Kilmer Watts makes his living teaching piano lessons, but when automatic pianos arrive in town, he realizes he’s out of a job. He spots a “Help Wanted” sign at the poem factory and decides to investigate – he’s always been curious about how poems are made. The foreman explains that machines and assembly lines are used for poetry these days. So Kilmer learns how to operate the “meter meter” and empty the “cliché bins.” He assembles a poem by picking out a rhyme scheme, sprinkling in some similes and adding alliteration. But one day the machines malfunction, and there is a dramatic explosion at the poem factory. How will poetry ever survive? Kyle Lukoff’s funny story, rich in wordplay, is complemented by Mark Hoffmann’s lively, quirky art. The backmatter includes definitions of poetic feet, types of poems (with illustrated examples) and a glossary of other terms. An author’s note explains the inspiration for the story.
Kyle Lukoff has worked at the intersection of books and people for more than half his life, first as a bookseller and later as a school librarian, reviewer, awards juror and contributor to professional publications. His first picture book, A Storytelling of Ravens, illustrated by Natalie Nelson, received two starred reviews and his second, When Aidan Became a Brother was described as “joyful and affirming” in a Kirkus starred review and has received three other starred reviews. A confirmed bachelor, Kyle lives in a Brooklyn apartment filled with books.
My name is Mark Hoffmann, but some folks know me as “”Hoffmann”” or “”Hoffy””. I am currently working as a children’s book author/illustrator, editorial illustrator, and fine artist. I am also a professor at Montserrat College of Art in the illustration department. After growing up in Minnesota, I moved to the east coast for college and remained here ever since. I currently live in southern New Hampshire with a lovely wife, a goofy son, two crazy kitties and a lazy dog. -MH
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