By letting their imaginations out to play, and using similes and metaphors and other literary devices beloved of English teachers, a thunderstorm becomes something that has become lost in the dark of the house, not wanting to wake us but crashing into walls as they stumble about, occasionally striking a match to see their way; tadpoles become commas making them "the liveliest of all punctuation;" and a book is transformed into a sandwich with all sorts of goodness between its folded pitta covers!

Ted Kooser was the US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006 and won a Pulitzer Prize for his book of poems Delights & Shadows. His picture books include Bag in the Wind and The Bell in the Bridge, both illustrated by Barry Root; House Held Up by Trees, a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year, illustrated by Jon Klassen; and Mr. Posey’s New Glasses, an International Literacy Association Children’s Choice, illustrated by Daniel Duncan. Ted Kooser lives in Garland, Nebraska.

Connie Wanek has been writing since her hand could hold a pencil. She is the author of four books of poetry, including Rival Gardens: New and Selected Poems, the second book in the Ted Kooser Contemporary Poetry Series. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota.

Richard Jones has worked for more than twenty years in the creative arts. He is the illustrator of numerous picture books, including The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-To Poems, edited by Paul B. Janeczko, and Bird Builds a Nest and The Squirrels’ Busy Year, both by Martin Jenkins. Richard Jones lives in Devon, England.