In 1966, Stephen Dunning, Edward Luders, and Hugh Smith published a milestone anthology of contemporary poetry for young people, Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle.
It was edgy and accessible and teens loved it immediately. It set the
stage for more teen-friendly design and selection in poetry for young
readers.
Contemporary Connections
For more teen-friendly, accessible, and even edgy poetry for young people, look for these selections.
1. Aguado, Bill, comp. 2003. Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems from WritersCorps. New York: HarperTeen.
2. Franco, Betsy, ed. 2008. Falling Hard: Teenagers on Love. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.
3. Holbrook, Sara & Wolf, Allan. 2008. More Than Friends; Poems from Him and Her. Boyds Mills Press.
4. Lyne, Sandford. Ed. 2004. Soft Hay Will Catch You: Poems by Young People. New York: Simon & Schuster.
5. Mecum, Ryan. 2008. Zombie Haiku. How Books.
6. Mora, Pat. 2010. Dizzy in Your Eyes. Knopf.
7. Nye, Naomi Shihab. Ed. 2000. Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets. New York: Greenwillow.
8. Shakur, Tupac. 1999. A Rose Grew From Concrete. New York: Simon & Schuster.
9. Tom, Karen, and Kiki. 2001. Angst! Teen Verses from the Edge. New York: Workman Publishing.
10. WritersCorps. 2008. Tell the World. New York: HarperCollins.
Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2013. All rights reserved.
Image credits: vintagescholastics.wordpress.com;mikechasar.blogspot.com
4 comments:
I still use the 'watermelon pickle' book. A newer edition came out a few years ago, with additional poems. It's still popular with students! Thanks for the other titles, too!
You're welcome. Thanks for stopping by, Linda, and for your ongoing support!
Thank you, Sylvia, for this blast from the past. I LOVE "watermelon pickle" and bought it at a school book fair when I was a young teen. I used it as a teacher, and it still has a place of honor on my book shelf--a little faded, with some ink marks and rips--all the more loved.
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