Audio
NPR: National Public Radio

Npr: "Poetry Speaks to Children" Book Review

Pre-K - 1st Standards
A review of the children's book "Poetry Speaks to Children." Review includes commentary and information as well as several audio clips of poems being read for children.
Instructional Video
Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Mary Ann Hoberman

Pre-K - 1st Standards
Mary Ann Hoberman is the author of more than 40 books for children, including A House Is a House for Me and the popular shared reading series, You Read to Me, I'll Read to You. Whether writing about llamas in pajamas or a raucous auk,...
Instructional Video
Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Marilyn Singer

1st - 7th
Marilyn Singer has written all kinds of great books for children and young adults - picture books, fairy tales, mysteries, non-fiction, and novels - but poetry is her favorite genre. Singer is on a mission to "knock poetry off its...
Instructional Video
Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Carole Boston Weatherford

Pre-K - 1st
Carole Boston Weatherford is a children's book author and poet who has written books about African-American historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Jesse Owens, and Billie Holiday. Other books recount historical events such as the...
Instructional Video
Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Charles Smith

Pre-K - 1st
Charles R. Smith is a talented children's book author and photographer. His expressive poetry - frequently about sports and music - has been praised for its playful language and clever rhymes, while his expressive photographs beautifully...
Instructional Video
Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Francisco Alarcon

1st - 4th
Francisco X. Alarcon wrote poetry for both children and adults. Born in Los Angeles, California, he cspent time as a child in both Mexico and the United States. Alarcon's poetry was inspired by songs he heard from his grandmother, which...
Instructional Video
Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Kwame Alexander

Pre-K - 1st
Kwame Alexander, an award-winning poet and author, writes picture books for children and cross-genre books for teens. The Crossover - his basketball-concrete poetry-hiphop mashup - was awarded the 2015 Newbery Medal. Alexander is also...
Instructional Video
Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Jack Prelutsky

Pre-K - 1st
Jack Prelutsky writes wonderfully wacky poems that children find irresistible. In this interview, he explains why he used to equate reading poetry with eating liver and considered writing poetry a hazard to his health. Watch the...
Instructional Video
Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: J. Patrick Lewis

Pre-K - 1st
J. Patrick Lewis authored more than 80 books of poetry for children, on every topic under the sun - from celebrations of Civil Rights heroes (and she-roes) to riddle-filled math puzzlers to poems about amazing animals and iconic...
Instructional Video
Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Janet Wong

Pre-K - 1st
When Wong left her job as Director of Labor Relations at Universal Studios in Hollywood, she dreamed of becoming a children's book author. Over the next two years, she took a writing class, submitted manuscripts, and piled up more than...