April is National Poetry Month. What books are you reading to your children? Are they full of hippity hoppity bunnies and spring flowers? Nothing wrong with that. But how about trying one or more of these.

 Here are three poetic books to share with your children. Each one is completely different from the other, but each one has teaches empathy in its own way.

Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers

This is a book about family and identity told in vibrant pictures and joyful verse. It begins:

I looked in the mirror

And what did I see?

A real handsome dude

Looking at just like me.

One Leaf Rides the Wind by Celeste Davidson Mannis

This is a counting book set in a Japanese garden. Each page is a Haiku poem describing something seen in a Japanese garden that also encompasses a number. It starts:

One leaf rides the wind.

Quick as I am, it’s quicker!

Just beyond my gasp.

Let There Be Peace by Jill Jackson & Sy Miller

This book is based on the song written in 1955 and sung with the hope that it would help create a climate for world peace. In this week of talk of possible war with North Korea, perhaps we need to sing it again. This edition is beautifully illustrated with peace symbols from around the world by award winning artist David Diaz. It begins:

Let there be peace on earth

And let it begin with me.

Let there be peace on earth,

The peace that was meant to be.

Here is the song sung with a beautiful array of images and quotes. Share and enjoy.