Poems About Libraries KS2 📚 | Celebrating Reading and Imagination Through Poetry
Libraries are magical places — full of stories, discoveries and adventures waiting to happen. For children, they’re more than just shelves of books — they’re places of peace, curiosity and belonging.
Writing Poems About Libraries KS2 helps pupils celebrate reading, imagination and the joy of learning. It encourages them to see books as windows to the world — and themselves as readers and explorers.
Through library poems, pupils can:
🌟 Explore sensory description and figurative language
📖 Celebrate reading for pleasure and curiosity
🎭 Build confidence performing aloud
📝 Write poems inspired by their favourite books or places to read
👉 In my Poetry Days in primary schools across the UK I work hard to get the children excited about writing and performing their own poems. I visit over 100 schools every year and I’d love to work with your children and teachers.
📅 You can book me for:
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In-person Poetry Days across the UK
-
Online Poetry Workshops (affordable and flexible)
➡ Secure your date here: Poets in Schools – Ian Bland
💡 Why Write Poems About Libraries?
Libraries connect beautifully with English and PSHE — they’re places of learning, friendship, imagination and calm.
Poems about libraries can be reflective, funny or dramatic, giving children a voice to describe what books mean to them.
They work brilliantly during:
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National Libraries Week (October)
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World Book Day (March)
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Reading for Pleasure initiatives
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School library openings or refurbishments
🔗 Related: Poems About Books & Reading KS2 | Reading for Pleasure Through Poetry KS2 | Performance Poetry KS2
👩🏫 Poem Example 1: Our Library
by Ian Bland
A place to sit a place to think
A place to feel at home
A place where I can learn new things
A place to be alone
A place to laugh a place to smile
A place I can explore
A place to wander round the world
A place to find out more
A place of peace a place of fun
A place I can be free
A place for everyone to use
A place that’s just for me.
💡 Activity Ideas
1. Sensory Library Poems
Ask pupils to close their eyes and describe their library using the five senses — what can they see, hear, smell, touch, feel?
Turn these notes into a poem beginning “A place where I…”
2. Calligram Displays 📖
Turn the poem into a shape poem in the outline of an open book, lamp or reading chair.
🔗 Related: Shape Poems KS2
3. Performance Workshop 🎭
Perform Our Library with call-and-response reading.
Divide the class into two groups — one reads “A place to…”, the other responds with the next line.
Encourage actions or gentle movements to enhance rhythm and teamwork.
4. Cross-Curricular Art Link 🎨
Combine with Design a Dream Library activity — pupils illustrate their perfect reading space, then write a short poem describing it.
🔗 Related: Imagination Poems KS2
📚 Poem Example 2: The Library of Dreams
by Ian Bland
Step through the door and you’ll travel far,
To oceans, deserts, castles, Mars.
A whisper of paper, a rustle of tales,
A ship full of wonder that never sails.
Heroes and villains, laughter and tears,
The stories of people from thousands of years.
Each shelf is a doorway, each page is a key,
Unlocking adventures for you and for me.
💡 Activity Ideas
1. Library Personification Task
Ask pupils: If the library could speak, what would it say?
Write short personified verses — “I guard the shelves,” “I whisper secrets.”
🔗 Related: Personification Poems KS2
2. Rhyme Workshop
Highlight how rhyme carries rhythm like footsteps down a quiet corridor.
Challenge pupils to create new rhyming pairs that fit the theme (shelf/self, key/see, page/stage).
3. Display Idea
Create a “Library of Dreams” wall — each child writes a rhyming couplet about what they’d find inside a magical library.
📖 Poem Example 3: The Book Whisperer
by Ian Bland
There’s someone who lives in the library still,
Hiding behind the window sill.
She turns each page with a gentle hand,
And whispers stories across the land.
If you listen close, you might just hear,
A rustle of tales from ear to ear.
She lives in the books — she’s quiet, she’s clever,
A friend who’ll stay with you forever.
💡 Activity Ideas
1. Character Creation ✍️
Invent your own “Book Whisperer,” “Story Spirit,” or “Guardian of the Library.”
Describe what they do, where they hide, and how they help readers.
2. Drama Link 🎭
Perform as the Book Whisperer — whisper lines, add sound effects, and use lighting to create atmosphere.
3. Creative Writing Extension
Turn the character into a short story or monologue.
🔗 Related: Poems About Imagination KS2 | Narrative Poetry KS2
🧠 Teacher Pedagogy Notes
Curriculum Links:
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English: vocabulary, rhyme, rhythm, figurative language, performance.
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PSHE: belonging, community, respect for shared spaces.
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Art & Design: illustration, display work.
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ICT: create digital posters or library poems using Word or Canva.
Differentiation:
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Support: sentence starters (“A place where…”, “I like to…”).
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Challenge: add similes or personification.
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Extension: create a class anthology titled Our Library of Poems.
Engagement Tip:
Use a class visit to the school or town library as inspiration — have pupils jot sensory notes during the trip, then turn them into poems later.
🌟 Final Thoughts
Writing Poems About Libraries KS2 helps children celebrate the wonder of reading and the joy of discovery.
From quiet corners to wild adventures, libraries are gateways to imagination — and perfect places for poetry to begin.
📚 A library isn’t just a room full of books — it’s a room full of possibilities.
👉 In my Poetry Days in primary schools across the UK I work hard to get the children excited about writing and performing their own poems. I visit over 100 schools every year and I’d love to work with your children and teachers.
📅 You can book me for:
-
In-person Poetry Days across the UK
-
Online Poetry Workshops (affordable and flexible)
