The Reading Warehouse

Play with your words A brand-new poetic form that turns word puzzles into poetry.

Part anagram, part rebus, part riddle--the poems in Lemonade: and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word capture a scene from a child's daily life and present a puzzle to solve. Sometimes sweet and sometimes funny but always clever, these poems are fun to read and even more fun for kids to write. Bob Raczka is a fresh, new voice in children's poetry who knows that fun and games can turn a poetry lesson into lemonade

Bob lives with his wife, Amy, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. They have three children (Robert, Carl and Emma) and a dog (Rufus). They are all Cub fans.

As a boy Bob loved to draw, especially dinosaurs, cars and airplanes. He also spent a lot of time making paper airplanes and model rockets. One time, he even made a flute out of a stick he found and it actually played music.

Bob studied art in college, which came in quite handy while he was writing his series of art appreciation books, Bob Raczka's Art Adventures. He also studied advertising, a creative field he has worked in for 30 years.

A few years ago, Bob discovered how much he enjoyed poetry. It wasn't long before he started writing his own. He has always loved playing with words.
If Bob could share just one message with today's kids, it would be, "Make stuff!" Draw imaginary creatures. Build forts. Write comic books. Make up games. Invent a new baseball pitch. Design your own Halloween costume. Try your own recipe.

Dare to be creative.