Essential Poetry

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  • Classics
  • Poetry
An Invitation to Poetry
808.81 INV
A product of the Favorite Poem Project at the Library of Congress, this collection, with companion DVD, contains poems selected by readers and includes personal observations and reactions to each piece.

Three Centuries of American Poetry
811.008 THR
This overview of America's poetic heritage features work written between 1623 and 1923.

Poetry Speaks
811.509 POE
Contributors, from Alfred, Lord Tennyson to Sylvia Plath, read their poetry on audio CD.

The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry
811.5408 OUT
A work that covers the Beat poetry in the '50s to the spoken word of today—words, visions, and extravagant lives of bohemians, beatniks, hippies, punks, and slackers.

180 More
811.608 ONE
Inspired by Billy Collins’ Poem a Day program with the Library of Congress, this collection features 180 “reader friendly” contemporary poems.


The Best Poems of the English Language
821.008 BES
This comprehensive anthology offers six centuries of great British and American poetry, with commentary by respected critic Harold Bloom.

The Classic Hundred Poems
821.008 CLA
Presents the "top 100" poems of all time as determined by a consensus of over 1,000 compilers.

100 Essential Modern Poems
821.9108 PAR
Collects one hundred poems from the past century that reflect modern culture, including works by William Butler Yeats, Dorothy Parker, Langston Hughes, Wallace Stegner, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Poetry by Some of the World's Best Poets

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  • Poetry
Leaves of Grass
By Walt Whitman
811.3 WHI
This celebrated work was greeted by Ralph Waldo Emerson as “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed.”


Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
By Emily Dickinson
811.4 DIC
The complete poems of one of America’s most loved poets.

New and Collected Poems
By Richard Wilbur
811.54 WIL
A Pulitzer Prize winning collection from an American master.

The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker
By Dorothy Parker
818.5209 PAR
Parker dominated pop literature in the ‘20s and ‘30s and is still the queen of witty, bitter poetry.

The Complete Poems of John Keats
By John Keats
821.7 KEA
Few poets capture beauty as wonderfully as Keats, and this volume brings all of his works together.

Idylls of the King
By Lord Tennyson
821.8 TEN
A reflection of Tennyson's lifelong interest in Arthurian themes achieved through a delicacy of phrase and metrical effect that are unmatched.

Selected Poems
By Jorge Luis Borges
861.6 BOR
An unparalleled volume of poetry by one of the most important Spanish writers in history.

Poetry of Pablo Neruda
By Pablo Neruda
861.62 NER
A comprehensive collection from the Chilean poet who was recognized during his lifetime as the “people’s poet.”

The Aeneid
By Virgil
873.01 VIR
The great epic depicting the fall of Troy and the founding of the Roman Empire.

Requiem and Poem without a Hero
By Anna Akhmatova
891.7142 AKH
Poetry from one of Russia’s great 20th century poets.

Selected Poems
By Czeslaw Milosz
891.8517 MIL
Poems from the winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize.

Sixty Poems
by Charles Simic 811.54 SIM
The best-known poetry of the 2007-2008 U.S. poet laureate.

White Apples and the Taste of Stone
By Donald Hall
811.54 HAL
A collection of poems written between 1946 and 2006 by a former U.S. poet laureate.

Love Poetry

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  • Love Poetry

Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation
808.81 RIS
An inspirational collection of classic and contemporary poems.

Random House Treasury: Favorite Love Poems
808.8193 RAN
Favorite love poems of the ages—from medieval times to the 21st century—honoring love in its many stages: from longing to rapture, worship to dedication, torment to tenderness.

The Poetry of Petrarch
851.1 PET
Poetry from the inventor of the “Petrarchan Sonnet,” which inspired the greatest love poets of the English language.

Miscellaneous Poetry

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  • Poetry
Poetry in Motion from Coast to Coast
808.81 POE
120 poems from the Poetry Society of America’s Poetry in Motion project, which displayed short, diverse poems on buses and subways.

What Have You Lost?
808.8193 WHA
Poems and black and white photographs explore the loss of objects, memories, and relationships.


Good Poems for Hard Times
811.008 GOO
A collection of poems selected from Garrison Keillor’s public radio show The Writer’s Almanac.


Desiderata
by Max Ehrmann 811.54 EHR
Poems that give comfort, cheer, and inspiration to readers.


New Oxford Book of Christian Verse
821.008 NEW
A collection offering both familiar and unfamiliar Christian poetry.

A Haiku Menagerie
895.61 HAI
A collection of haiku and beautiful woodblock prints about animals.

Adventures for Teen Guys

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  • Teen books
  • Great books for guys
  • Adventure
Peter and the Starcatchers
By Dave Barry
YA F BARRY
Soon after Peter, an orphan, sets sail from England on the ship Never Land, he befriends and assists Molly, a young Starcatcher, whose mission is to guard a trunk of magical stardust from a greedy pirate and the native inhabitants of a remote island.

The Coral Coffin
By Michael Dahl
YA F DAHL
While searching for his missing archeologist parents in the Great Barrier Reef, Finn is separated from his Uncle Stoppard by a tropical storm and picked up by a ship led by the notorious female pirate, Blue Jade.

The Princess Bride
By William Goldman
YA F GOLDMAN
A story that has everything: fencing, fighting, torture, poison, true love, revenge, giants, beautiful ladies, snakes, beasts of all natures and descriptions, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passion, miracles, and yes, even a pirate!

Rhiannon
By Vicki Grove
YA F GROVE
When an accusation of murder hits too close to home, fourteen-year-old Rhiannon, who lives high on the bluff of Clodaghcombe, stands up to the aristocracy, hatching a dangerous plan to expose the real killer with the help of a mysterious French pirate and a young monk.

