A Kick in the Head by Paul B. Janeczko

Janeczko, Paul B. A Kick in the Head. Cambridge, Massachussetts: Candlewick Press, 2005.

"A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms" is a collections of poem form definitions and examples.  The book includes an introduction and table of contents.  A reader could look for a type of poem that they are interested in or confused about and turn directly to the page on which the form is featured.   Each form type is described and a poem which is written in that form is featured. The accompanying illustrations are abstract and eye catching.  The topic of this book could make a boring read for young people-- the illustrations serve to make it more fun and interesting.  The poems which serve as the form example are written by authors other than Janeczko, some anonymous.  If the poem is titled, the title is listed at the bottom, next to the author's name.  This emphasizes the focus on the poems form above all else.

The beginning of eternity
The end of time and space,
The beginning of every end,
The end of every place.

Anonymous

A riddle poem indirectly
describes a person, place, thing, or idea.
The reader must try to
figure out the subject of the
riddle.  A riddle poem can be any
length and usually has a rhyme
scheme of abcd or aabb.

I think that this collection would best be used as a teaching tool.  I would not attempt to introduce this book as a whole at one time, rather, I'd focus on a couple different forms each day.  This way, the students would get to spend more time figuring out each type and absorbing the subtle differences.  In order to facilitate the learning, I'd break the students into groups and ask them to pick a poetic form of the day and write a poem in that form.  The groups would share their poems!