Buckling Bookshelves: April Caldecott Calendar: National Poetry Month & Jazz Appreciation Month

This should be the final April installement of my Caldecott Calendar project. All of my posts for this project (including updates) can be found here or by clicking on 'Caldecott Calendar' in the header up top. My personal favorites will be marked with an asterisk (*). This post may be updated to correct errors, omissions, etc. as we go. Let me know in the comments if you notice anything that should be fixed or added!

National Poetry Month

To celebrate National Poetry Month, I've rounded up the books clearly marked as including poems or nursery rhymes, as well as any other titles that are particularly poetic/lyrical. I've tried no

*A Child's Calendar, poems by John Updike & illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman

2000 Caldecott Honor

Trina Schart Hyman is a favorite illustrator of mine!

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors, written by Joyce Sidman & illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
2010 Caldecott Honor

A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers written by Nancy Willard & illustrated by Alice & Martin Provensen

1982 Caldecott Honor

*Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems, written by Joyce Sidman & illustrated by Beckie Prange

2006 Caldecott Honor

I featured this title once already on the list for Earth Day and it works for spring as well -- it's doing triple duty as an April book!

Noah's Ark, written & illustrated by Peter Spier

1978 Caldecott Medal

This nearly wordless picture book includes the text of a translated poem 'The Flood' by Jacobus Revius on a single page near the beginning.

*All the World, written by Liz Garton Scanlon & illustratee by Marla Frazee

2010 Caldecott Honor

The brevity and careful word choice of picture books means many could be considered to have poetic text, but I'm going to be selective in making that determination -- and this one certainly qualifies!

The Rooster Crows: A Book of American Rhymes and Jingles, written & illustrated by Maud & Miska Petersham

1946 Caldecott Medal

Frog Went A-Courtin', retold by John Langstaff & illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky

1956 Caldecott Medal

An old Scottish ballad written in rhyming couplets.

Freedom in Congo Square, written by Carole Boston Weatherford & illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

2017 Caldecott Honor

This is a rhyming picture book, but really, all of Carole Boston Weatherford's books are poetry!

*Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, written by Carole Boston Weatherford & illustrated by Ekua Holmes
2016 Caldecott Honor
A biography-in-poems of an incredible woman -- don't miss this one!

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, written by Laban Carrick Hill & illustrated by Bryan Collier
2011 Caldecott Honor

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, by Jen Bryant, Melissa Sweet
2009 Caldecott Honor
This biographical picture book introduces doctor and poet William Carlos Williams.

The Spider and the Fly, written by Mary Howitt & illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi
2003 Caldecott Honor
This classic cautionary poem is illustrated by the same man who illustrated The Spiderwick Chronicles! This one would be good to read for Halloween as well.

Harlem: A Poem, written by Walter Dean Myers & illustrated by Christopher Myers
1998 Caldecott Honor

Mother Goose: Seventy-seven Verses, illustrated by Tasha Tudor

1945 Caldecott Honor
Mother Goose books are a dime a dozen, but I do have a soft spot for Tasha Tudor's illustrations!

Book of Nursery and Mother Goose Rhymes, illustrated by Marguerite de Angeli

1955 Caldecott Honor
FYI: The cover at really doesn't do the interior artwork justice.

Four and Twenty Blackbirds: Nursery Rhymes of Yesterday Recalled for Children of Today, collected by Helen Dean Fish & illustrated by Robert Lawson

1938 Caldecott Honor