 66 Centennial Celebration, announcing his appointment as Poet Laureate for Springfield, Missouri’s upcoming National Route 66 Centennial Celebration. This three-day event will include a parade, ceremonies, musical shows, and poetry workshops for students, whose contributions will go into a time capsule. He also shared news about 7 Missouri Poets Laureate read tomorrow, detailing a free Zoom reading hosted by Missouri Poet Laureate Justin Hamm. This event brought together all seven living Missouri Poet Laureates, including David L. Harrison himself, along with MaryFrances Wagner, Karen Craigo, Aliki Barnstone, William (Bill) Trowbridge, and Walter Bargen, to share their work and answer questions.
DreamBeast Poems
Mark Bird treated readers to a lighthearted poem in Sonnet Poem For Kids About Crisps or Chips, Whatever You Call Them. This playful piece explored the age-old question of whether to call the popular snack “crisps” or “chips,” depending on one’s geographical location.
Imagine the Possibilities
For Poetry Friday, Rose Cappelli shared Poetry Friday: Advice from Chickadee. Inspired by a prompt to write an advice poem, she presented “Stay Warm! Advice from Chickadee,” which offers charming tips on how wintering birds stay cozy, such as huddling and puffing up their feathers.
Joshua Seigal
Joshua Seigal offered a reflective piece titled My Grandma During the Cuban Missile Crisis. This post presented a poem that skillfully framed domestic labor during a historical crisis, suggesting that love and meaning are often found within the four walls of home amidst broader world events.
Laura Purdie Salas
Laura Purdie Salas participated in Poetry Friday with And What Have I Strung?, a Response Poem. She shared a first-draft response to Arthur Sze’s “At the Equinox,” drawing inspiration from his vivid imagery and the concept of connecting experiences to the wider world.
Live Your Poem
Irene Latham announced exciting news on her blog with Sports and Spiders!. She shared details about the upcoming release of For the Win: Poems Celebrating Phenomenal Athletes, a collection she co-selected with Charles Waters. The post also included a poem inspired by artist Louise Bourgeois, reflecting on connections between sports, creativity, and visual storytelling.
Liz Garton Scanlon
Liz Garton Scanlon delved into poetic experimentation in Poetry Project — February, 2026. Following a suggestion from Sara Lewis Holmes, she explored the work of Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, specifically his poem “Downwind,” experimenting with two different forms: a three-stanza mimic and a golden shovel.
Miss Rumphius Effect
Tricia Stohr-Hunt detailed a monthly Poetry Friday challenge in Poetry Sisters Write to an Arthur Sze Poem. She recounted her process of studying Arthur Sze’s poem “Here” as a mentor text and shared her new piece, along with responses from fellow poets Tanita Davis, Mary Lee Hahn, Sara Lewis Holmes, Laura Purdie Salas, and Liz Garton Scanlon. She also invited readers to participate in the next challenge, an ovillejo.
My Juicy Little Universe
Heidi Mordhorst explored an intriguing new poetic form this week, introducing what she calls a “fault line” poem. This innovative structure involves embedding a hidden line within the edges of adjacent words in a landscape poem, forming a smaller, embedded text. The post explained how to construct such a piece, beginning with the hidden line and developing two intertwined strands, and connected the idea to Mary Lee, the Poetry Sisters’ work with Arthur Sze, and Laura Shovan’s prompts.
Poetry for Children
Sylvia Vardell brought us an exciting cover reveal in Cover Reveal: TRUCKS, BOOTS, AND BELLS: Firehouse Poems by Mary E. Cronin. The post unveiled the vibrant cover for Mary E. Cronin’s upcoming rhyming collection, Trucks, Boots, and Bells: Firehouse Poems, illustrated by Aaron Marin, which is set to be released in October 2026 from Holiday House. The book, inspired by Cronin’s firefighter father, celebrates the tools, tasks, and teamwork of a busy firehouse.
Read Write Believe
Sara Lewis Holmes explored the work of the new U.S. Poet Laureate, Arthur Sze, in her Poetry Friday post Poetry Friday: Inspired by Poet Laureate Arthur Sze. She detailed her participation in the February “Tree of Life” challenge, reflecting on Sze’s concept that every poem illuminates every other, and shared her response poem about the untranslatability of pain, alongside contributions from her poetry sisters.
Reflections on the Teche
Margaret Simon had a busy week, starting with Poetry Friday: Open Write, where she announced the Ethical ELA Open Write and shared three poems inspired by prompts from Stacey Joy and Seana Hurd Wright, including reflections on morning, butterflies, and her home church. Additionally, in Slice of Life: Dancing with a Paintbrush, Margaret Simon shared her joy in teaching third-grade classes through a Teaching Artist Program, where students painted with watercolors and then wrote poems about their artwork, reminding her of the happiness found in a room full of kids creating.
Salt City Verse
Janice Scully shared a post titled OUR BIG DIVERSE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY . . . AND THREE GOATS. In it, she thanked Poetry Friday host Margaret Simon and shared her optimistic approach through drawing goats. The post also featured a poem advocating for diversity and multicultural life, accompanied by her artwork and a classic poem by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Science Rhymes
Celia Berrell celebrated Sea Week with a special post SEA WEEK Special. She spotlighted her poem Dive Like a Whale from her book Science Rhymes in the Sea, illustrated by Rosemary Fung, which was originally published in *The School Magazine*. The post also outlined a daily-poem schedule and an invitation for contributions to Australian Children’s Poetry.
Shaun Jex
And finally, Shaun Jex offered an educational post on Haiga: Blending Art and Poetry. He explored Japanese poetry forms, explaining haiku and senryu, before introducing haiga as a fusion of painting and haiku. The post discussed historical and modern examples, including the use of photographs, and invited readers to participate in a weekly prompt to create their own haiga.
- Weekly Children’s Poetry Roundup – Saturday, February 28, 2026 - February 28, 2026
- It Followed Me to School Today - February 23, 2026
- A Writer Needs Our Help - February 21, 2026
