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The Best Worst Poet Ever

By Lauren Stohler
Illustrated by Lauren Stohler

Furry rivals Cat and Pug have a rhyme-riddled showdown in this hilarious and delightfully quirky picture book about the joys of writing poetry—playfully imagined by the creator of social media sensation Inkpug!

There once was a Pug and a Cat
Who engaged in a poetic spat…

Cat and Pug are each determined to become the World’s Best Poet, no matter what it takes. Whether they’re writing sonnets to sundaes or typing ballads with their butts, they will stop at nothing to outwit, out-write, and out-verse each other.

But perhaps there is an even greater prize to be had: Can these two rivals discover the wonderful joy of writing…together?
Photograph © Gareth Campbell
Lauren Stohler

Lauren Stohler lives and works with her husband Gareth in Connecticut, where they create art and pug poetry under their top-secret internet pseudonym, @Inkpug. When not writing stories or drawing pictures, they are probably on a walk to the ice cream shop. Lauren is the author of picture books The Best Worst Poet Ever and The Problem with Pajamas. Find out more at Inkpug.com.
Photograph © Gareth Campbell
Lauren Stohler

Lauren Stohler lives and works with her husband Gareth in Connecticut, where they create art and pug poetry under their top-secret internet pseudonym, @Inkpug. When not writing stories or drawing pictures, they are probably on a walk to the ice cream shop. Lauren is the author of picture books The Best Worst Poet Ever and The Problem with Pajamas. Find out more at Inkpug.com.

"The scansion and prosody are remarkable, making for a truly rollicking read-aloud with extreme emotional highs. . . . There’s plenty of humor and energy to keep audiences large and small enthralled. Delightful."

– Kirkus Reviews

"Stohler takes 'use your words' to literary, witty extremes via roly-poly Pug and orange, fluffy, and equally rotund frenemy Cat. . . .  As the versifying escalates, expressively inky digital vignettes grow ever more rambunctious and gravity-defying; the typewritten text follows suit, skipping and swooping around the page. Eventually, poetry works it magic on both characters, who enthusiastically embrace each other, the muse, and all the tools in the meter toolkit, including slanted rhyme, enjambment, and poetic contractions. They’re poets, and boy, do they know it."

– Publishers Weekly

"With clever illustrations of the mayhem, this is a wonderful story for two people to read aloud together, demonstrating the pleasures of poetry and language, not to mention how much fun a battle of wits can be for the participants and the spectators. . . . The pitch-perfect banter between pug and cat is almost Seussical in nature, using rhyme and rhythm to propel things along. For listening, looking, or reading aloud, this is a battle of verse worth joining."
 

– School Library Journal

The Best Worst Poet Ever

By Lauren Stohler
Illustrated by Lauren Stohler