Your child groans at the word ‘poem’ and pictures homework. This is a shelf of poetry a poetry-skeptic actually loves: funny, gross, playful, shaped like roller coasters, and, further along, a couple of quiet ones that sneak up on you. Any single one can be the book that flips your child, so pick by flavor and hand over whichever one sounds most like them.
It's built around one idea: the fastest way to change a child's mind about poetry is to hand them a poem that's funny or gross or shaped like a roller coaster before they can brace for a 'poem.' Where the Sidewalk Ends is the one I'd reach for first with almost any child, which is why it's marked start-here, but that's a recommendation, not a rule. If your child loves comics, go straight to the shaped poems in Technically, It's Not My Fault. If they'd rather be outside, Guyku is three-line poems about mud and fireflies they'll want to imitate. If they're already a bit tender-hearted, Love That Dog or Brown Girl Dreaming will land harder. Out of Wonder is the doorway that sends a hooked child off to find real poets of their own. Pick by flavor, hand over one, and let it do the work.