In this fifth and final installment in School Library Journal’s weekly series celebrating National Poetry Month, Jack Prelutsky, America’s first children’s poet laureate and author of this year’s Stardines Swim High Across the Sky and Other Poems (Greenwilllow) offers us, in his own words, five of his top poetry collections for kids.

It’s very difficult to select only  five children’s poets—there are many more whose work I enjoy and admire. The five collections that I picked just happened to call out to me when I looked at my bookshelves this morning. At another time I might have chosen five completely different ones. All of these poets have inspired me at various times in my writing life. Here are five titles, in alphabetical order by poet. Out in the Dark and Daylight (HarperCollins,1980) by Aileen Lucia Fisher. The poet has a wonderful feel for nature and takes great delight in the world around her. Exploding Gravy: Poems to make You Laugh (Little, Brown, 2002) by X. J. Kennedy, illustrated by Joy Allen. These poems tickle my funny bone. The poet knows how to make words dance. Moon, Have You Met My Mother? The Collected Poems of Karla Kuskin (HarperCollins, 2003), illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier. [Kuskin] was one of the first children’s poets I read when I started writing my own poems. Many of her poems are deceptively simple. Custard and Company: Poems by Ogden Nash (Little, Brown, 1980), selected and illustrated by Quentin Blake. There are quite a few poems I never wrote because [Nash] wrote them first. I still marvel at his wit and craftsmanship. Laughing Time: Collected Nonsense. (Delacorte, 1990) by William Jay Smith, illustrated by Fernando Krahn. Not only has [Smith] written wonderful children’s poems, he was the U.S. Poet Laureate from 1968 to 1970. The poet turned 95 on April 22. Happy birthday!