Children’s Poet Laureate Mary Ann Hoberman

Did you know that, in the fall of 2008, the Poetry Foundation appointed poet Mary Ann Hoberman to a two-year term as the second Children’s Poet Laureate? According to the president of the Poetry Foundation, John Barr, “Her poems tease young minds even as they please young ears with rhythm and rhyme. We honor her for a lifetime of writing poetry of lasting value for young readers.” (Poetry Foundation). Mary Ann Hoberman is the author of 45 books. I particularly like Hoberman’s You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together, the first in her series of books of poems designed to be read aloud together. I have used it very successfully with beginning readers. Jack Prelutsky, author of Good Sports and The Frog Wore Red Suspenders and numerous other poetry books for children, served as the Poetry Foundation’s first Children’s Poet Laureate.

(Cover art courtesy of Little, Brown and Company)