Timeless Thursdays: National Poetry Day and Jack Prelutsky

Photo by Yuen Lui Studio

Today is National Poetry Day in Britain. On WOW! Women On Writing’s blog, “The Muffin,” I wrote a little about how Britain celebrates this day and included a really cool picture of a refrigerator door with a poem painted on it! Check this post out here if you are interested in celebrating poetry.

One of the greatest poets is children’s poet, Jack Prelutsky, and he is definitely Timeless Thursday material. Like Shel Silverstein, he makes poetry less scary for children. He makes poetry fun for children. He makes children want to write poetry, and I would bet a million dollars (if I had it) that he has the same affect on adults.

Share some of these Jack Prelutsky books with your students–no matter what grade you teach from preschool to college:

In 2006, Jack Prelutsky was named the first Children’s Poet Laureate in the United States. I love this paragraph from the Poetry Foundation’s press release about Jack Prelutsky and the Children’s Poet Laureate honor. This paragraph below speaks nothing but the truth! I hope it is something that all of us writers, parents, and teachers take to heart–and remember every day, not just on National Poetry Day:

“The new award aims to raise awareness that children have a natural receptivity to poetry and are its most appreciative audience, especially when poems are written specifically for them. Findings from the Poetry Foundation’s recent research study—Poetry in America—demonstrate that a lifelong love for poetry is most likely to result if cultivated early in childhood and reinforced thereafter.”

So tomorrow, pick up a poetry book–Jack Prelutsky’s, Shel Silverstein’s, or your favorite–and start cultivating that love of poetry in your children and students.