More on pets and poems and connections

Did everyone see the sweet photo of Otis carrying his own bag of dog food down a Houston street during the recent Hurricane Harvey disaster? Amid all the horrible rain and flooding and suffering, this image captured my heart and made me smile. And I don't think I'm alone there!

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I hope all the beloved pets will be reunited with their families very soon as the relief efforts continue. We here all over Texas are very concerned about our neighbors on the Gulf Coast and there are already multiple sources of help and relief being offered. Have you seen the Hurricane Harvey Book Club on Facebook?  So many authors reading their books aloud and kids reading and responding. Such a great use of social media for outreach and comfort and healing!

As I think about this pet-reading-responding connection, I started gathering a big list of pet poetry together and thought I might share it here. Yes, I am pet crazy with the release of my new Pet Crazy book with Janet Wong (and Kristy Dempsey, Helen Frost, Janice Harrington, Eric Ode, Laura Shovan, Eileen Spinelli, Elizabeth Steinglass, Don Tate, Padma Venkatraman, April Halprin Wayland, Carole Boston Weatherford, and Tamera Will Wissinger), but I also think pets are always such a source of joy, comfort, and companionship. Here are a few photos of pets I have loved in my family and an assortment of poetry books about all kinds of pets. Enjoy!

Pet Poetry Books

Ashman, Linda. 2008. Stella, Unleashed. New York: Sterling. 

Clements, Andrew. 2007. Dogku. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Crawley, Dave. 2007. Dog Poems. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills.

Florian, Douglas. 2003. Bow Wow Meow Meow: It’s Rhyming Cats and Dogs. San Diego: Harcourt Brace.

Caesar

Franco, Betsy. 2009. A Curious Collection of Cats. Ill. by Michael Wertz. San Francisco: Tricycle Press.

Franco, Betsy. 2011. A Dazzling Display of Dogs. Ill. by Michael Wertz. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle. 

George, Kristine O’Connell. 1999. Little Dog Poems. New York: Clarion.

George, Kristine O’Connell. 2002. Little Dog and Duncan. New York: Clarion.

George, Kristine O’Connell. 2004. Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems. New York: Harcourt.

Grimes, Nikki. 2007. When Gorilla Goes Walking. New York: Orchard Books. 

Katz, Susan. 2007. Oh, Theodore! Guinea Pig Poems. New York: Clarion Books.

Lewis, J. Patrick. Ed. 2012. Book of Animal Poetry. Washington DC: National Geographic.

MacLachlan, Patricia and Charest, Emily MacLachlan. 2013. Cat Talk. Ill. by Barry Moser. New York: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins.

MacLachlan, Patricia and Charest, Emily MacLachlan. 2013. Cat Talk. Ill. by Barry Moser. New York: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins.

Sophie

Paschkis, Julie. 2015. Flutter & Hum: Animal Poems/ Aleteo y Zumbido: Poemas de Animales. New York: Holt. 

Pearson, Susan. 2005. Who Swallowed Harold? And Other Poems about Pets. New York: Marshall Cavendish.

Prelutsky, Jack. 2004. If Not for the Cat: Haiku. New York: Greenwillow.

Roemer, Heidi. 2009. Whose Nest is This? Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade.

Rosen, Michael J. 2011. The Hound Dog’s Haiku and Other Poems for Dog Lovers. Somerville, MA: Candlewick. 

Rosen, Michael J. 2015. The Maine Coon's Haiku and Other Poems for Cat Lovers. Ill. by Lee White. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

Ruddell, Deborah. 2007. Today at the Bluebird Café. New York: McElderry. 

Salas, Laura Purdie. 2009. A Fuzzy-Fast Blur: Poems about Pets. Mankato: Capstone.

Schmidt, Amy. 2013. Dog-Gone School. Ill. by Ron Schmidt. New York: Random House.

Sidman, Joyce. 2006. Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry. Ill. by Michelle Berg. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Sidman, Joyce. 2006. Meow Ruff. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Singer, Marilyn, 2012. Every Day's a Dog's Day: A Year in Poems. New York: Dial.

Sklansky, Amy E. 2002. From the Doghouse: Poems to Chew On. New York: Holt.

Wardlaw, Lee. 2011. Won Ton; A Cat Tale Told in Haiku. Ill. by Eugene Yelchin. New York: Henry Holt. 

Wardlaw, Lee. 2011. Won Ton; A Cat Tale Told in Haiku. Ill. by Eugene Yelchin. Henry Holt.

Anakin and Amidala

Wardlaw, Lee. 2015. Won Ton and Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku. Ill. by Eugene Yelchin. New York: Holt.

Wheeler, Lisa. 2013. The Pet Project: Cute and Cuddly Vicious Verses. Ill. by Zachariah OHora. New York: Atheneum.

Wing, Natasha. 2016. The Night Before the New Pet. Ill. by Amy Wummer. Penguin/Grosset & Dunlap.

Worth, Valerie. 2007. Animal Poems. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Yolen, Jane. 1994. Alphabestiary: Animal Poems from A to Z. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills.

Guess who is hosting our Poetry Friday fun this week? Kathryn Apel from Australia! Go to her blog NOW!