Jack Prelutsky is an American poet who has published over 50 children’s poetry collections. He had a hard time in high school, went on to study music and starred in a few musicals. Then he tried his hand at college, but flunked out and worked many odd jobs. In the meantime, he loved to draw and he send his drawings, together with some quickly written poems to a publisher, at the encouragement of a friend. The publisher’s were interested in the poems he had written in two hours and he as first published at age 24: A Gopher in the Garden and other Animal Poems. Besides writing his own poetry, he has also compiled numerous children’s anthologies with poems of others. He sets his poems to music on the audio versions of his own anthologies and he has won many awards in his career. His combined works have sold over a million copies and have been translated into many languages.
So let’s enjoy this book-themed poem of his right now:
I Met a Dragon Face to Face
By Jack Prelutsky
I met a dragon face to face
the year when I was ten,
I took a trip to outer space,
I braved a pirate’s den,
I wrestled with a wicked troll,
and fought a great white shark,
I trailed a rabbit down a hole,
I hunted for a snark.
I stowed aboard a submarine,
I opened magic doors,
I traveled in a time machine,
and searched for dinosaurs,
I climbed atop a giant’s head,
I found a pot of gold,
I did all this in books I read
when I was ten years old.
I found this poem by Jack Prelutsky by surfing the web randomly and I immediately fell in love with it. It’s an easy rhyme that really flows while reading it. I can imagine kids reading it so many times they know it by heart after a while. The straightforward words and flowing cadence really make this a pleasure to read. And I love the contents of course! All the adventures you live in books, especially when you’re young and really transported into their worlds as it boosts your imagination. Love it!
Happy reading,
Loes M.