Books published by publisher WordSong

The powerful poems in this poignant collection weave together multiple voices to tell the story of the March on Washington, DC, in 1963. From the woman singing through a terrifying bus ride to DC, to the teenager who came partly because his father told him, "Don't you dare go to that march," to the young child riding above the crowd on her father's shoulders, each voice brings a unique perspective to this tale. As the characters tell their personal stories of this historic day, their chorus plunges readers into the experience of being at the march—walking shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers, hearing Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech, heading home inspired.

Another zany day at school. Judy is caught kissing Justin. Vanessa is eating paste. Mrs. Reilly, a teacher, turns into a ghoul from the dark side of the moon. And Ollie, the classroom mascot, who happens to be a seven-foot-long snake, is chasing Principal Poole. In other words, it's a day at school as imagined by Dave Crawley, author of the popular Cat Poems and Dog Poems. With lively illustrations by Liz Callen, this comical collection examines everything from taking tests, coming up with ever more original excuses for not doing homework, and the shock of seeing a teacher on a Saturday, buying groceries like an actual human being.

Join poet Eileen Spinelli and illustrator Karen Dugan for a celebration of tea parties in this cozy collection of poems! Young children will delight in imagining themselves enjoying tea in bed, at the beach, in a backyard secret garden, and in exotic, far off places. Karen Dugan's breathtaking pictures are as welcome as a charming teatime companion. The helpful teatime tips will encourage children to make their own teatimes special.

In this tasty collection, J. Patrick Lewis displays the breadth and depth of his talent, giving readers of any and every sensibility something to make them laugh out loud. He stirs humor into an astonishing array of subjects—from animals to school to dragons to food. And he delivers them in a remarkable variety of forms, including riddles, limericks, nonsense rhymes, parodies, anagrams, story poems, haiku, and more. Baked in Lewis's brilliant imagination and sprinkled with Matthew Cordell's warm, witty drawings, the result is a collection to delight the taste buds.

The life of a cowboy driving a cattle herd was hard. It took a person with grit to drive a thousand head of longhorns along the Chisholm Trail. Cowboys faced badlands, lightning storms, and deadly twisters. But they also found time to swap stories around the campfire. David L. Harrison has created a cast of tough-as-leather cowboys who speak their minds in twenty-two entertaining poems, brought to life by Dan Burr’s dramatic paintings. Readers follow the cowboys from roundup on a ranch in Texas to the one-thousand-mile trek to market in Abilene, Kansas, where they finally let loose.

Take a wild ride with poet Sara Holbrook as she guides young writers in performing their poetry with style and pizzazz. With enthusiasm and a touch of irreverence, Ms. Holbrook, a performance poet herself, explains how to use voice, rhythm, attitude, movement, and other techniques to perform poetry in a group, duo, or solo. More than thirty poems are included for young readers to practice, as well as instructions for putting on a poetry jam at school or in the community.

As in her award-winning Not a Copper Penny in Me House, Monica Gunning brings young readers back to the Jamaica of her childhood. The poems present intimate portraits of family and friends, as children see them in happy times and sad times. There are lively characters in moments both poignant and comical, such as Aunt Mae and her breadfruit trees, Stella-Sue walking like a ballerina to market, and Hilda the higgler, selling her spicy pies. Here is a book filled with the sights, smells, and sounds of the island, and illustrated with simple yet stunning scratchboard artwork by Fabricio Vanden Broeck.

This delightful collection of humorous verse celebrates the little monster that lurks within every good child. From the silliest of sillies to the gleefully bizarre, monster children and their families will enjoy these imaginative and funny poems from one of America's most beloved poets. Edward Gorey adds to the fun with his mad-as-a-hatter illustrations.

As she composed these thirteen poems, Justine Rowden wondered how a child would respond to the glorious paintings she viewed in the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Now she shows readers that paintings don't need to be understood by children in an art-historyish way; when adults stand back and let children react with abandon, their responses will amaze everyone. And their appreciation of art will soar.These poems are sprightly, elliptical, sometimes silly, sometimes serious. They teach us that it's okay to simply bask in a painting's colors, or to look at just one detail, or to daydream while gazing at it. Justine Rowden's poems capture a child's imaginings--they could have been written by a child.

All the jump-roping, rollerskating, skyscraping excitement of city life is packed into this pulsating collection of poems selected by Jane Yolen. Poems by Langston Hughes, Jane Yolen, Rachel Field, and others capture the rush and rumble, toss and tumble of taxis and trains, pigeons and parks, sidewalks, and street cleaners. Ken Condon's bold illustrations evoke the gritty passion of the urban scene. Young readers will delight in this irresistible anthology that crackles with energy and zest.