Don't Drink from the Water Fountain

Middle School Poems

Poetry - General
68 Pages
Reviewed on 04/26/2024
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography


Diane Belinfanti draws inspiration for her writing from her many years of experience working with children. One of her greatest joys is introducing young people to new worlds and adventures through the magic of words. During her long career as a classroom teacher, Diane gained considerable insight into the lives of students. Her publications include three picture books, a middle grade novel, and a poetry book for middle school students. Now retired from teaching, Diane lives in Montclair, NJ, where she continues to write children’s stories and poetry.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Golder Hazelton for Readers' Favorite

Don’t Drink from the Water Fountain by Diane Belinfanti is a witty, insightful, and delightfully humorous collection of rhyming poems in which the poet thoroughly inhabits the daily routine, mindset, and tribulations of typical middle school students. Belinfanti leads the reader on a lighthearted tour through school hallways, social dynamics, embarrassing bodily functions, emotional highs and lows, the perils of romance, academic woes, unfair teachers, and much more. The verses are so much on target that the entire collection seems like a middle school student’s survival kit. There’s even an offering entirely in the text speak that tween-agers feel so much at home using! The “About the Author” section at the end reveals that Diane Belinfanti is both a mother and a teacher – only someone uniquely skilled at both could have written poems like these with such laser precision.

The humor in Don’t Drink from the Water Fountain is so perfectly targeted that this collection might afford that rarest of pleasures, a bonding moment between middle schoolers and caring adults! It might even serve as (gasp!) fodder for an actual student/adult conversation! The overall tone of the collection could be described as Shel Silverstein meets Ogden Nash – rarely do we find such a deliciously witty or wise collection of verse for young people. As students peruse these marvelous verses, they will learn many important lessons; for example: a) you are not the only one facing these challenges; b) a bit of humor helps a great deal; c) things are not as tragic as they seem; and d) it is possible for adults to understand, among other important messages. Brian Hardison puts the cherry on top with his beguiling pencil illustrations, which complement the text beautifully and aptly convey Diane Belinfanti’s richly layered sense of humor.

Dave B

Each poem paints an unforgettable word picture that hilariously transports one back to those teen years. There is some facet in these poems that anyone who passed through middle school can relate to.

A book lover

Funny, relevant and true to it's middle school aged audience!
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2023

It's such an awkward age but the author captures the feelings and thoughts of middle school aged kids. It's definitely something all middle school media centers should have in their library as it is something kids will enjoy reading. Even us older folks can remember and relate to the poems!

Mala Markowitz

If you know, you know!
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2024

Incredible book with the facts of surviving middle school! Perfectly written intended for the audience but also intriguing to me as a mother of a middle school child; this book speaks volumes in a humorous way so relatable to my 13 year old daughter. Thanks for sharing this true humor with us!