Poet Spotlight: Paul Janeczko

Paul Janeczko is both a poet and an anthologist. That's a big fancy word that means he puts together thematic collections of poems that are written by many different poets.

The one book we have in our collection that Paul wrote entirely himself is Worlds Afire, a middle grade verse novel about a fire at the circus in 1944.

Here are a few of the children's poetry anthologies that Paul has edited:

• Dirty Laundry Pile: Poems in Different Voices
• A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms
• A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems
• Very Best (Almost) Friends: Poems of Friendship

A Kick in the Head is a very useful and easy to understand intro to several poetic forms (think sonnets, haiku, etc.) The illustrations are bright, colorful, and very appealing to kids.

Visit Paul's website here.