Every August since 2017, poets and poetry lovers have undertaken The Sealey Challenge, which encourages readers and listeners to spend time with one poetry collection per day for the entire month of August. Contemporary poet Nicole Sealey originally founded the challenge for herself, wanting to make time for pleasure reading amidst the busyness of the grind. While DBRL has many, many collections of poetry for adults, teens and children housed in the nonfiction shelves at call numbers (E/J/YA/Adult) 811.54 and (E/J/YA/Adult) 811.6 — which are the Dewey Decimal numbers for American poetry — there’s still more poetry to be found nestled secretly and sweetly in our fiction picture book shelves. These books — which I’ve come to lovingly call 💌 picture book poems 💌 — are contemplative, gorgeous, glimmering interdisciplinary art-objects that combine lyrical language, evocative illustration and sometimes chiming rhymes to share their stories and ideas.
If you want to incorporate more poetry into your and your little ones’ lives, consider taking on some version of Sealey’s challenge, whether you read a picture book poem a day, a night, a week, every other week, once a month, once a season, once in a blue moon and beyond. I’ve compiled a list of these hushed gems here, some of which are more recent editions to children’s literature, some of which are written by contemporary poets, and some of which you might recognize as beloved classics. Below are excerpts from some of my favorites, to lure and lull you in. ✨
“The Moon is a Silver Pond”
words by Sara Cassidy; images by Josée Bisaillon
The moon is a silver pond.
A pail of milk.
A sleeping snail.
. . .
A tunnel through the dark night.
“Eleven Words for Love: A Journey Through Arabic Expressions of Love”
words by Randa Abdel-Fattah + images by Maxine Beneba Clarke
There are eleven words for love, and my family knows them all.
There’s love that aches with cherished memories of loved ones gone too soon al-Haneen
And love that hits you smack-bang in the face, the kind that makes you swoon al-Shaghaf
“Something, Someday”
words by Amanda Gorman; images by Christian Robinson
Suddenly, there’s something
You’re sure is right.
Something you know
You helped fix.
Something small that changed—
Something big.
. . .
Something that is not a dream,
But the day you live in.
“I’d Like to Be the Window for a Wise Old Dog”
words + images by Philip Stead
Will I ever be
the tumble of a honeybee?
Will I ever be
the bumble. . .
. . .of a whale?
Oh, I don’t know,
no, I don’t know, but I do know that . . .
I’d like to be
the warm sun
blanketing a buffalo
“Emile and the Field”
words by Kevin Young + images by Chioma Ebinama
There was a boy
named Emile
who fell
in love with a field.
It was wide
and blue—
and if you could have
seen it
so would’ve you.
. . .
Emile thought
and thought—
he liked that idea
a lot. The field
would not, could not
be bought! or belong
to anyone.
Even Emile. Even him.
“Goodnight Moon”
words by Margaret Wise Brown + images by Clement Hurd
In the great green room (🟩)
There was a telephone (☎)
And a red balloon (🎈)
And a picture of— (🖼)
The cow jumping over the moon (🌛🐄)
