Diverse Poetry Books for Kids

The diverse poetry books on this list encompasses a variety of poetic forms. Themes include play, family, identity, friends and just silly and fun poems accompanied by illustrations that reflect the multicultural world our children inhabit.

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Culturally Diverse Poetry for Kids

Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets, by Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth is a splendid cross-cultural collection of poetry. Original poems celebrate the work of a wide group of classic and contemporary poets. This book is an excellent way for families to explore famous poets and their impact on readers.

Feel the Beat: Dance Poems that Zing from Salsa to Swing by Marilyn Singer. I absolutely adore this book. Children will love this collection of short snappy poems about dance. Each one holds the rhythm of the music, and the collection includes a variety of cultures and traditions. The text comes with a CD of music because no doubt the poems will make everyone want to get up and dance!

What Are Little Girls Made Of? by Jeanne Willis is an utterly delightful, and often hilarious, collection of feminist re-imaginings of traditional nursery rhymes. Isabelle Follath's illustrations depict girls from all backgrounds and abilities.

Thanku: Poems of Gratitude, edited by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Marlena Myles is an inclusive collection of poems about being thankful. The huge variety of poetic forms even includes a math poem!

A Full Moon Is Rising by Marilyn Singer. This collection of poems celebrates the magic of a full moon as it is experienced around the globe. There are poems set it the city, the country and across the world from Africa to China to Colombia. Different religious and ethnic traditions are represented, including Sukkot, moon watching in Canada and a Chinese Moon Festival. End papers include notes and a map of all the locations that appear throughout the book.

Fresh-Picked Poetry: A Day at the Farmers' Market by Michelle Schaub is such a fun collection of poems about diverse kids and their families exploring an urban farmers' market. I love how upbeat the poems are, and who knows, maybe reading these poems will encourage your children to finish their beets. (Dare to dream.)

Jazz by Walter Dean Myers. Fifteen gorgeously rhythmic and evocative poems encourage kids to delight in all the different forms of jazz music. Readers will enjoy a journey through the history of the uniquely American music like bebop, boogie, and ragtime. Christopher Myers' dynamic illustrations shine!

MORE: The poetry bedtime routine your kids will cherish

A Stick Is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play is another collection by award-winning poet Marilyn Singer. Poems celebrate kids playing in the great outdoors, from the monkey bars at the playground to urban sidewalks to backyard sprinklers. Every single page features a diverse group of faces and almost every child will see someone who looks like them in this book. I only wish the collaborators had thought to illustrate a child with a physical disability in the book (they like to play, too!); then it would be perfect.

Looking Like Me. I love the upbeat tempo of Walter Dean Myers' poetry in this book! A young boy, Jeremy, narrates this poem/picture book. It starts as he looks in the mirror, declaring, "That's who I am." He then meets friends and family in his city neighborhood, all of whom describe him differently.  He is a brother, artist, runner, writer, and more. The poem is an infectious, joyful celebration of one boy's self-esteem and identity. This is a wonderful poem to read with your kids and then have a conversation about all the different aspects of who they are.

A Poke in the I by Paul B. Janeczko is a collection of "concrete poems." Concrete poems are poems in which the visual arrangement of the words on the page are as essential to the meaning as the text itself.  For example, the text of the poem "Giraffe" is printed out in the shape of a giraffe. "Tennis Anyone" will have your eyes bouncing back and forth across the page. Kids love concrete poems for their playful nature, and creating their own concrete poems is a wonderfully fun writing exercise. Raschka's stylized illustrations feature characters in every color.

MORE: Concrete Poetry Books for Kids

Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Irene Latham and Charles Waters. Poems in two voices tell the story of a white girl and a black boy becoming friends at school while working on a class poetry project. The poems (written by a white woman and a black man) dive into topics of race, family life, friendship and school experiences in a very accessible way. The illustrations are a great accompaniment.

Confetti: Poems for Children by Pat Mora is a joyful collection of short poems sprinkled with Spanish words. Pat Mora has done a wonderful job composing poems that will appeal to very young children on a range of subjects like colors, nature, counting and everyday moments. One of my favorites is "Leaf Soup."

MORE: 8 Ways To Use Poetry to Calm Your Kids

One Leaf Rides the Wind is a collection of counting poems in the haiku style. The poems follow a young girl as she explores a traditional Japanese garden. This is a great introduction to haiku and also includes information about gardens, haikus, and their place in Japanese culture.

MORE: Haiku Books for Kids

Each poem in The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas is named after a color, like "Golden Goodness," "Cranberry Red," or "Coffee Will Make You Black" to celebrate a wide range of skin tones. I love the acknowledgement that "black" is not a single shade. Illustrator Floyd Cooper's cheerful faces peer up at the reader from the pages of the book.

Iguanas in the Snow: And Other Winter Poems / Iguanas en la Nieve: Y Otros Poemas de Invierno by Francisco X. Alarcón is a bilingual collection of poems that is part of a four book series spanning the seasonal year. Each short poem in free verse is in both Spanish and English, presenting snapshots of a diverse group of children enjoying wintery life to the fullest. Be sure to read the poetry collections for every season!

Family Poems for Every Day of the Week: Poemas Familiares Para Cada Dia de la Semana. Francisco X. Alarcón's joyful poems about family activities—like visiting, celebrating, working and playing—during the week are fun to read aloud. This collection of diverse poetry is presented in both English and Spanish.

MORE: Classic poems for kids to memorize

In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall is a collection of poems by different authors honoring fathers, specifically African-American fathers, but of course children of all races and cultures will be able to relate to the feelings and attitudes expressed in the poems. Some of the poetic imagery and language is sophisticated, for ages 7 and up, but there is something for everyone here. (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award )

Meet Danitra Brown is a collection of exuberant poems narrated by a young girl, Zuri Jackson, about her best friend, Danitra. I've never read a poetry book like this; it's a joyful ode to a friend and I love the idea. It would be a great writing project for kids, too–have them write poems about their friends! (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award)

Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back: A Native American Year of Moons by Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London. I've always loved the idea of naming all the moons of year. This beautiful book of diverse poetry celebrates the Native American year through each of the thirteen moons.

I love Javaka Steptoe's collages that illustrate Nikki Grimes' haiku in A Pocketful of Poems. Tiana has a pocketful of words and each word inspires a delightful short poem. I'm especially fond of haiku as "poetry for beginners" and its short form makes it easy to share with even the youngest kids.

MORE: Practice writing haiku during week 4 of the Poetry Writing Challenge

Tan to Tamarind: Poems about the Color Brown by Malathi Michelle Iyengar. This classic poetry book is sadly out of print, so check your library for a copy. It's a collection of poems about all the gorgeous skin colors in the world.

Once Around the Sun by Bobbi Katz. Each month gets its own poem capturing the type of childhood moments we might look back on with nostalgia. In the background, a diverse group of children romp and play through the seasons and around their city.