poetry picture books

[chat + recipe + giveaway] Lee Wardlaw on My Book of Firsts

~ jama ~ 33 Comments

Today we’re excited to chat with award-winning author, poet and cat-wrangler Lee Wardlaw about My Book of Firsts: Poems Celebrating a Baby’s Milestones (Red Comet Press, 2025), illustrated by Bruno Brogna.

Though this is her first poetry collection, it’s not the first time Lee has visited us. She was one of our Potluck Poets back in 2012, the same year she won the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award for Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku (Henry Holt, 2011). We loved her purrfect “Catku” and the recipe she shared for Kitty Litter Cake. Me-wow!

Because My Book of Firsts is written from a baby’s perspective, the poems are that much more endearing. This emotive hug of a book is a joy to read aloud with its playful, inventive rhymes, lively cadences, and rich vocabulary. Each precious milestone from baby’s first year is cause for wonder and celebration, whether a First Day, First Friend, First Outing, First Word or those magical First Steps — and Brogna’s adorable animal families add just the right touch of charm and tenderness.

With its padded cover and allotted pages for recording your own baby’s milestones, this delightful book is an appealing keepsake for new parents, making it the perfect baby shower or birthday gift that families will be proud to share.

We thank Lee for telling us more about her literary bundle of joy with wonderful personal photos and a yummy recipe. Enjoy!

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[colorful review + giveaway] A Universe of Rainbows by Matt Forrest Esenwine and Jamey Christoph

~ jama ~ 22 Comments

Picture this: light rain and cloudy skies, then suddenly the sun breaks through. A rainbow! We’re surprised and delighted at this rare gift. Whether we then picture a pot of gold or dream of a once-in-a-lullaby land where bluebirds fly, it’s pure magic!

We’re probably most familiar with celestial rainbows, but they also appear in other shapes and forms in some unexpected places. These are gloriously celebrated in A Universe of Rainbows: Multicolored Poems for a Multicolored World (Eerdmans BFYR, 2025), a brand new anthology compiled by author-poet Matt Forrest Esenwine with illustrations by Jamey Christoph.

The book features 20 stellar poets, including many from our Poetry Friday community: Irene Latham, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Charles Waters, Laura Purdie Salas, Janet Wong, and Matt himself (who contributed five poems).

The 22 poems in the collection, written in a variety of poetic forms including free verse, haiku, and pantoum, are presented in five categories:

  • Rainbows of Light
  • Rainbow Waters
  • Living Rainbows
  • Rainbows of Rock
  • Rainbows Beyond

Each poem explores a distinct rainbow type and is accompanied by a scientific sidebar of fascinating tidbits. In Rainbows of Light, we see how a rainbow can transform cursed rain into a joyful surprise, and are playfully introduced to Sun Dogs and Pilot’s Glories, before becoming enchanted by a moonbow in southern Africa. We are then reminded of our ability to make our own rainbows with gems and crystals.

THE SATURDAY OF NO
by Nikki Grimes

Saturday morning raindrops
pelt the slate rooftop, 
tap out a message
I don't want to hear:
No sunshine.
No clear blue.
No hopscotch.
No soccer.
No softball.
No skip rope.

Nope.

There goes my perfect day!
Bear-like, I growl about
the fun I'll miss.
My nose against
the windowpane,
I curse the rain,
then -- wait!
I catch the storm's apology:
sun-drenched strips of color
arch across the sky --

             A rainbow!
             Oh! My!

With Rainbow Waters, we are transported from two hot springs in Yellowstone National Park (the colors of the Morning Glory Pool and the Grand Prismatic Spring emanate from heat-loving bacteria living at different depths), to the Fly Geyser in Nevada (algae in the water flourishing in moist, hot environments colors the rocks), to the Caño Cristales in Colombia (“River of Five Colors” blooming with aquatic weeds). Amazing!

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[review + recipe + giveaway] Awesome Earth by Joan Bransfield Graham and Tania García

~ jama ~ 40 Comments

I’ve always been fascinated by volcanoes. When you grow up in Hawaiʻi, it’s a point of pride being able to claim that your home state has the largest active volcano on Earth (Mauna Loa), and it’s also the only state situated entirely on an archipelago. Kīlauea’s most recent (and ongoing) eruption on the Big Island started in December 2024, while Mauna Loa last spouted off in 2022.

The breathtaking spectacle of molten lava slowly making its way to the ocean and thereafter creating new land is both humbling and awe-inspiring. When I read Joan Bransfield Graham and Tania García’s brand new poetry picture book, Awesome Earth: Concrete Poems Celebrate Caves, Canyons and Other Fascinating Landforms (Clarion Books, 2025), I was reminded of how our home planet is an ever evolving, dynamic entity full of beauty and wonder.

FANTASTIC FORCES

The earth is
unsettled, it would seem,
for here and about it lets off
steam. Lava flows, geysers gush,
canyons are carved by a river's push.
The Earth's old crust cracks and creaks,
shakes and shoves up mountain peaks.
Ice caps recede, glaciers advance,
ever in motion -- a global dance.
Will it ever stand still?
Not a chance!

