"Paul Janeczko is the best collector of poems working on behalf of young adults today," according to Beth and Ben Nehms in their English Journal review of Strings: A Gathering of Family Poems. Poems from internationally known poets appear alongside those of young upstarts in the more than a dozen anthologies Janeczko has assembled. The books are distinctive because each provides multiple ways of understanding the experiences of young people through poetry while at the same time maintaining a distinct focus. Janeczko, who taught language arts for twenty-two years before becoming a full-time writer, is popular with young adults because he treats them with respect; the poems he selects are complex and challenging, and they never condescend to the reader. In his own collection of poetry, Brickyard Summer, Janeczko uses short, narrative poems to depict two teenage boys enjoying a summer away from school.

When Janeczko was growing...