The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets

Ages 7 to 11, Grades 2 to 5

An engrossing exploration of real-life mistakes from twenty poets.

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!)

About the Author

Irene Latham is the author of more than a dozen current and forthcoming works of poetry, fiction, and picture books. Her work includes Charlotte Huck Honor Book and ALA Notable Children's Book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship (co-written with Charles Waters) and the Caldecott Honor Book The Cat Man of Aleppo(co-written by Karim Shamsi-Basha). In 2016 she won the ILA Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award. Visit her at www.irenelatham.com.Charles Waters is a children's poet, actor, and co-author of Charlotte Huck Honor Book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship. His novel in verse, Mascot (co-written with Traci Sorell) was recognized as a Charlotte Huck Honor Book and a 2024 American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book. His poems have appeared in various anthologies including One Minute Till Bedtime and The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry. Charles performs his one-person show as well as conducts poetry performance and writing workshops for elementary and middle school audiences. He lives in Georgia.Mercè López is an artist and illustrator who lives in Barcelona, Spain. Her illustrated work includes I Am Smoke and Big Problems Little Problems.