In honor of National Poetry Month, I put together a new list of poetry books I'd like to acquire. Here are a couple of my selections:

• African Acrostics: a word in edgewise written by Avis Harley, photographs by Deborah Noyes. This book is a collection of brilliant color photographs paired with short acrostic poems. Readers in grades 4-7 will enjoy the poetry and the word games incorporated into the verses as they decode the messages cleverly tucked into first, last or diagonal letters in the lines.
  
• All the World by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee is a delightful read-aloud for the kindergarten and 1st graders with each poem inviting the readers to explore their world.

Here is the answer to Friday's Famous First: "In the days when farmers worked with ox and sled and cut the dark with lantern light, there lived a boy who loved snow more than anything in the world." Caldecott Medal Book: Snowflake Bentley, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Mary Azarian.