Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem [Paperback]

Jack Prelutsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 2008 | Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

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!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3–6—In this engaging book, the popular and prolific Prelutsky relates personal anecdotes and then shows how he created poems from them, in most cases by using comic exaggeration to suit his artistic purposes. Some are from his childhood, like "My Mother Says I'm Sickening," which grew out of playing with his food at the dinner table. ("My mother says I'm sickening/My mother says I'm crude/She says this when she sees me/Playing Ping-Pong with my food.") Others are more recent. Something as simple as buying a banana from a street vendor led to "I'm Building a Bridge of Bananas." Also included are plenty of writing tips, with practical, lively suggestions ideal for the target age group. Prelutsky repeatedly advises readers to keep a notebook and write down every idea, to give ideas time to percolate, to rewrite, and to have fun. Even when defining poetic terms, he is humorous and conversational: "Poetic license is my favorite license," he claims, before going on to offer a simple and understandable definition. The book concludes with a list of "Poemstarts to Get You Started." A good addition for public, school, and classroom libraries.—Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Along with easy-to-follow tips for creating verse, haiku, and concrete poetry, the reigning Children’s Poet Laureate offers insights into his own thought processes (“Different foods behave in different ways when you squeeze them.”), glimpses of his childhood, and personal anecdotes. Appropriately, his brief closing glossary of poet’s tools includes entries for poetic license, pun, and irony. To get the creative juices flowing in budding versifiers, Prelutsky tucks in more than a dozen examples from his own work, plus 10 two-and-part-of-a-third-line “poemstarts.” Although Ralph J. Fletcher’s Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out (2002) is a more wide-ranging guide to poetic techniques and forms, Prelutsky’s amiable primer will be more appealing to less-motivated audiences; it will not only entice them into making poetry but also leave them better able to appreciate rhyme and wordplay in general. Grades 4-6. --John Peters

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books (February 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061434485
• ISBN-13: 978-0061434488
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Writing > Poetry
  • #23 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Reference & Nonfiction > Language Arts > Composition & Creative Writing
  • #28 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Literature > Poetry > Humorous

More About the Author

Jack Prelutsky has filled more than fifty books of verse with his inventive wordplay, including the national bestsellers The Wizard, Scranimals, and The New Kid on the Block. He is also the author of Be Glad Your Nose is on your Face, a collection of his most celebrated verses. He was named the nation's first Children's Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. Jack Prelutsky lives in Washington State.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for elementary school children, October 17, 2008

By 

Donald M. Bishop (Nashville) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem (Paperback)

We left "Pizza, Pigs and Poetry" lying out in the open for our three granddaughters(ages 9, 11 & 13)to discover--which they did. Within a day or so, they were writing their own short poems--much of it very good. We made no effort to teach them nor did we encourage them. They received all the needed encouragement and help from the book. Within a short time, the poems got longer and better--more substantive, more perceptive. I suspect that the most important aspect of the book is getting the child over the fear of writing. It helps them feel comfortable about expressing themselves.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars poetry, poetry, poetry!, March 22, 2008

By 

S. Stocking "flutemusic" (CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem (Hardcover)

Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem

This new Prelutsky book is absolutely fabulous! Every year I engage my middle school students in creating an extensive "Poetry Package" as one of their major projects for the year, so this book has been a GREAT resource! THANK YOU, Jack Prelutsky! THANK YOU, Amazon.com!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun for adults, too!, June 7, 2009

By 

Patricia G. Saunders "pats1403" (Kyle, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem (Paperback)

Prelutsky hits the funny bone right on again. This collection is as full of fun and musings to tickle the fancy as any of the others this award-winning poet has written. Few other poets today will take the time to show children how to write for fun and give them examples that will make sense to them. The bonus is that it is equally helpful to aspiring adult-poets as well. Delightful to see someone having a good time with what is too often taught in a strait-laced manner.