by Paige Vinten Taylor

Have you ever thought about writing nonsense poetry for children? It holds such great appeal, and librarians will tell you that poetry collections of this genre are among the favorite books that kids take home. 

What makes nonsense poetry so popular?  Perhaps most important, it is whimsical and imaginative. But rather than trying to define it further (since its borders are ever-widening), looking at some common elements is probably more useful. 

Wordplay 

“Betty Botter bought some butter,
But she said this butter’s bitter…” 

Who among us as children didn’t try to repeat “Betty Botter Bought some Butter” or “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers”? These tongue twisters, classics that have been with us for centuries, offer an engaging challenge to kids when reading them aloud or memorizing them.  Today there are even whole books written with that style, for example, Margaret Mahy’s Bubble Trouble. 

Tweaking words in humorous ways for the sake of rhyming is another time-honored technique. Chris Harris, in his poem “The Modern Dinosaur,” cleverly messes with our language by using “thinked” as a punch line set-up for “extinct.” And in “The Hungry Giraffe,” he pairs “swallow” with an unexpected “tomallow.” 

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