In this charming picture book allegory of the creative writing process, happenstance and weather events symbolize the emotional ebb and flow of writing a poem. I had a poem in my pocket, but my pocket got a rip. Rhymes tumbled down my leg and trickled from my hip.

Thus begins the journey of a young poet's words out into the world, where they join randomly with other words to form funny riffs and puns all over a busy city street.

The child scrambles to capture the loose words and arrange them back into poem form, only to lose them again as a storm swoops in on a rushing wind. Eventually, the words plant themselves in the muddy ground, where they grow into something that might be even better than the original poem: a Poet-Tree. (From Kids Can Press)

Chris Tougas is a writer and illustrator from Victoria. His previous picture books include Mechanimals and Dojo Daycare.

Josée Bisaillon is a Montreal artist and illustrator.