Captain Hook
By J.V. Hart
YA F Hart
Describes the youthful adventures of J. M. Barrie’s classic character, Captain Hook, from his days at Eton to his voyages on the high sea.

Dark Frigate
By Charles Boardman Hawes
YA F HAWES
In Seventeenth century England, an accident forces orphaned Philip Marsham to flee London in fear for his life. He signs on with the Rose of Devon, a dark frigate. When the ship is seized by a devious group of men, Philip is forced to accompany these “gentleman of fortune” on their murderous expeditions. Like it or not, Philip is now a pirate—with only the hangman awaiting his return to England.

The Buccaneers
By Iain Lawrence
YA F LAWRENCE
In the eighteenth-century sixteen-year-old John Spencer sails from England in his schooner, the Dragon, to the Caribbean, where he and the crew encounter pirates, fierce storms, fever, and a strange man who some fear may be cursed.

The Pirate’s Son
By Geraldine McCaughrean
YA F MCCAUGHR
Nathan Gull read and thought about pirates constantly. When his father dies, Nathan is tossed out of Graylake School with no prospects. He and his mousy sister, Maud, accept the offer of Tamo White, the son of a real pirate, to travel home with him to Madagascar. In a land Tamo calls Paradise, Nathan and Maud will find danger, magic, and murder along the way to finding themselves.

The Man with the Silver Oar
By Robin Moore
YA F MOORE
In 1718, fifteen-year-old Daniel leaves his uncle’s Quaker household to stowaway on a ship in pursuit of a pirate captain bent on raiding the coast of North America before returning to port in Hispaniola.

Mystery at Blackbeard’s Cove
By Audrey Penn
YA F PENN
As Halloween approaches Ocracoke Island, Billy, Daniel, Stefanie, and Mark are helped by the ghosts of Blackbeard and the eccentric Mrs. McNemmish when they are held captive by the local scoundrel Zeek, who is searching for a hidden treasure.

Teen Girls Adventures

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  • Teen books
  • Adventure
  • Spunky female characters
The Princetta
By Anne-Laure Bondoux
YA F BONDOUX
Rebelling against the rigid constraints of her life as Princetta of Galnicia, fifteen-year-old Malva escapes with her maid Philomena and together they embark on a perilous and adventurous journey that will change the course of their lives forever.

Piratica
By Tanith Lee
YA F LEE
Artemesia is the daughter of a pirate queen, and she’s sick of practicing deportment at the Angels Academy for Young Maidens. Escaping from the school, she hunts up her mother’s crew and breezily commands them out to sea in a leaky boat. But her childhood memory of her mother’s piratical life might not be as accurate as she thought.

Bloody Jack
By L.A. Meyer
YA F MEYER
Reduced to begging and thievery in the streets of London, a thirteen-year-old orphan disguises herself as a boy and connives her way onto a British warship set for high sea adventure in search of pirates.

The Ruby in the Smoke
By Philip Pullman
YA F PULLMAN
In nineteenth-century London, sixteen-year-old Sally Lockhart, a recent orphan, becomes involved in a deadly search for a mysterious ruby, encountering a pirate along the way.

Pirates: The True and Remarkable Adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, Female Pirates
By Celia Rees
YA F REES
In 1722, after arriving with her brother at the family's Jamaican plantation where she is to be married off, sixteen-year-old Nancy Kington escapes with her slave friend, Minerva Sharpe, and together they become pirates traveling the world in search of treasure.

On Fortune’s Wheel
By Cynthia Voigt
YA F VOIGT
In this romantic adventure, Birle, the innkeeper’s daughter, pursues a would-be thief only to fall in love with him. They are shipwrecked, rescued by pirates, sold into slavery, eventually escape and head home.

Star Crossed
By Elizabeth Bunce
YA F BUNCE
In a kingdom dominated by religious intolerance, sixteen-year-old Digger, a street thief, has always avoided attention, but when she learns that her friends are plotting against the throne she must decide whether to join them or turn them in.

Teen Fantasy featuring Pirates

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  • Teen books
  • Fantasy
  • Adventure
  • Pirates
Nick of Time
By Ted Bell
YA F BELL
With the help of Lord Hawke, whose children have been taken by the evil pirate Captain Billy Blood, young Nick McIver uses a time machine to rescue the two children.

The Angel’s Command
By Brian Jacques
YA F JACQUES
Ben and Ned, a boy and dog gifted with eternal youth, able to communicate with one another telepathically. In this Castaways adventure they find themselves on board a Frenchman’s pirate ship. The two companions manage to escape, only to tumble into an encounter with the most evil robber of all—the gypsy Maguda Razan.

Pirate Curse
By Kai Meyer
YA F MEYER
In a place similar to the 1706 Caribbean, two fourteen-year-old “polliwogs”--humans who can walk on water--rely on a mysterious figure known as the Ghost Trader and a band of pirates to help them escape from the evil that is chasing them.

Tris’s Book
By Tamora Pierce
YA F PIERCE
With the defenses of Winding Circle Temple seriously weakened by an earthquake, Tris and her fellow mages-in-training try to join their different magic powers to protect the Winding Circle community from a pirate attack.

Once a Princess
By Sherwood Smith
YA F SMITH
Sasha's mother, Sun, was once swept away from Ren Faire to another world by a prince. But her prince disappeared, and a wicked king took the throne. Now Sasha has been tricked into returning to Khanerenth, and Sun is furious. Was it the stylish pirate, Zathdar, or the artistic, dreaming Prince Jehan?

Demons of the Ocean
By Justin Somper
YA F SOMPER
When twins, Connor and Grace's, ship is wrecked in a storm and Connor is rescued by pirates, he believes that Grace has been taken aboard the mythical Vampirate's ship, and he is determined to find her. /div>