Kenn Nesbitt, former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate, is celebrated for blending humor and heart in his poetry for children. Known for books such as "My Cat Knows Karate" and "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies," he captivates young readers globally.
It’s famously said about writing that you should “write what you know.” Unfortunately, this can mean a lot of different things, and can be easily misunderstood. For example, you might think it means to only write about things you have actually experienced. But that would be like saying you can’t write about someone driving a car if you’ve never driven a car yourself. Obviously that doesn’t make sense.
So instead of telling kids to “write what you know,” I like to say that “the easiest thing to write about is your favorite thing,” because that is what you know the most about. If you love playing video games, you probably know a lot about them. If your favorite thing happens to be karate, or soccer, or pizza, you probably know a lot about that.
This doesn’t mean that your favorite thing is the only thing you should write about, but if you are ever stuck for an idea, just ask yourself what you like and then write a poem about it.
In fact, if you have a lot of things you like, you can even make a simple list poem of all of your favorite things. Here’s how.
“I Taught My Cat to Clean My Room” from the book My Hippo Has the Hiccups> is the first animated video I created on my own. I hope you enjoy it. I’m looking forward to creating more in the months to come.
There have been many times that I have been writing a poem and needed a list of animal names that rhymed with one another. To make it easier, I have collected the following list of rhyming animal names. Feel free to use these in your own animal poems.
It has happened more than once that I have needed to rhyme various parts of human or animal anatomy – body parts – in a poem. Here is the list that I refer to when I need it. I hope you find it useful as well.
Often when writing a poem, I find it’s handy to have a list of first names that rhyme with one another. Here are some common first names that rhyme that you could use in your own poems:
Aaron / Erin / Karen / Sharon
Adele / Belle / Darnell / Danielle / Giselle / Manuel / Marcel / Michelle / Miguel / Nell / Rachelle / Raquel
Andy / Brandy / Mandy / Randy / Sandy
Ann / Cheyenne / Dan / Fran / Jan / Luann / Nan / Roseann / Stan
Anna / Brianna / Hannah / Savanna
Annie / Danny / Fanny / Frannie / Manny
Bailey / Haley / Kaylie
Barry / Gary / Harry / Jerry / Keri / Larry / Mary / Perry / Sheri / Terri
Belinda / Linda / Lucinda / Melinda
Ben / Glenn / Gwen / Jen / Ken / Len
Benny / Denny / Jenny / Kenny / Lenny / Penny
Bernise / Clarice / Denise / Elise / Luis / Maurice / Reese
Bert / Kurt
Bill / Jill / Phil / Will
Billy / Lily / Millie / Willy
Bo / Flo / Joe / Moe
Bob / Rob
Bobby / Robbie
Bonnie / Connie / Donny / Johnny / Lonnie / Ronnie / Tawny
If you ever find yourself writing a poem that involves food, especially a list poem, you may find it helpful to have a list of foods that rhyme with one another. Here are some common ones that you could use:
While a rhyming dictionary is always a handy tool to have when writing poems, sometimes it’s also helpful to have lists of rhyming words that are all in the same category. These rhyming word lists focus on common categories to help you write poems more quickly and easily.
For example, if you are writing a poem that involves sports, it might be helpful to rhyme kickball with stickball or biking with hiking. If you were writing a poem about foods, you might want to rhyme beans with greens, sardines, or nectarines. And a poem about geographical locations might rhyme Alaska with Nebraska, Austin with Boston, or Bulgaria with Bavaria.
Here are a few rhyming word lists that I have created. I hope you will find them useful in your own poetry.
MORE BEARS! was written to be read (and yelled!) out loud. This delightfully silly, personalized story will have your child calling out “More Bears!” within the first few pages. What’s even more exciting is that your son or daughter’s photo and name will appear throughout the ENTIRE story! This interactive book will have your kid eager for reading as well as for “More Bears!” Put Me In The Story allows you to quickly create your own personalized book with your child’s name, photo, and a personal dedication page.
Click here to tour the book and see what it will look like with your child’s photo and name incorporated into the story.
