Independent Reading Level: 2nd to 5th grade.

Awards: NCTE Notable Poetry Book

This is an usual, beautiful collection of “nesting poems,” which are essentially short “found poems” created from an original piece of text. The author begins the collection with a longer poem called “Nest,” (37 lines) and uses the words within it to create 161 smaller “nestling poems, attempting to use every single word from the original piece at least once. The poems contain a wide variety of moods and subjects, and are perfectly accessible. The illustrations are also delightful.

This Poem is a Nest was a beautiful collection of "nesting poems" or poems within a poem. It was amazing just how many poems the author, Irene Latham, created- the grand total was one hundred and sixty-one poems. This poetry exuded a poised brevity I never experienced before in reading poetry for children. I guess I expected something simple and boring. Latham's words took me on adventures around the world, in my mind, and through my backyard. She prompts children to think about their emotions and relationships in the same stroke of abstract through as thinking about lions, the four seasons, and the North American plains. She creates original words that somehow just make sense, like wordflight and skyboat. These fantastical images she prompts readers to create in their heads is a magical journey. As someone who loves more sublime, ethereal poetry, much of Latham's work fit the bill. Wright's illustrations add to this sublime sensation I felt the entire time reading. The images helped give a face to the words of the poems they complimented, and further enhanced the poems meaning.

Genre: Poetry ( )