Jack Prelutsky

Jack Prelutsky is an American poet best known for his humorous and imaginative poetry for children, and for serving as the nation’s first Children’s Poet Laureate (now Young People’s Poet Laureate) for the Poetry Foundation from 2006 to 2008. Born on September 8, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York, he grew up in the Bronx and studied classical music before turning to writing; he later attended Hunter College in New York City and worked a variety of jobs, including truck driver, photographer, and folk singer, before establishing himself as a children’s poet. He lives in the Seattle, Washington area with his wife.

Prelutsky has written or edited dozens of books of children’s poetry, with sources variously crediting him with over 40–70 published poetry collections and children’s books. His works include original collections such as Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (1976), The Queen of Eene (1978), The Beauty of the Beast: Poems from the Animal Kingdom (1997), Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems (2006), Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face and Other Poems (2008), Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem (2008), *The Swamps of Sleethe: