Today, 7th October, is National Poetry Day.  Here are some links for great resources, ideas and inspiration to enliven your reading and teaching of poetry all through the year:  the National Poetry Day website, and the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education’s poetry section.

A terrific new poetry book is John Agard’s Coyote’s Soundbite, a poem for our planet, illustrated by Piet Grobler.

A clever, quirky tale with a strong environmental message features folkloric characters from a diverse selection of cultures.  Daruna, the Aboriginal goddess of creation, and Kujum Chantu from North-East India, whose eyes became the sun and moon, and four more mythological goddesses from origin stories around the world are dressed in their best for a conference to decide what can be done about the humans, who are inflicting catastrophic damage on the earth.  Piet Grobler’s lively illustrations, created using a mixture of coloured pencils, ink, gouache and collage, provide an exciting visual accompaniment to the rhythmic verse, which is perfect to share and read aloud, for ages 7+.