U.S. children's poet laureate for 2011-2013, J. PATRICK LEWIS is the author of more than fifty books of poetry for children, which find their shape in both free and formal verse and engage a wide range of subjects from history to mathematics, Russian folklore to the animal kingdom. His books for children include New York Times Best Illustrated Book "The Last Resort" (2002, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti and translated into more than a dozen languages) and "The Shoe Tree of Chagrin" (2001, illustrated by Chris Sheban), which won the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators' Golden Kite Award. His children's poetry has been widely anthologized, and his contributions to children's literature have been recognized with the 2011 Poetry Award from the National Council of Teachers of English and the Ohioana Awards' 2004 Alice Louise Wood Memorial Prize. He recently authored the "National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry."