In honor of National Poetry Month (April), and to celebrate the release of my new book, The Tighty-Whitey Spider, my book My Hippo Has the Hiccups is available as a free eBook.

Now through April, you can read the entire book -- including all of Ethan Long's wonderfully whimsical illustrations -- online, absolutely free. Just click on the book cover on the left and start reading!

I hope you have as much fun reading My Hippo Has the Hiccups as I had writing it. If you enjoy it as much as I think you will, please be sure to tell your friends so they can get in on the fun too. Happy reading!

My family didn't really go fishing, but the fabulous fifth graders in Mrs. Panek's class at East Elementary in West Seneca, NY wrote this poem today, with a little help from me.

My Family Went Fishing

This morning my family went fishing.
My sister fell right in the lake.
My fishing pole caught on her undies.
I swear it was just a mistake.

My sister was screaming and squirming.
She let out a shriek and a howl.
She climbed in the boat looking angry,
and begged me to give her a towel.

I had to say "sorry" to sister,
because I was forced by my mother.
But, still, it was so flippin' funny,
I'll do the same thing to my brother.

Thanks, Mrs. Panek, for letting me come and write with your students!

Once again, TIME for Kids is hosting a poetry-writing contest for kids where you can show off your funny poetry-writing skills and possibly even win a cool prize!

Just like last year, I will be the judge. Grand prize winner will get a free autographed copy of my newest book, The Tighty-Whitey Spider: And More Wacky Animal Poems I Totally Made Up and a free online author visit to your class. Each of four finalists will win a free autographed copy of The Tighty-Whitey Spider.

For complete rules and to enter your poem in this year's contest, click here to visit TIME for Kids website.

Poetry4kids.com now has a new online store where you can purchase t-shirts, mugs, hats, and other products with your favorite Kenn Nesbitt book covers, illustrations, and more.

In addition, the store also has an MP3 player where you can hear samples of songs co-written by Kenn Nesbitt and performed by children's musician Eric Herman.

You'll find the store on our website at http://www.poetry4kids.com/store. Although there are just a few products on the store to start, I will be adding new products as time goes on (and as I publish new books). If you don't see what you are looking for, please drop me a line and let me know what you would like to see in the store.

At long last, you can now read Poetry4kids.com on your mobile browser. Poetry4kids now has a mobile edition that is optimized for cell phone browsers so you can read funny poems no matter where you are.

In addition to being a light, fast version of the Poems section of the website, the Poetry4kids mobile edition also includes audio links for many of the poems, letting you hear funny poems on your phone as well.

To try it out, just visit http://www.poetry4kids.com/m on your mobile phone or handheld computing device and let me know what you think. This is just a first stab at it, so if there are features you'd like to see on a mobile version of Poetry4kids, please feel free to let me know.

Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland - 15 October 2009 - Kids Express 2010 poetry competition for school aged children 8-12 and 13-17 is now open for submissions. Kids Express is part of Poets Express, a celebration of performance poetry, and for 2010 a special night is planned. All short listed entries (to be announced in June 2010) will have the opportunity to perform their poem on stage in Bantry, West Cork. First place winners will receive an engraved Kids Express trophy and award certificate.

I love to see this sort of thing. This is a poem/song of mine that was recently performed by students at a school assembly. I think they did a terrific job!

If you perform one of my poems for a school assembly, talent show, or festival and post a video online, be sure to let me know about it and I might put your video here as well.

I guess the cat's out of the bag. I was browsing on Amazon.com today and I discovered that my next funny poetry collection, The Tighty-Whitey Spider: And More Wacky Animal Poems I Totally Made Up is now available for pre-order, even though the book won't be available until April 1, 2010.

This next book is a collection of 55 funny animal poems and songs, and includes a CD of me reciting the poems and singing the songs, complete with music, sound effects, and crazy voices, as usual. And, just like My Hippo Has the Hiccups, The Tighty-Whitey Spider will be beautifully illustrated by Ethan Long, the creator of Tickle the Duck!

So if you just can't wait and want to have it delivered the moment it's available next spring, you can go ahead and place your order now.

If you are in New York City this weekend, I will be reading at several locations on Saturday, September 19 and Sunday, September 20. Please join me at any of the following events, all of which are free and open to the public:

For the past year, I've had a feature on the website allowing you to receive Poems by Email. When you subscribe, you automatically receive a different poem from one of my books in your email each week. But I've gotten requests from people who would like to receive the new poems as I post them on the website.

You asked for it, and here it is. You can now subscribe to receive poems from my books each week, or new poems as I post them on the website, or both if you like.

To subscribe to the new poems list, visit the Poems by Email page on this website and enter your email address for "List #2 - Newest Poetry4kids.com Poems by Email." Sometimes you'll get new poems every day and sometimes it may be weeks between each poem. As I write them, they will appear in your email.

Regardless of which mailing list you subscribe to, you can unsubscribe at any time, and your email address will never be shared with anyone else.

Enjoy!