April a month for reading

April is a month filled with reading-related activities.

First off, it is National Poetry Month.

It was in 1996 the Academy of American Poets designated April as National Poetry Month, and it is now the largest literary celebration in the world, with “tens of millions of readers … marking poetry’s important place in our culture and our lives.”

The website — http://www.poets.org — states that National Poetry Month, as a widely celebrated event around the world, is showcased by not only schools, but also in libraries, booksellers, and publishers.

In the Clovis schools, we, too, are celebrating. CHS Librarian Jenny Jeffery recently described some of the associated activities.

Working with our librarians from K-12, Jeffery always has a finger on the pulse of library goings on, from activities, lessons, displays, bulletin boards, and such. Across the district there are poetry read-alouds, poetry Bingo games and a host of other poetry events.

CHS has several activities going on: from book giveaways to half-off library fines during the month of April. There’s a “Poetry Creation Station” set up where stacks of old magazines and periodical are available for students to snip out words and letters with varying fonts for students to create their own poems and then hang to display, which they do.

Students also like the “Blackout Poetry Station” where old, worn out books from the discarded materials inventory are made available to students, who go through and select pages where they black out the words they don’t want, resulting in a poem from the words left over.

Interestingly, adolescents still seem to enjoy poetry, and students are coming in before school, during lunch, and after school to participate.

Poetry is a uniquely creative way in which to express oneself, and students are responsive to these poetry-related opportunities. Also, some of the contemporary young adult novels are also written in verse, and these are popular check-out choices of students.

As we spoke about poetry and the importance of reading, in general, Jeffery also shared an article she’d come across about books and reading in The Netherlands.

On National Book Day, the Dutch waive train fares for those who can show a book they’re reading instead of a ticket. The Nederlandse Spoorwegen (the Dutch state railway company) has even organized book readings and signings by authors on the trains.

To contribute to the celebration: “Roses are red, violets are blue; a poem’s your friend, so go read one, too!”

Cindy Kleyn-Kennedy is the instructional technology coordinator for the Clovis Municipal Schools. She can be reached at

[email protected]