A great way to introduce children to classical music.
America's first Children's Poet Laureate has written all-new verses to accompany the composer Camille Saint-Saens's "The Carnival of the Animals, " and the illustrator of the Harry Potter books has turned these rollicking rhymes into a picture-book fun fest. Included is a CD of the music and of Jack Prelutsky reading the verses. A note to parents and teachers by Judith Bachleitner, head of the music department at the prestigious Rudolf Steiner School in New York City, suggests ways preschoolers can act out the music--tromp like an elephant, hop like a kangaroo, glide like a swan--or, for older children, be creatively inspired by this joyful work.

A hilarious story about all the pupils and teachers at Diffendoofer School, written with all of Dr. Seuss’s classic trademark wit. Diffendoofer School isn’t your average school. With classes on yelling and smelling and teachers bouncing on trampolines, this brilliant tale highlights the importance of individuality and thinking for yourself! This splendid school-based story was the last storyline developed by Dr. Seuss shortly before his death in 1991. Brought to life in all its Seussian glory by poet Jack Prelutsky and illustrator Lane Smith, Hooray For Diffendoofer Day! contains the same humour and wit so evident across Dr. Seuss’s classic stories.

It's raining pigs and noodles, it's pouring frogs and hats, chrysanthemums and poodles, bananas, brooms, and cats.Assorted prunes and parrotsare dropping from the sky, here comes a bunch of carrots, some hippopotami.

The master of mischievous rhyme, Jack Prelutsky, and his partner in crime, James Stevenson, have whipped up a storm of more than one hundred hilarious poems and zany drawings. Grab your umbrella--and make sure it's a big one

It's time for turkey! The parade is about to start. The pumpkin pie is in the oven. The whole family is gathered around the table. And everybody wants to pull the wishbone! From Children's Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky comes a scrumptious helping of twelve Thanksgiving poems to enjoy every day of the year!

Have you ever tried to write a poem about a pizza? How about a pig? How about a pigeon, penguin, potato, Ping-Pong, parrot, puppy, pelican, porcupine, pie, pachyderm, or your parents?

Jack Prelutsky has written more than a thousand poems about all of these things--and many others. In this book he gives you the inside scoop on writing poetry and shows you how you can turn your own experiences and stories about your family, your pets, and your friends into poems. He offers tips, advice, and secrets about writing and provides some fun exercises to help you get started (or unstuck). You'll also get a behind-the-scenes look at the ingredients of some of his most popular poems. If you are a poet, want to be a poet, or if you have to write a poem for homework and you just need some help, this is the book for you

From acclaimed poet Jack Prelutsky and illustrator Yossi Abolafia, My Parents Think I'm Sleeping is the perfect book to get young readers excited about bedtime. This Level 3 I Can Read book is a funny collection of poems about a boy who should be sleeping, but manages to find more than just storybooks and his model rocket kit to keep him awake.From reading under the covers to watching shadows dance on the wall, these fourteen charming verses show that a child's life begins at bedtime!

A master of rhyme, Prelutsky creates a flurry of winter verse that's just right for ushering in the season of ice and snow. Lively, warm illustrations enhance these 16 delightful poems. Full color.

There's a new kid on the block, and boy, that kid is tough, that new kid punches hard, that new kid plays real rough, that new kid's big and strong, with muscles everywhere, that new kid tweaked my arm, that new kid pulled my hair.

Open this book to any page and begin your exploration. Here are more than 100 poems about things you may never have thought about before. Turn the pages and be introduced to jellyf ish stew, a bouncing mouse, a ridiculous dog, a boneless chicken, and the very unexpected new kid

I'm making a pizza the size of the sun, a pizza that's sure to weigh more than a ton, a pizza too massive to pick up and toss, a pizza resplendent with oceans of sauce.

I'm topping my pizza with mountains of cheese, with acres of peppers, pimentos, and peas, with mushrooms, tomatoes, and sausage galore, with every last olive they had at the store.

Here is a wondrously tasty--and always funny--collection of more than 100 poems for readers of every age. Meet Miss Misinformation and Gladiola Gloppe (andher Soup Shoppe), and delight in a backward poem, a poem that never ends, and scores of other poems to read and love. You won't stop smiling

An "excellent collection....Prelutsky and Sis...bring to life so many sorts of dragons: the large, the small, the ferocious, the technological, the gentle, the ominous, and the disconsolate. There's a `just right' quality to the verse that makes it a pleasure to read the words aloud. Their sounds fit together with seamless craftsmanship and their sense rewards listeners with humor, imagination, and occasional poignancy....Because it appeals on so many levels, this is one poetry book that won't siton the shelf for long."--Booklist.

