Books by Irene Latham

The Museum on the Moon: The Curious Objects on the Lunar Surface

by Irene Latham

The most curious museum on Earth isn't on the earth at all; it's on the moon.
A 2024 Notable Poetry Book, National Council of Teachers of English
Honor Award, 2024 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award (Pennsylvania State University Libraries and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book)
Nominee, Intermediate Division, 2024-2025 Keystone to Reading Elementary Book Awards
“The poetry and facts complement each other and make for a nice flow of information and fun, resulting in sometimes goofy poetry.…A lovely picture book that mixes poetry and history about the moon.”―School Library Journal?
"A provocative tally of treasures and trash." ―Kirkus Reviews

Footprints forever etched in time. A commemorative patch from a tragic flight. Two golf balls, still lodged in frozen dust 238,900 miles away. From the amusing to the poignant, The Museum on the Moon introduces readers to the mysterious objects left on the lunar surface since humans arrived in 1969. Part history, part poetry, heartwarming and haunting, and illustrated with breathtaking graphite drawings, The Museum on the Moon is a moving exhibit of humankind's most famous quest for knowledge and our place in the universe.
From the book:
The primary goals of the United States' NASA Apollo program (1961-1972) were to establish space technology, carry out scientific exploration of the moon, and to develop ways for humans to work in the lunar environment. Six missions―Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, and 17―landed American astronauts on the moon. The astronauts carried with them a variety of items that are now artifacts―some personal mementos, some tools and equipment for the purpose of moon transport and experimentation, and other things, like human waste products, unavoidable. Because the moon has virtually no atmosphere, these things remain on the moon, just as they were, and will presumably continue to be there for years to come. The moon truly is a museum!

Leaving Gee's Bend

by Irene Latham

Ludelphia Bennett may be blind in one eye, but she can still put in a good stitch. Ludelphia sews all the time, especially when things go wrong.
But when Mama goes into labor early and gets deathly ill, it seems like even quilting won?t help. That?s when Ludelphia decides to do something drastic?leave Gee?s Bend for the very first time. Mama needs medicine that can only be found miles away in Camden. But that doesn?t stop Ludelphia. She just puts one foot in front of the other.
What ensues is a wonderful, riveting and sometimes dangerous adventure. Ludelphia weathers each challenge in a way that would make her mother proud, and ends up saving the day for her entire town.
Set in 1932 and inspired by the rich quilting history of Gee?s Bend, Alabama, Leaving Gee?s Bend is a delightful, satisfying story of a young girl facing a brave new world.

Meet Miss Fancy

by Irene Latham

A charming and significant story set prior to the Civil Rights Movement about a boy who finds a way to challenge segregation laws.

Frank has always been obsessed with elephants. He loves their hosepipe trunks, tree stump feet, and swish-swish tails. So when Miss Fancy, the elephant, retires from the circus and moves two blocks from his house to Avondale Park, he's over the moon! Frank really wants to pet her. But Avondale Park is just for white people, so Frank is not allowed to see Miss Fancy. Frank is heartbroken but he doesn't give up: instead he makes a plan!

Frank writes to the City Council so his church can host a picnic in the park, and he can finally meet Miss Fancy. All of his neighbors sign the letter, but when some protest, the picnic is cancelled and Frank is heartbroken all over again. Then Miss Fancy escapes the zoo, and it's up to Frank to find her before she gets hurt.

Snail's Ark

by Irene Latham

In this gorgeously depicted and timeless story of friendship and perseverance, two snails journey to the ark.

When Esther woke she knew something curious was happening—a storm was in the air. Not just any storm but the biggest storm the world had ever seen. In lyrical and rhythmic text, with a common refrain of hurry hurry, Esther makes her way to the ark, encountering other animals along the way. Joys, troubles, and journeys are best shared, and so Esther finds her friend Solomon and together—with the help of a small miracle—they find a way to safety.

This heartwarming picture book celebrates the importance of community and helping others, featuring two brave snails who embark on the journey of a lifetime.

African Town

by Irene Latham, Charles Waters

Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse.

In 1860, long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers, 110 men, women and children from Benin and Nigeria were captured and brought to Mobile, Alabama aboard a ship called Clotilda. Their journey includes the savage Middle Passage and being hidden in the swamplands along the Alabama River before being secretly parceled out to various plantations, where they made desperate attempts to maintain both their culture and also fit into the place of captivity to which they'd been delivered. At the end of the Civil War, the survivors created a community for themselves they called African Town, which still exists to this day. Told in 14 distinct voices, including that of the ship that brought them to the American shores and the founder of African Town, this powerfully affecting historical novel-in-verse recreates a pivotal moment in US and world history, the impacts of which we still feel today.

Don't Feed the Boy

by Irene Latham

No kid knows more about zoo life than Whit. That's because he sleeps, eats, and even attends home-school at the Meadowbrook Zoo. It's one of the perks of having a mother who's the zoo director and a father who's the head elephant keeper. Now that he's eleven, Whit feels trapped by the rules and routine of zoo life. With so many exotic animals, it's easy to get overlooked. But when Whit notices a mysterious girl who visits every day to draw the birds, suddenly the zoo becomes much more interesting. Who is the Bird Girl? And why does she come by herself to the zoo?

