Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Come Sunday | 1996 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 2 | It’s Raining Laughter | 1997 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 3 | A Dime a Doze | 1998 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 4 | Hopscotch Love | 1999 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 5 | Is it Far to Zanzibar? | 2000 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 6 | Shoe Magic | 2000 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 7 | A Pocketful of Poems | 2001 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 8 | Dreams by Day, Dreams by Night | 2002 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 9 | What is Goodbye? | 2004 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 10 | At Jerusalem’s Gate | 2005 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 11 | Thanks a Million | 2006 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 12 | Welcome, Precious | 2006 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 13 | Voices of Christmas | 2009 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 14 | Poems in the Attic | 2015 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 15 | One Last Word | 2017 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 16 | Between the Lines | 2018 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 17 | Legacy | 2021 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 18 | Glory in the Margins | 2021 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
| 19 | Glory, Too: Poems | 2025 | Nikki Grimes | Buy |
Nikki Grimes’s poetry collections span nearly three decades, from Come Sunday in 1996 to Glory, Too: Poems in 2025. The nineteen collections cover an unusually broad range of subjects for a single poet. Some focus on faith and spirituality, others on family and loss, and several engage directly with other literary works and historical periods.
One Last Word (2017) responds to poems by Harlem Renaissance writers, creating a conversation across generations. Legacy (2021) and Glory in the Margins (2021) both explore history and art through verse. Earlier collections like Hopscotch Love and A Dime a Doze are lighter in tone, written for younger readers. The range of these collections reflects Grimes’s ability to write for different audiences and about different subjects without losing her distinctive voice.