This poem has a rather interesting history. After publishing my first book, The Aliens Have Landed at Our School!, my editor asked if I could write an entire collection of funny poems about school. I assured him that I could and set to work creating a new book. When I was done writing it, he... Read more »

I often feel that summer is the best of all seasons, especially when you’re in school for the rest of the year. In the summertime, you don’t usually have to go to school. Instead you can swim, play in the park, or even just stay home and play games instead of doing homework. I have... Read more »

From my book Revenge of the Lunch Ladies, this is either a story of a science experiment gone very, very wrong, or it is an elaborate excuse for not turning in your homework. Or possibly both. It is also a long way to go for a groaner of an ending, but I had so much... Read more »

About 150 years ago, an English children’s writer named William Brighty Rands wrote a poem called “Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore” about a boy who refused to ever shut the door and never listened to his parents until they built a sailboat and threatened to send him off to Singapore. In the early 1900s, another English... Read more »

My Toes and My NoseMy toes are found upon my feet.My nose is on my face.You might think this would meanthat each is in its perfect place.But if they were reversed, I thinkthey'd function just as well.My nose is always runningand my toes, they really smell. -- Kenn Nesbitt

About 20 years ago, I used to have a hot tub in the back yard. One cold, winter morning, I noticed that I had left the cover off of it the night before, and the water had probably gotten pretty cold. So I put my slippers on and headed out the back door to replace... Read more »

This poem was a lot of fun for me to write because nearly every line can be taken either literally or figuratively. To say “My hair sticks up for me” may be literally true because my hair may be actually sticking up on top of my head. But if I were to understand it figuratively,... Read more »

In 2013, I was named the Children’s Poet Laureate. Awarded by the Poetry Foundation every two years, and now called the Young People’s Poet Laureate, the aim of this award is to raise awareness that young people have a natural receptivity to poetry and are its most appreciative audience, especially when poems are written specifically... Read more »

I love the sound of language. I especially love funny words. In fact, I once wrote an entire poem called My Favorite Words to list all of the words in English that I think sound funny, including words like “fuddy-duddy” and “nincompoop.” But you can also make up funny sounding words. In fact, I wrote... Read more »

I love “narrative” poems, poems that tell a story. I love poems with crazy characters and “tall tales,” poems that are so exaggerated they are completely impossible. And I love “cautionary tales,” funny stories about characters who meet an unpleasant fate because they did something they shouldn’t have. Nathaniel Naste is the story of a... Read more »