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The Challenge of Making Children’s Poetry Books Readable

Writer and teacher Lydie Raschka bemoans the fact that most children’s poetry anthologies, especially those intended for classroom use, are unwieldy, poorly organized and much too long.

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Lydie Raschka is teacher and a writer. She has published essays and opinion in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BrainChild, and Salon among other publications.
Credit: Graphic by John Jordan

Writer and teacher Lydie Raschka bemoans the fact that most children’s poetry anthologies, especially those intended for classroom use, are unwieldy, poorly organized and much too long. Raschka suggests making poetry more accessible by breaking anthologies into bite-size chunks that categorize poems by reading level and topic. (Education Week)

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