Category: News

New Book: The Elephant Repairman

The Elephant Repairman by Kenn Nesbitt

If your elephant is broken
and she needs a quick repair,
call the elephant repairman
and he’ll instantly be there…

Hi friends and readers! I’m very excited to tell you that my newest book, The Elephant Repairman, will be coming out next month in both hardcover and ebook editions.

Like my previous books The Armpit of Doom, The Biggest Burp Ever, My Cat Knows Karate, and My Dog Likes to Disco, The Elephant Repairman contains 70 hilarious new poems. This laugh-out-loud collection includes poems about tyrannosaurus teachers, cats on computers, supersonic sloths, preposterous pirates, and much, much more.

Along with 50 wacky illustrations by Rafael Domingos, The Elephant Repairman contains many of the most popular poems I have ever written, including “Computer Cat,” “Our Magic Toilet,” “AstroCow,” “Please Don’t Prank Your Parents,” and many others.

Order your ebook copy now! The Kindle Edition of The Elephant Repairman is available for pre-order now from Amazon.com. The hardcover edition will be available to purchase on September 13, 2022.

I promise you’re going to love this book. But don’t just take my word for it. Read what others are already saying about The Elephant Repairman, or download a free sample PDF here.

REVIEWS

The Elephant Repairman has a poem for every reader, just waiting to be discovered. If you want to offer your favorite child some smart fun, don’t hesitate to buy any of Kenn’s books. This one is a stellar place to start!
(Children’s Writer Kelly Milner Halls, author of Tales of the Cryptids, Cryptid Creatures: A Field Guide, In Search of Sasquatch, Alien Investigation, Ghostly Evidence and more.)

A wonderfully witty collection of zappy, zany poem – I enjoyed it immensely, and you will too!
(Joshua Seigal, author of I Bet I Can Make You Laugh)

Kenn Nesbitt is the world’s funniest children’s poet, and The Elephant Repairman is his funniest book yet. Every poem in the book is hilarious, and their fabulous rhymes and rollicking rhythms make them a joy to read out loud.
(Robert Schechter, children’s poet and author of The Red Ear Blows Its Nose)

New Poetic Technique Category – Superlatives

Poetic Technique Superlatives

As I was writing a new poem today, about the hottest food ever, I realized that “hottest” is a superlative. Superlatives are a form of adjective or adverb used to describe the highest or greatest degree of comparison. For example, small is an adjective that describes the size of something. Smaller is the “comparative degree,” meaning it is more small than the first item being described. And smallest is the superlative degree, meaning it is the most small.

Most superlatives in English follow the convention of adding -er for the comparative and -est for the superlative, such as fast, faster, fastest. But there are exceptions that don’t follow this rule, such as good, better, best, or bad, worse, worst.

There are other exceptions where you simply add the word more or most before the word. These are usually with adjectives/adverbs that are at least three syllables long. For example, to compare various degrees of beauty, would not say beautiful, beautifuler, beautifulest. Instead, you would use beautiful, more beautiful, and most beautiful.

I thought it might be useful for teachers and students if I could easily provide a list of all of my poems that contain superlatives, including strangest, tastiest, richest, fastest, and so on. So here it is!

If you would like a little challenge, read some of the poems on the Poetic Device: Superlatives page and see if you can locate the superlative (or superlatives) in each poem. Just remember: Some will end in -est, some won’t (like worst) and some will use the word most (like most famous) to form the superlative.

And if you would like to find poems that use other poetic techniques, such as alliteration, onomatopoeia, etc., simply visit the Poems by Poetic Technique page for a list of many of the different literary devices I use in my poems.

Have fun!

Poetry4kids Memberships

Kenn Nesbitt Poetry4kids Memberships

Dear Reader,

Poetry4kids turned 25 this year! Over the past two and a half decades I have worked on Poetry4kids nearly every day, and it has become the most visited children’s poetry website on the Internet, thanks to you. Because of you, I am able to earn a living as a working poet and help improve childhood literacy around the world.

Running a website with more than 2 million visitors and 15 million views each year is, sadly, quite expensive. For years I have covered the costs by including advertising on the site. This is not an ideal solution, but a necessary one.

However, I now have what I think is a better solution that will remove the advertising for you and give you a number of additional benefits: Poetry4kids Memberships.