Determined to gain her trust, Whit takes the Bird Girl on his own personal tour of the zoo. He shows her his favorite animals and what happens with them behind the scenes. For Whit, having a friend his own age that he can talk to is an exciting new experience. For Stella the Bird Girl, the zoo and Whit are a necessary escape from her chaotic home life. Together they take risks in order to determine where it is they each belong. But when Stella asks Whit for an important and potentially dangerous favor, Whit discovers how complicated friendship―and freedom―can be, in Irene Latham's Don't Feed the Boy.

Fresh Delicious

by Irene Latham

In these vivid poems, blueberries are “flavor-filled fireworks,” cucumbers are “a fleet of green submarines in a wicker sea,” lettuce tastes like “butter and pepper and salt,” but sometimes “I crunch into a leaf the very same flavor as rain.” The unexpected, ingenious imagery and enticing artwork in this collection will inspire the imaginations of young readers, and show how poetry can be as fresh and delicious as the farmers’ market produce it celebrates.

The Cat Man of Aleppo

by Irene Latham, Karim Shamsi-Basha

The Caldecott Honor-winning true story of Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, who in the midst of the Syrian Civil War courageously offered safe haven to Aleppo's abandoned cats.

Aleppo's city center no longer echoes with the rich, exciting sounds of copper-pot pounding and traditional sword sharpening. His neighborhood is empty--except for the many cats left behind.

Alaa loves Aleppo, but when war comes his neighbors flee to safety, leaving their many pets behind. Alaa decides to stay--he can make a difference by driving an ambulance, carrying the sick and wounded to safety. One day he hears hungry cats calling out to him on his way home. They are lonely and scared, just like him. He feeds and pets them to let them know they are loved. The next day more cats come, and then even more! There are too many for Alaa to take care of on his own. Alaa has a big heart, but he will need help from others if he wants to keep all of his new friends safe.

Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship

by Irene Latham, Charles Waters

Two poets, one white and one black, explore race and childhood in this must-have collection tailored to provoke thought and conversation.

How can Irene and Charles work together on their fifth grade poetry project? They don't know each other . . . and they're not sure they want to.

Irene Latham, who is white, and Charles Waters, who is Black, use this fictional setup to delve into different experiences of race in a relatable way, exploring such topics as hair, hobbies, and family dinners. Accompanied by artwork from acclaimed illustrators Sean Qualls and Selina Alko (of The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage), this remarkable collaboration invites readers of all ages to join the dialogue by putting their own words to their experiences.

Love, Agnes: Postcards from an Octopus

by Irene Latham

Agnes has a beak that can crush bones and arms and stretch wide as a car―but that doesn't make her a monster! After she comes across a postcard, Agnes, a giant Pacific octopus, strikes up a correspondence with various other creatures below―and above―the waves. Readers will delight in this unlikely introduction to the octopus life cycle.

If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility

by Irene Latham, Charles Waters

An ode to imagination and the power of "if," this exhilarating poetry collection features the voices of thirty-one diverse poets.

If I could choose a best day
it would be sunny
it would be summer

and I would be with you.

Imagine what you could do with if. Build a tree house, ride your bike back in time, catch a firefly like a tiny star in the palm of your hands and let it go to make a wish--anything, when it starts with if. Because if is where your imagination begins, where the impossible becomes possible, if only you imagine. And if you do, just think of how much better our world could be. Thirty-one poets, selected by "poetic forever friends" and frequent collaborators Irene Latham and Charles Waters, begin each of their poems with the word if and imagine the possibilities the gift of if can hold. Olivia Sua's cut-paper and painted-mosaic illustrations add warmth and meaning to the poems, allowing the reader's mind to soar with possibility. In an end note, the anthologists offer insight into their selection process, aimed at gathering a comprehensive and representative collection of poems.

With poems by:
Lacresha Berry * Robyn Hood Black * JaNay Brown-Wood * Joseph Bruchac * Siv Cedering * Emily Dickinson * Rebecca Kai Dotlich * Nikki Grimes * Jolene Gutiérrez * Georgia Heard * Anna Grossnickle Hines * Irene Latham * Renée M. LaTulippe * Nancy Tupper Ling * Sylvia Liu * Rebekah Lowell * Vikram Madan * Guadalupe García McCall * Lilian Moore * Eric Ode * Bob Raczka * Lisa Rogers * Sydell Rosenberg * Laura Purdie Salas * Janice Scully * Teresa Owens Smith * Gabi Snyder * Sarah Grace Tuttle * Amy Ludwig VanDerwater * Charles Waters * Janet Wong

The Mistakes That Made Us Confessions from Twenty Poets

by Irene Latham, Charles Waters

Scoring a goal against your own team. Copying a classmate's schoolwork. Accepting a dare to jump down the stairs . . . and getting hurt.

This engrossing poetry anthology explores making mistakes and learning from them. Twenty brave poets―Linda Sue Park, Margarita Engle, Allan Wolf, David Elliott, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Lacresha Berry, George Ella Lyon, Jaime Adoff, Vikram Madan, Kim Rogers, Douglas Florian, Tabatha Yeatts, Jorge Argueta, Jane Yolen, Charles Waters, JaNay Brown-Wood, Irene Latham, April Halprin Wayland, Darren Sardelli, and Naomi Shihab Nye―share real-life mistakes they made as young people . . . and what happened next. Edited by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, with brilliantly evocative illustrations by Mercè López, this is a book for all who are growing and discovering and still figuring out who we are. (Which is to say . . . all of us!)