How to Write a Poem

In this evocative and playful companion to their New York Times bestselling picture book How to Read a Book, Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander teams up with poet Deanna Nikaido and Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet to celebrate the magic of discovering your very own poetry in the world around you.

Begin

with a question

like an acorn

waiting for spring.

From this first stanza, readers are invited to pay attention—and to see that paying attention itself is poetry. Kwame Alexander and Deanna Nikaido’s playful text and Melissa Sweet’s dynamic, inventive artwork are paired together to encourage readers to listen, feel, and discover the words that dance in the world around them—poems just waiting to be written down.

"Marvelously crafted to inspire blooming writers." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Alexander and Nikaido cleverly integrate alliteration, similes, allusions, and wordplay to model for young writers what a poem can look and sound like. The buoyant text provides ample sensory imagery and nudges readers to look, listen, hear, feel, touch, speak, and then write, offering a guide for the process of observing, imagining, and putting it all down in words." - Horn Book Magazine

"A highly welcoming invitation to write that makes clear poetry is for everyone—reader and writer alike." - Publishers Weekly

"An exquisite guide that inspires and encapsulates the essence of poetry." - Booklist (starred review)

"Both a teaching tool for writing poetry as well as an ode to poetry itself. Highly recommended." - School Library Journal (starred review)