While National Poetry Month may be officially over, interest in great poems well delivered, never wanes. In this column we look at three very different digital anthologies that include verse. To quote the editors if Poems, we have poets “ancient and modern, fusty and frisky, famous and forgotten,” and to that we might add, a few rising stars.

iF Poems (Clickworks Ltd./Chocolate Creative Ltd, $0.99; All Ages), edited by Allie Esiri and Rachel Kelly, is a collection of works authored by 102 poets, many of which are narrated. The app offers a number of access points: categories, age level, author, title, first line, and sometimes, first word. In all, there are 12 categories ranging from “Growing Up” and “Short and Sweet” to “War, History & Death” and “About Poetry.” Under each section the poems are sorted by age (0-6, 7-12, or 13+). While the focus is both classic and British (Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Brontës, Robert Lewis Stevenson, William Wordsworth, William Shakespeare), there are surprises (Tim Burton’s “Stick Boy And Match Girl In Love”), a bit of mischief (Mary Howitt’s “The Spider And The Fly”), and plenty of humor (13th century Saadi’s “Observe This Precept Whenever You Can.”) A paragraph-length biographical note on the author of the poem precedes each selection, and Natasha Low’s image of a tree trunk filled with words and letters frames it.

The app’s repertoire of readers includes Helena Bonham Carter, Bill Nighy, Tom Hiddleston, and Harry Enfield, all of whom do a superb job evoking the emotional content of the works—and their timelessness. Carter carries many of the humorous selections (A. E. Housman's "Amelia Mixed the Mustard"), Nighy some of the more serious (Rupert Brooke’s "The Soldier"); all the readings are superbly delivered and will draw listeners deeper into the collection. They will also remind readers of the pleasures of listening to spoken poetry. Users can choose to record their own readings of the poems, and/or save, or share their favorite printed selections via email. In a reverse publishing trend, the poems are now also available in book form, iF: A Treasury of Poems for Almost Every Possibility (ipg Books, 2013).

Luis Zelaya, talks about his poetry in 'City Blossoms' (Arcade Sunshine Media )

City Blossoms (Arcade Sunshine Media; $1.99; Gr 7 Up) is a teen-authored digital anthology of 50 poems. The selections were written by students from four Washington, DC, high schools, who came together to think about and write verse in workshops sponsored by 826DC, a nonprofit group that offers programs for students age 6-18, designed to "explore their creativity and improve their writing skills." The anthology is part of a collaborative book project with the President's Committee on Arts and Humanities, and features entries both personal and political in nature. A video introduction by the educators involved in the project and the poet Kyle Dargan, who wrote the foreward to the book, highlights aspects of the program and some of the students who participated in it. Also featured are four of the anthology’s contributors who read their works and talk about themselves and what writing poetry means to them. As Rashawnda Williams explained, the workshop she participated in allowed her to step out of her element and "try something new...if I'm sad or angry...[or] having a problem with friends, it's easier...[writing] releases that energy into the poem." The video portion of the app is framed in artwork (which disappears when viewing the readings in full screen), but the anthology portion is plain: black print on white screen. A table of contents offers a listing and the poems can be read one by one by swiping through the volume, or accessed quickly using the scrubber bar at the bottom of the screen. This would be a terrific production to share with students about to embark on a poetry unit, or to spark a discussion about poetic expression. The teens involved will convince listeners that writing poetry is both a worthwhile and doable endeavor. The app may also be of interest to high school students interested in documenting some of their own work or a program they are involved in. The theme of The Love Book (iLiterature/Marc Wilson; $2.99; Gr 10 Up ), edited by Allie Esiri (see above, iF Poems) needs no explanation. Verse is a highlight of the collection, but prose excerpts and quotes are also included. Poetry can be selected by theme: for example, “In Love,” “Passionate,” “Platonic,” or “It’s Over,” while under “Quotes” options range from “I Love You” to “Funny.” The selections are eclectic: there are entries written by Ovid, Maya Angelou, Rumi, Derek Walcott, Sharon Olds, Walt Whitman, Robert Browning, e e Cummings, and Emily Dickinson, to name only a few; lines from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Dickens’s David Copperfield, and Dorothy Parker’s short story, "A Telephone Call"; and the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "Boots of Spanish Leather." And there are letters: from Heloise to Abelard; from John Adams to his wife, Abigail; John Keats to Fanny Brawne; and Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West. Among the especially poignant missives are those from Civil War and WWI soldiers to their wives. All entries can be accessed by title, author, first line, or key word. Narrations for many of the selections are available, read by Emma Watson, Damian Lewis, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hiddleston, Gina Bellman, and Helen McCrory—professional actors all. Kate Moross’s vibrant pop design features electric colors on the contents’ panels, and frames each poem.   With a few references to alcohol and the love's physical aspects, some schools may choose to steer clear of this production, but those that don’t will find plenty to share with students. For starters: the many forms, tones, and expressions that a theme can take. A recording option is available as is saving “faves” and/or sharing individual selections via email.—Daryl Grabarek, School Library Journal

Eds. Note: A percentage of the cost of iF and The Love Book go to fund the work of Save the Children.

For additional app reviews, visit our Touch and Go webpage.