This six-volume poetry set presents readers with thematic poetry written during various time periods, mixing William Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson with contemporaries like Gary Soto and Nikki Giovanni. The two titles reviewed introduce the poems and then spend a few pages giving readers the tools to interpret the poems. The tools vary but incorporate the poem's structure, the historical period, the poet's biographical information, and how the book's theme plays out in the poem. Each title ends with writing your own poetry. . . .will be most useful for school media centers and for classroom libraries that have a focus on creative writing.-- "VOYA"
The editor helps the reader to better understand poetry with some step-by-step directions, then concludes with tips for writing poetry about emotions.-- "Teacher Librarian, "BookMark It: YA Nonfiction""