Thirteen poems to spice up the holiday that ghouls and ghosts love most. "Prelutsky's Nightmares tamed for beginning readers. They're catchy at the most rudimentary level."--Kirkus Reviews.

Started by Seuss, finished by Jack Prelutsky, and splendiferously illustrated by Lane Smith, this is the children's book publishing event of the year! Big--56 pages--and bursting with energy, here is a joyous ode to individuality, starring an unsinkable teacher named Miss Bonkers and quirky little Diffendoofer School, which must prove it has taught its students how to think--or have them sent to dreary Flobbertown. Included is an introduction by Dr. Seuss's longtime editor explaining how the book came to be and reproducing Dr. Seuss's 1989 original pencil sketches and hand-printed notes for the book--a true find for all Seuss collectors. In Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith pay homage to Dr. Seuss in their own distinctive ways. The result is the union of three one-of-a-kind voices in a brand-new, completely original book that is greater than the sum of its parts. For all of us who will never forget our school days and that special teacher, here is a book to give and to get.  

"In an intriguing combination of fact with rollicking rhyme schemes and full-page portraits, the dinosaurs are rejuvenated once again to amuse and amaze their devoted fans....These poems are readable, quotable, and unforgettable....A wonderful book to savor--again and again."--Horn Book.

A lively new jacket by Marc Brown puts a fresh face on one of the first--and widely considered the best--poetry anthologies for preschoolers. "No one better recognizes the essence of the child-poetry connection than poet and anthologist Jack Prelutsky," writes Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook, in his introduction to this child-friendly collection of more than 200 poems by well-known contemporary poets. Each poem in this 112 page book is "exuberantly illustrated," wrote The New York Times Book Review. With subjects ranging from waking up to going to bed and everything in between, here is "a joyous anthology that [is] bound to develop an appreciation for poetry at a very young age."--School Library Journal

"A generous collection with a distinctly upbeat tone, this gives a taste of the best poets writing for children over the last several decades. Lobel's drawings imbue the whole with action and graphic images as inventive as the verse. Successfully geared to meet home, school, and library needs."--(starred) Booklist.  

One of the most important German poets of the nineteenth century, Heinrich Heine was a convert without conviction. He chose Christianity over Judaism as a means of securing an academic career, but when his conversion failed to yield the hoped-for job opportunities, he devoted himself to writing instead. This volume presents a new translation of Hebrew Melodies, the third cycle of poems in Heine's late masterwork, Romanzero, which many critics have interpreted as Heine's return to his Jewish roots. As Elisheva Carlebach explains in her foreword, Heine's "return to God" in his final years was motivated not by faith but by a deep admiration of the Jewish people-a sentiment that is clearly reflected in the poems that make up Hebrew Melodies. This edition presents the original German alongside new English translations by Stephen Mitchell, widely known for his ability to make old classics thrillingly new, and Jack Prelutsky, the author of more than fifty poetry collections for children and adults. Mark Podwal's illustrations beautifully portray the joyous, playful elements of Jewish tradition and hint at what Carlebach calls the "menacing edges of history's nightmares," echoing Heine's position as a poet "caught between worlds."

Prelutsky, America's first children's poet laureate, includes in this collection poems about the popular sports that kids play--team sports, individual sports, and even backyard frisbee tossing. Caldecott Medal Winner Raschka's stylized watercolors are a blaze of color and motion.

"Until this century, most children's poetry was either syrupy sweet or overblown and didactic, and tended to talk down to its readers. Contemporary children's poets have thrown all that condescension and moralizing out the window, and write with today's real child in mind."
- from the Introduction by Jack Prelutsky

Here in one gloriously illustrated volume are 211 wonderful poems that represent the best this century has to offer. From sibling rivalry, school, monsters, food, and just plain silliness, to such ageless themes as the seasons, Who am I?, and the many moods of childhood, this is a collection that begs to be read aloud and shared with the whole family. The poems, from every decade of this century, showcase 137 famous poets.

Selected by Jack Prelutsky, America's leading children's poet, and illustrated by award-winning watercolorist Meilo So, this useful and beautiful gift is a splendid way to end the century -- or start a new one. Truly a book that families will cherish long after the millennium excitement is over, The 20th-Century Children's Poetry Treasury is a joyous companion volume to the best-selling The 20th-Century Children's Book Treasury.