In a nutshell, for a small, monthly subscription fee, you can become a member of Poetry4kids and enjoy all of the following rewards:

Reader Level – $5/month

  • Support my mission to help kids have fun while improving their reading and writing skills
  • Ad-free access to poetry4kids.com
  • Two free ebooks: The Armpit of Doom and The Biggest Burp Ever
  • Access to all poems on the website (more than 800 to date), organized by book
  • Early access to new YouTube videos, including poems and writing lessons
  • Direct message me any time through the Buy Me a Coffee app
  • Connect with me via a members-only email address

Poetry Lover – $10/month

If you really love poetry, please consider the Poetry Lover level to receive the following rewards…

Super Member – $20/month

Super Members help me to focus on creating the best poetry experience for young readers. Super Members get…

  • All the benefits of the Poetry Lover and Reader levels, plus…
  • One free online author visit for your class each school year. (A US$300 value.)
  • Free and early access to all future ebooks and audiobooks
  • This level of support helps me create new animated videos and fully-produced audiobooks

For those of you who are interested in virtual author visits, memberships are the least expensive way to bring me to your school. At the Poetry Lover level, you and your class can join my members-only online poetry sessions every month of the school year. And at the Super Member level, you can schedule an online author visit just for your class or school every year.

To become a member of Poetry4kids, simply visit my Buy Me a Coffee page and click on the Join button for your selected level.

Thank you for your support. I look forward to the next 25 years of Poetry4kids with a vibrant community of teachers, librarians, parents, and other fans of poetry for kids!

— Kenn Nesbitt

Help Support Poetry4kids

Interactive Livestreams for 2021-22

Kenn Nesbitt Online Virtual School Author Visit Zoom Meet Skype Teams

Throughout the school year, I visit many, many schools around the world virtually through Zoom, Meet, Teams, Skype, etc. In other words, I can visit your class or your school online whenever it’s convenient for you, for a fee.

However, if your class or school would like to visit with me, but you don’t have a budget for virtual field trips, I also provide webinars in conjunction with Streamable Learning, the leading provider of interactive livestreams in the K-12 market in the US and Canada. Through quality educational content and an easy-to-use platform, Streamable Learning aims to in introduce interactive livestreams as a valuable supplemental tool for classrooms and families seeking to inspire and educate their K-12 students.

During the 2021-22 school year, I will be doing more than a dozen online webinars, including interactive poetry-writing lessons, holiday poetry sessions, and programs on famous children’s poets from Dr. Seuss to Shel Silverstein. Schools are invited to join any of these sessions for free as my guest.

Streamable Learning and Zoom

Streamable Learning LivestreamStreamable Learning offers a convenient, cost-effective, and comprehensive calendar of interactive livestreams delivered by subject matter experts and designed to supplement your existing and future lesson plans. To discover hundreds of engaging, educational programs, have a look a their Livestream Calendar.

I have been offering interactive poetry livestreams through Streamable Learning for several years now, and I hope you’ll be able to join me this year. You can register and participate in as many of these upcoming sessions as you like.

If you would like to attend one of my programs, please see the list of registration links shown below. When you click on the link, you will need to fill out just a few items and once you have finished the form, you will then receive an email with the livestream link. If you do not, please check your spam folder. It is possible that the livestream link will end up there. To join the program, you will need to download the Zoom app. You can download this free app at www.zoom.us/download and click on “Zoom Client for Meetings.” If you have any difficulty, contact efriedman@streamablelearning.com.

2021-22 Livestream Schedule

September 24, 2021

January 19, 2022

February 14, 2022

March 2, 2022

March 15, 2022

April 4, 2022

If you would prefer to arrange a private interactive videoconference for your class or school only, simply click here to schedule an online author visit. I look forward to seeing your students online!

Important Announcement about the Future of Poetry4kids

Poetry for Goats by Kenn Nesbitt

Dear Reader,

Recently, many of you have correctly pointed out to me that a “kid” is technically a baby goat and not a young human. As a writer, I feel it is important to be as accurate as possible with language. In addition, it has come to my attention that while there are plenty of books of poetry for cats, dogs, and the like, the baby goat community has been severely underserved by the world’s poets.

Therefore, I have decided that, beginning next week, Poetry4kids will be devoted exclusively to poetry for baby goats. It is my intention to correct the aforementioned oversights with new poems written especially for “kids” every week. These will range from humorous tales about young goats eating things they shouldn’t to lessons about the importance of avoiding wolves.

I know this may come as a big surprise to those of you who have enjoyed reading the poetry for young humans on this website. Let me assure you, while poetry4kids will only have poems for baby goats from now on, the poems for young humans will still be available for you to read on a brand new site called Poetry4YoungHumans. Please click on the logo below for a sneak peak of poetry4younghumans.com.

Thank you for your understanding. I look forward to writing many new poems for baby goats to enjoy in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Kenn Nesbitt, goat poet

New Book: My Dog Likes to Disco!

My Dog Likes to Disco by Kenn Nesbitt

My dog likes to disco
on TikTok for fun.
He’d rather start dancing
than go for a run…

Hi friends and readers! I have spent the past three years working on this, and I can finally tell you… I have a brand new book coming out next week, and it’s going to be called My Dog Likes to Disco!

