For a Daughter Who Leaves by Janice Mirikitani (grades 4-6)

Mirikitani's poem "For a Daughter Who Leaves" sets the scene of the speaker's daughter who is about to get married and is wearing slippers that use the same thread that has patched up sentimental items in her childhood. The mother recounts her experience watching her daughter grow up and reflects on the woman that now stands in front of her before walking down the aisle. The thread in the wedding slippers and thus also the girl's first silk jacket represent the mother's love for her and the continuance of her care as she hands her daughter off to her new partner.

Born in Stockton, California, Janice Mirikitani is the author of five books and has served as the second Poet Laureate of San Francisco in 2000. She was a survivor of the Japanese American incarceration during the second World War and also founded San Francisco's Glide Memorial Church center for social justice with her husband.