Jack Prelutsky is a widely known poet; his poetry is celebrated by many as a vivid part of children’s literature. I recently had the privilege of Interviewing Mr. Prelutsky for Kids Scoop. When I asked, “How are you?” he replied, “Getting older and uglier, how about you?”

Mr. Prelutsky started his career in his early twenties. “I tried all the arts: potting, painting, sculpting, drawing …” Once while drawing pictures Mr. Prelutsky wrote poems to go with them. “I took them to my editor and she told me they were good poems but the pictures were horrible.” She encouraged him to continue writing poems.

Prelutsky continued to write poems for a living and he won Children’s Poet Laureate of the USA. “I was quite excited”, said Mr. Prelutsky, “I was never writing to win an award.” As Children’s Poet Laureate he held a contest for teachers teaching poetry and used some of his prize money as the prize.

Jack Prelutsky mostly works at a home office in Washington state. He has no formula for writing because each poem is different. “How does a chef know when a dish is done?” he asked, “He smells it, he hears, he tastes, but mostly he feels it. That is how you know when a poem is done - feeling it.”

Most of Mr. Prelutsky’s poems are self-portraits or portraits of people he knows. Rolling Harvey Down the Hill is about his childhood. He also wrote a poem about his mother’s singing, “Euphonica Jarre”.

His favorite books are: Gopher in the Garden because it was the first book he ever wrote; Nightmares - his first book of scary poems (just in time for Halloween); and The New Kid on the Block - his first book of over 100 poems. Other books he has written include: My Dog May be a Genius, A Pizza the Size of the Sun, Scranimals and many, many, many more! He likes to play word games and do crossword puzzles. He’s also working on new projects including poetry books, and an opera.

While all of Mr. Prelutsky’s poems are fun to read, some have a deeper meaning. Which poems? You’ll have to read them to find out!