Like my previous books The Armpit of Doom, The Biggest Burp Ever, and My Cat Knows Karate, My Dog Likes to Disco contains 70 new funny poems about disco-dancing dogs, invisible kids, misbehaving phones, preposterous people, and much, much more.

Along with 50 wacky illustrations by Rafael Domingos, this new book includes many of the most popular poems I have ever written, including “I Made a Meme this Morning,” “My Flat Cat,” and “Our Dog’s Name is Roomba.”

The Kindle Edition of My Dog Likes to Disco is available for pre-order from Amazon now. The hardcover edition will be available to purchase on March 30, 2021.

Enjoy!

Interactive LiveStreams for 2020-21

Kenn Nesbitt Online Author VisitFor several years now I have been doing live, interactive webinars in conjunction with Streamable Learning, the leading provider of interactive livestreams in the K-12 market in the US and Canada. Through quality educational content and an easy-to-use platform, Streamable Learning aims to in introduce interactive livestreams as a valuable supplemental tool for classrooms and families seeking to inspire and educate their K-12 students.

During the 2020-21 school year, I will be providing 27 online webinars, including interactive poetry-writing lessons, holiday poetry sessions, and programs on famous children’s poets from Dr. Seuss to Shel Silverstein. Schools are invited to join any of these sessions as my guest.

Streamable Learning and Zoom

Streamable Learning LivestreamIf you haven’t yet used Zoom, I think you’re going to love it. Zoom is a free videoconferencing program similar to Skype, but with clearer, more reliable audio and video.

Streamable Learning offers a convenient, cost-effective, and comprehensive calendar of interactive livestreams delivered by subject matter experts and designed to supplement your existing and future lesson plans. To discover hundreds of engaging, educational programs, have a look a their Livestream Calendar.

I have been offering interactive poetry livestreams through Streamable Learning for several years now, and I hope you’ll be able to join me this year. You can register and participate in as many of these upcoming sessions as you like.

If you would like to attend one of my programs, please see the list of registration links shown below. When you click on the link, you will need to fill out just a few items and once you have finished the form, you will then receive an email with the livestream link. If you do not, please check your spam folder. It is possible that the livestream link will end up there. To join the program, you will need to download the Zoom app. You can download this free app at www.zoom.us/download and click on “Zoom Client for Meetings.” If you have any difficulty, contact efriedman@streamablelearning.com.

2020-21 Livestream Schedule

September 15, 2020

September 17, 2020

October 27, 2020

October 28, 2020

October 29, 2020

November 17, 2020

November 19, 2020

December 21, 2020

December 22, 2020

January 19, 2021

January 21, 2021

February 8, 2021

February 9, 2021

February 12, 2021

March 2, 2021

March 4, 2021

April 6, 2021

April 13, 2021

May 11, 2021

May 13, 2021

June 4, 2021

If you would prefer to arrange a private interactive videoconference for your class or school only, simply click here to schedule an online author visit. I look forward to seeing your students online!

How to Write an Opposite Day Poem

Opposite Day poem writing lesson for kids

If you’re ever bored and feel like you need a change of pace, it’s time to declare that it’s “Opposite Day,” a day to do things the opposite of the way you normally would.

Put your clothes on backward, walk in reverse, or claim that candy tastes awful. Try walking on your hands or writing with your feet. Have a staring contest with your eyes closed. You get the idea.

You can also try writing an Opposite Day poem. Start by stating that today is Opposite Day with a few lines, like this:

It’s Opposite Day!
It’s Opposite Day!
The day to do things
in the opposite way.

An Opposite Day poem is a kind of list poem. In other words, the middle of the poem is a list of everything you do differently from normal days. So, think of as many backward, reverse, and opposite things as possible and write them down. You don’t have to rhyme them, but it’s fun to try. Here are a few examples I thought of:

I write with my foot and
I kick with my hand.
I stare with my eyes closed.
I sit down to stand.

I drink from a plate and
I eat from a cup.
I climb into bed when
it’s time to wake up.

What other kinds of things can you do in the opposite way? Could you frown when you’re happy and smile when you’re sad? Wear your shoes on your head and your hat on your feet? Sit still on the swings and go up the slide instead of down?

Think of as many opposite things as possible and soon you’ll have a nice long list for your poem. Then all you need is an ending. I recommend something funny, like this:

I stand still for dancing.
When running, I crawl.
So please understand:
I don’t like you at all.

Or how about an ending like this one?

It’s Opposite Day!
Oh, wait, that’s not right.
I think we should change it
to Opposite Night!

If you like, feel free to use the beginning and one of the endings that I wrote, and then make your own list in the middle.

