Poetry Books for Young People Featuring Haiku, Renga, Tanka, and Sijo

Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry that has long been popular in schools and classrooms. The three line, 17-syllable structure seems deceptively simple, but can offer a sophisticated synthesis of language and ideas. The books listed below are some of the titles that feature this unique form, as well as the tanka, renga, and sijo, other poetic forms grounded in ancient Asian literary traditions.

The list begins:

Asch, Frank. 1998. Cactus Poems. San Diego: Harcourt.

Chaikin, Miriam. 2002. Don’t Step on the Sky: A Handful of Haiku. New York: Henry Holt.

Clements, Andrew. 2007. Dogku. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Demi. 1992. In the Eyes of the Cat: Japanese Poetry for all Seasons. New York: Henry Holt.

Farrar, Sid. 2012. The Year Comes Round: Haiku Through the Seasons. Ill. by Ilse Plume. Whitman.

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