This is one of those books where you need to see for yourself how striking it is. Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and author of twenty-one books for children and educators, including Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band, Surf’s Up, Booked, and a middle-grade novel in. At the very least, maybe you can memorize one or two. We hope to use them as stepping-stones to wonder, leading you to write, to read the works of the poets celebrated in this book, to seek out more about their lives and their work, or to simply read and explore more poetry. The poems in this book pay tribute to the poets being celebrated by adopting their style, extending their ideas, and offering gratitude to their wisdom and inspiration.Įnjoy the poems. I believe that by reading other poets we can discover our own wonder. Chris Colderley, Marjory Wentworth, and I had two requirements for the poets we would celebrate in Out of Wonder: first, they had to be interesting people, and second, we had to be passionately in love with their poetry.

Some of the poets we celebrate in this book lived centuries ago and wrote in languages other than English, while others still walk the streets of San Antonio and New York City today. Poets who have inspired me and my co-authors with their words and their lives. Poems can inspire us – in our classrooms and in our homes – to write our own journeys, to find our own stories….Īllow me to introduce you to twenty of my favorite poets. That connection can be a vehicle on the road to creativity and imagination. There is a feeling of connection and communion – with the author and the subject – when we read a poem that articulates our deepest feelings. It has the power to reach inside of you, to ignite something in you, and to change you in ways you never imagined.

Out of wonder by kwame alexander