When you’re done writing your Opposite Day poem, be sure not to share it with me. I would hate to read it. ;-)

How to Write a Sonnet

A Poetry-Writing Lesson for Kids

William Shakespeare

The sonnet is one of the most common traditional poetic forms. They have been written for hundreds of years with some of the most well-known sonnets written by William Shakespeare.

Though the sonnet was originally created in Italy, with the earliest sonnets written in Italian, they have been written in English, French, Dutch, German, and many other languages as well.

In the English language, there are two main kinds of sonnets: the “English” (or “Shakespearean”) sonnet and the “Spenserian” sonnet, named after the poet Edmund Spenser.

In this lesson, you will learn how to write an English sonnet because this is the most common type of sonnet.

The Rules of the Sonnet

In poetry, a “form” is a set of rules describing how to write that kind of poem. English sonnets have these rules:

  • They are fourteen lines long.
  • The fourteen lines are divided into three groups, or “stanzas,” of four lines each, followed by a final two-line “couplet.” (A four-line stanza is also known as a “quatrain.” A couplet is two lines together that rhyme.)
  • Each of the fourteen lines is ten syllables long.

In addition to the number of lines, and the number of syllables per line, sonnets also have a special rhyme scheme:

  • Each of the three stanzas has an ABAB rhyme scheme. This means that the first and third lines of each stanza rhyme with each other, and the second and fourth lines rhyme with each other.
  • The final couplet has an AA rhyme scheme, meaning that those two lines rhyme with one another.

Lastly, the first line of a sonnet should state the “theme.” In other words, it should say what the sonnet is about. And the final couplet should give the reader a “conclusion” or ending to the poem.

Because of all these rules, sonnets can be more challenging to write than shorter, simpler poetic forms such as haiku, diamantes, or cinquains. But it can also be more rewarding to know that you can write a poem like Shakespeare did.

Getting Started

The first thing you need to do to write a sonnet is figure out what you want to write about. You can write a sonnet about anything, but it’s easiest to write about something you know. Since you now know all the rules for writing a sonnet, why not write a sonnet about that? Here’s an example:

My Teacher Said to Write a Sonnet Now

My teacher said to write a sonnet now.
She told me, “It should be a work of art.”
I’d like to but I’m really not sure how.
I wish someone would show me where to start.

I heard the rhymes should be ABAB,
which means I can’t rhyme every single word.
The second and the fourth lines rhyme, you see.
And you should rhyme the first line with the third.

The first three stanzas all have four lines each.
The final couplet? That has only two.
A sonnet’s not an easy thing to teach.
I guess that’s what this poem aims to do.

It seems that starting was the hardest part.
I hope the teacher likes my work of art.

Another good thing to write a sonnet about is something you like. For example, I like my dog, so I thought I’d write a sonnet about him. However, since I also like funny poems, I decided to make up a funny – not true – story about him. Here it is:

My Dog Is Not the Smartest Dog Alive

My dog is not the smartest dog alive.
He says that submarines know how to dance.
He seems to think that two plus two is five.
He’s sure Japan’s the capital of France.

My dog declares that tigers grow on trees.
He tells me that he’s twenty-nine feet tall.
He argues only antelopes eat cheese,
then adds that ants are good at basketball.

He swears the sun is made of candy bars.
It seems to me my dog is pretty dense.
He says he’s seen bananas play guitars.
He talks a lot but doesn’t make much sense.

Although I love my dog with all my heart,
I have to say, he isn’t very smart.

Your Turn

Now that you know how to write a sonnet, why not give it a try yourself? Write one about your favorite game or pet or food, about your friends or family, or even about how hard it is to write a sonnet. And, most importantly, have fun!

Worksheet

A New Book for Beginning Readers – Pup and Duck: Let’s Play Ball

Pup and Duck: Let's Play Ball by Kenn Nesbitt

I’ve been keeping this under wraps for quite a while now, but I’m excited to let you know that have a brand-new book out!

Pup and Duck: Let’s Play Ball is my first book for beginning readers. It’s a story of two friends who can’t agree on which game they should play. Pup wants to play ball, while his best friend Duck would prefer a nice game of chess. Rather than let an argument ruin their friendship, Pup and Duck find a way to come together that makes them both happy.

With delightful crayon and watercolor illustrations by Rafael Domingos, this charming tale of friendship, disagreements, and problem-solving will teach young readers about the importance of communication and compromise as they are learning to read.

I am hoping this book will be the first in a series of books for new readers. After you and your young ones read it, please take a moment to let me know what you think.

Pup and Duck: Let’s Play Ball is available in a full-color paperback edition wherever books are sold, as well as a Kindle eBook edition.