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English poet William Wordsworth once wrote, "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." Wordsworth, who was born two hundred and forty two years ago this month, is just one of the hundreds of writers and artists that we celebrate in April during National Poetry Month. Since 1996, the month long holiday has brought

Robert L. Forbes, author of LET'S HAVE A BITE! A BANQUET OF BEASTLY FEASTS, hosted a party last night to celebrate the launch of his book. A wonderful time was had by all as guests dined on snacks featuring the mischievous creatures from his whimsical books.

Here are a few photos of the author himself and the wonderful decorations--lifesize blowups of the delightful Ronald Searle drawings that accompany his poems. Start your Christmas shopping early with LET'S HAVE A BITE!

Check out this fantastic article in the Wall Street Journal profiling Robert L. Forbes, author of our wonderfully whimsical children's book LET'S HAVE A BITE! A BANQUET OF BEASTLY FEASTS. It's always fun for us to read author profiles instead of traditional reviews--especially when they lead lives as interesting as this. Go here to read the full article, but here's an excerpt you might enjoy! You can also keep up-to-date on the life and times of Robert Forbes and events surrounding the publication of Let's Have a Bite! on Facebook and by following @robertlforbes on Twitter.

As happy and well adjusted an adult as Mr. Forbes seems on the surface, I can't help but believe his latest book, published this week, "Let's Have A Bite! A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes," with drawings by the New Yorker cartoonist Ronald Searle, isn't the result of night terrors.

"The Giant Panda at the zoo just sits and chomps on fresh bamboo," goes one poem. "His belly is like a cooking pot, Which happens when you eat a lot. He's content to do not much but chew. Which is all he seems to do (That and poo!)"

People often take a stab at children's books after reading "Goodnight Moon" to their own kids and becoming convinced they can do better. But Mr. Forbes hasn't read to his son Miguel in decades. Miguel is in his thirties. Miguel is Forbes's president of television and licensing.

It seems Mr. Forbes simply has crazy rhymes going through his head. He'll wake up in the middle of the night, don his special Edward Beiner reading glasses with built-in reading lights, write for a couple of hours, roll over and go back to sleep.

"I write to amuse me," he said. "I write stuff I'd like to read." Such as, apparently, "A chicken-stewing cat named Shauna slipped on her sweat in the sauna. She moaned on the floor, 'I must reach the door, Or I'll be a fricasseed goner.' "

Mr. Forbes said he contacted Mr. Searle, who lives in the south of France, and whose work he collects, out of the blue, fully prepared to be rejected, but figuring it couldn't hurt to ask. But Mr. Searle said yes. "I'll write a couple of lines about the poem," Mr. Forbes said of their collaborative process, "and a month or two later back this package comes with all these illustrations. It's like a little boy opening a Christmas present."

This is actually Mr. Forbes' second book of poems and critters. The first, "Beastly Feasts," also illustrated by Mr. Searle, was published in 2007. And Mr. Forbes shot the photography for "A Year of Dancing Dangerously," about his wife Lydia Raurell's successful quest to be crowned newcomer of the year on the pro-am ballroom dance circuit, though partnered with Brian Nelson, her professional dance partner.

Mr. Forbes divides h

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The Overlook Press was excited to be a first-time exhibitor at this year's ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC. 13,000 librarians in a huge conference center in our nation's capital--what's not to love?

We were excited to have Robert L. Forbes, author of Let's Have a Bite! A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes there with us, signing copies of his new book for the show's resident rock stars--children's librarians.

If you follow us on Twitter (@overlookpress!) you've already seen lots of our pictures from ALA, but here are a few for you to enjoy that are slightly higher quality than those taken on a BlackBerry.

Thanks again, ALA, for a fantastic event!

Reading poetry aloud to children is a terrific way to celebrate National Poetry Month, and with Overlook's Beastly Feasts! A Mischievous Menagerie in Rhyme, parents can provide both fun and entertainment. With 40 poems by Robert Forbes and zany illustrations by Ronald Searle, Beastly Feasts! will keep kids and their mischievous parents coming back all month long.

In 1967, May Cutler founded Tundra Books, a Canadian Book publishing house with a number of fundamental and, at the time, very progressive goals:

• Focus on creating children’s books
• Create children’s books as works of art
• Introduce children to important issues

On this edition of Just One More Book, I speak with Kathy Lowinger, publisher of Tundra Books.

Logo: tundrabooks.com