Fun to read and loaded with fascinating information, Awesome Earth is Graham’s valentine to the planet and a budding geologist’s dream. Her use of concrete poetry to describe a variety of landforms is the perfect way to celebrate their physical attributes, whether Continent or Island, Hill or Valley, Plain or Plateau. After all, landforms are all about size, shape, and structure; they themselves are a kind of topographical poetry.

Kids will find the 20+ poems delightfully accessible as Graham strikes a friendly tone via (mostly) first person point of view and personification to establish a sense of immediacy and direct engagement. Who could resist an amiable Island explaining the difference between his continental and oceanic ilk, or smaller “mini-me” versions of himself? He even invites readers to visit sometime — so charming!

We also get a sense of Mountain’s pride and majesty, as he seeks the sky, “enrobed with snow,” piercing the clouds, and I’m only too willing to forgive Peninsula’s boast: “I’ve got miles and miles of rocky or sandy, dandy coast!”

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[review] Rumi: Poet of Joy and Love by Rashin Kheiriyeh

~ jama ~ 19 Comments

“Should you wish to be in heaven forever? Be a friend to everyone.” ~ Rumi

Can meeting the right friend change your life? Why is it important to share your story with others, and how is embracing everyone in love and friendship its own spiritual practice?

Whether through his relatable aphorisms or divine poetry, Rumi has touched us all. As one of the world’s most popular poets, this 13th century Persian scholar and Sufi mystic continues to teach, inspire, and open our hearts to humanity.

In her stunning picture book biography, Rumi: Poet of Joy and Love (NorthSouth Books, 2024), Iranian-American author-illustrator Rashin Kheiriyeh shows how a chance meeting with a stranger transformed an already revered scholar and theologian into a poet for the ages.

We first learn Rumi was born on “a crisp and colorful autumn day in Iran” (present day Afghanistan) on September 30, 1207. From the beginning he was a child of nature and reveled in the beautiful world around him. He chased butterflies and “delighted in the scent of roses and the songs of the birds.” Rumi especially loved to feed the birds; his favorite was the hoopoe, the symbol of wisdom.

Rumi’s father patiently answered his many questions, teaching his son all he knew. One day he shared these prescient words: “Learn generosity from the sun. It lights the world every day and asks for nothing in return.”

An avid reader, Rumi was excited one day to meet the great Persian poet Attar, who gifted him with a copy of his epic poem, “The Conference of the Birds.” Attar advised Rumi to “read it and search for the deeper meaning. One day you will shine and illuminate the world like the sun.”

In Attar’s poem, hundreds of birds (including the hoopoe) travel many miles in search of the mythical bird Sīmurgh to serve as their king. Only thirty birds survived this arduous journey, realizing when they reached their destination that they were actually the Sīmurgh. When together, they flew as one giant bird.

Years later, after Rumi had moved to Turkey with his family, he followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, with followers from near and far eager to study with him.

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[cuddly review + giveaway] Bless Our Pets by Lee Bennett Hopkins and Lita Judge

~ jama ~ 52 Comments

Today we’re featuring a brand new Lee Bennett Hopkins poetry anthology on the eve of what would have been his 86th birthday. With an official pub date of April 16, it’s great to have one of Lee’s last edited books to help us celebrate National Poetry Month.

Back in 2015, when I asked him to be a HotTEA of Children’s Poetry for a short series I was running, this is what he said:

“You literally have me in stitches knowing I might be a HotTEA.  Of course I will get a photo to you as soon as.

I’ll have Charles take a photo of something very special with me and tea, a drink I adore…especially hot tea!”

He then sent a photo, asking, “Is this HotTEA enough? If not, I’ll send another.” Plenty hot, but he ended up sending another anyway. Both were so hot I needed oven mitts to handle them. 😀

Though Lee liked various teas, a particular favorite was Twinings of London Ceylon Orange Pekoe. He also wanted to make sure I noticed the purple flowers on his teacup.

Lee is deeply missed and this new book feels like a birthday gift from him to all of us.

With fourteen poems selected by Lee, lovingly illustrated by New Hampshire artist Lita Judge, Bless Our Pets: Poems of Gratitude for Our Animal Friends (Eerdmans BFYR, 2024) is a book to hug and hold close.

Poets include:

• Ann Whitford Paul
• Rebecca Kai Dotlich 
• Linda Trott Dickman
• Eric Ode
• Ralph Fletcher
• Sarah Grace Tuttle
• Kristine O’Connell George
• Darren Sardelli
• B.J. Lee
• Charles Ghigna
• Lois Lowry
• Prince Redcloud
• Joan Bransfield Graham
• Lee Bennett Hopkins

We read about thirteen different furry, feathered, and scaled animals, from puppies to parakeets, goldfish to gerbils. Mostly written in the first person addressing the pets themselves, the poems are a mix of free verse and rhymers. All express the singular love of cherished pets in tender, gentle, intimate terms, citing the endearing traits and antics that make them special.

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