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Biography | Awards | In the Classroom | Books | Bulletin
Board Jack PrelutskyBorn: September 8, 1940, in Brooklyn, NYGenres: Poetry, humor For bone-chilling fun this Halloween, give your students a treat-poetry by Jack Prelutsky! They'll be howling and asking for more! For years Jack Prelutsky's rich flights of imagination have been turning children into early lovers of poetry. His witty, tongue-in-cheek poems have tickled the most resistant funny bones, while his scarier verses have been know to raise the little hairs on the back of the neck. In Jack Prelutsky's world, children are allowed to be as illogical, messy, inventive, and creative as they want to be. He has received thousands of letters from children all over the U.S. and abroad. Here are some of his most asked questions. Where did you grow up? I was born on September 8, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York. I grew up in the Bronx in a working-class neighborhood made up Jewish, Irish, and Italian families. My father, mother, younger brother, and I lived in a six-story apartment house where everyone knew everyone else, just as in a small town. The older people sat on milk crates on the sidewalk and socialized, while the kids played stickball and other street games. What was your favorite book when you were a kid? It’s difficult to single out any one favorite boo, but among those I loved were Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton and the stories about Robin Hood and King Arthur. Another one I liked was The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Are you married? Do you have any children or pets? What do you do in your spare time? My wife’s name is Carolynn, and we’ve been married since 1979. We don’t have any children, and we’re temporarily between pets. We’ve owned a couple of dogs and have had several cats. I have many interests besides writing poetry. I enjoy photography, carpentry, and creating games, collages, and "found object" sculpture. Lately I’ve been teaching myself to draw and create multimedia on the computer. I also collect art, children’s poetry books, and frog miniatures. I studied classical music as a young man and still attend the opera and symphony whenever I get the chance. I also love to eat out! How did you become a writer? I’d always enjoyed playing with language, but I had no idea I would be a writer. I discovered writing as a career only by accident when I was about twenty-four years old. I had spent months drawing several imaginary animals, but one evening I decided to write a little poem to go with each drawing. A friend encouraged me to show the poems to an editor, and when I did, I was astonished to find that editor—Susan Hirschman—thought I had a talent for writing verse. Susan told me I was a natural poet and encouraged me to keep writing. She published my first book, and thirty years later she is still my editor. Where do you get your ideas? Everywhere! Everything I see or hear can become a poem. Several toys in my studio have turned into poems. I remember things that happened when I was a kid, like the day my new baby brother came home with my mother from the hospital. Or I write about things I like or don’t like. I love spaghetti and wrote a poem about it. What advice do you have for young writers? READ! READ! READ! and WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! Keep a notebook and write down things you see, hear, and think about. Ideas disappear quickly unless you jot them down. When you have an idea for a poem or a story, write down anything you can think of that has to do with that idea. Study your list, and you’ll start to see connections among certain items. If you are writing a poem, don’t force rhymes. It’s better to work on what you want to say and create a feeling for the poem than to try to make things just to make the poem rhyme.
If you could have three wishes, what would they be? I’d love to sing like Pavarotti, paint like Picasso, and dance like Fred Astaire. Unfortunately, I dance like Pavarotti, sing like Picasso, and paint like Fred Astaire.
Selection of Awards and Honors
In the ClassroomSome of Jack Prelutsky’s poetry is perfect for Halloween. For the younger crowd, ages 5 to 7, read aloud the poem Bugaboo or Gobbleup from his latest collection, The Gargoyle on the Roof. Ask your students to draw Bugaboo or Goobleup based on Prelutsky’s colorful descriptions. Then, have them create their own monster and write a short poem about it. For older students, ages 8-10, read aloud poems from The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight and Nightmares. Then, ask your students to write their own ghoulish poem. Create a Halloween bulletin board highlighting your students’ work.
BooklistHere is a selected list of the author’s published works. The Gargoyle on the Roof Illustrated by Peter Sis Greenwillow Books, ages 4-8 Whether readers prefer gargoyles, griffins, or gremlins, this one-of-a-kind collection of poetry and eerie paintings provides something for everyone to chant out loud, memorize—and shiver over! "Both poet and illustrator know, however, how to bevel the effects to make the chills a pleasure."—Kirkus Reviews The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight: More Poems to Trouble Your Sleep Illustrated by Arnold Lobel Greenwillow Books, ages 8-12 Ideal for Halloween haunting, meet 12 gruesome creatures—the Mummy, the Banshee, the Sorceress—in this tantalizing collection of bone-chilling fun. "In a companion volume to Nightmares, poet and artist again collaborate to elicit feelings of exquisite terror."—Horn Book Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep Illustrated by Arnold Lobel Greenwillow Books, ages 8-12 Jack Prelutsky and Anrold Lobel have captured the creatures that live in your nightmares at their most frightful acts. "A dozen original poems on the `horrifying' subjects (ghouls, vampires, skeletons, etc.) so dear to many young hearts....Your steel-nerved patrons will appreciate both poems and pictures."—School Library Journal Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! Illustrated by Lane Smith Alfred A. Knopf, all ages Started by Dr. Seuss, finished by Prelutsky, and illustrated by Lane Smith, Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! 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. "The Prelutsky voice is delightfully obvious, but he has blended whole slices of Seussian verse into his lines, while Smith has laced the crazy, deliciously colored artwork with cameos of characters and books that any of Dr. Seuss's fans will recognize."—Kirkus Reviews Monday’s Troll Illustrated by Peter Sis Greenwillow Books, ages 5 and up This collection of poetry captures the magical world of witches, trolls, wizards, giants, goblins, and a solitary yeti. "Jack Prelutsky is up to his usual hilarious no good in this new collection… Another treat for Prelutsky fans."—Horn Book A Pizza the Size of the Sun Illustrated by James Stevenson Greenwillow Books, ages 5 and up This wondrously rich, varied, clever—and always funny—collection of poems features a backwards poem, a poem that never ends, and many more filled with eccentric characters. "Once again Prelutsky demonstrates a robust appreciation of the absurd—and an uncanny knack for turning every possible subject on its head."—Publishers Weekly The Dragons Are Singing Tonight Illustrated by Peter Sis Greenwillow Books, all ages Dragons galore spring to life in these enchanting poems and paintings. "…this is one poetry book that won't sit on the shelf for long."—Booklist The New Kid on the Block Illustrated by James Stevenson Greenwillow Books, all ages More than 100 hilarious poems about strange creatures and people—from jellyfish stew and a bouncing mouse to Gloopy Gloopers and Baloney Belly Billy. "The illustrations bring a frivolity to a fever pitch."—School Library Journal Welcome to the Children's Literature Bulletin Board!Please share your activity and lesson plan ideas, or read about how other educators use Jerry Pinkney's books in their classrooms on our Author of the Month bulletin board. |
