National Poetry Month is almost upon us, and what better way to celebrate than with 30 new, previously unpublished poems from 30 children's poets? Last year's 30 Poets/30 Days was such a success, that blogger and poet Greg Pincus has once again gotten together some of the most talented children's poets writing today for the April 2010 edition.

Each day throughout the month of April, on his blog, Gottabook, Greg will post a brand new poem from a well-known children's poet.

This year's list of poets includes: Francisco X. Alarcon, Kathi Appelt, Jorge Argueta, Brod Bagert, Carmen Bernier-Grand, Calef Brown, Joseph Bruchac, James Carter, Kurt Cyrus, Graham Denton, Ralph Fletcher, David L. Harrison, Georgia Heard, Alan Katz, Bobbi Katz, Arthur A. Levine, George Ella Lyon, Heidi Mordhorst, Walter Dean Myers, Laura Purdie Salas, Liz Garton Scanlon, Alice Schertle, Charles R. Smith Jr., Eileen Spinelli, Susan Marie Swanson, Charles Waters, Carole Boston Weatherford, Jacqueline Woodson, and Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

So mark your calendars for April -- every day in April -- and drop by Gottabook to see what wondrous words await.

Oh, and thank you, Greg, for dreaming up and organizing such a monumental project!

My son, Max, decided to write a poem for his school talent show. Here's what he came up with. I guess he must have learned what he knows about poetry from me. Though his poem is a bit grosser than mine, I hope you enjoy it.

TIME for Kids announces the winners of its poetry contest. Congratulations to the Grand Prize Winner who will receive an online author visit from me, and to the five Finalists, who will each receive an autographed copy of My Hippo Has the Hiccups. Here's what TIME for Kids had to say:

"We asked for silly, rhyming poems and more than a thousand kids across the country answered. The judge of TIME For Kids' Poetry Contest, Kenn Nesbitt, read poems on topics ranging from a sax-playing piece of cheese to homework that grows legs and runs away."

Click here to read the rest of the story.

I got a kick out of today's "Sherman's Lagoon" comic strip. I hope you enjoy it too.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the TIME for Kids Poetry Writing Contest has ended. It's hard to say exactly how many poems were submitted, because many teachers submitted poems from each of their students. At this point I'm guessing that there may be as many as a thousand submissions. Wow!

I am thrilled that so many kids took the time to write and submit poems for the contest, and I will be reading all of the submissions over the weekend to try to pick the winners by early next week. The Grand Prize Winner and four Finalists will be announced next week on timeforkids.com.

I mentioned earlier in the month that, on his blog Gottabook, Greg Pincus is posting a new, original, previously unpublished poem from each of 30 different children's poets this month -- one per day -- for National Poetry Month. Today he posted my newest poem. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

Click here to read My Chicken's On the Internet.

I love the daily comic strip "Get Fuzzy," but the last couple of days were so perfect, I just had to post them here.

Wow! Check out this amazing animation created by James Weir to illustrate my poem "I'm Not Afraid of the Dark." Great job, James! Thanks!

Funny kid's poet Robert Pottle has got a brand new website called Frame It or Flame It at www.lolpoetry.com. On Frame It or Flame It, you can read lots of funny poems and rate them to vote for the ones you like the best (or flame the ones you don't like).

Robert Pottle's poems have appeared in many popular anthologies of funny children's poetry, and several collections of his verse. You're sure to have a fun time at Frame It or Flame It, and the website is updated frequently, so be sure to check back often!

(FeatureSource) Your kids may need more than pencils and paper this school year. A hearty laugh will help them start the year off right. In the following poem, best-selling children's poet Bruce Lansky shares a secret with his readers: teachers are not unlike their students.

Copyright © 2002 Bruce Lansky. Reprinted from My Dog Ate My Homework with permission from Meadowbrook Press.