An article in CNN.com introduces the wonderful poetry of Jack Prelutsky, creator of a variety of improbable animals, and provides a fascinating sketch of his life. Share the joys of “sailing to Scranimal Island / It doesn’t appear on most maps. / The PARROTTERS float on the tide there. / The STORMY PETRELEPHANT flaps. / We may find a rare OSTRICHEETAH, / There’s never been one in a zoo. / We’re sailing to Scranimal Island / You’re welcome to come along too.”

“Books happen in odd ways,” said poet Jack Prelutsky, creator of the bananaconda, a constrictor with the skin of a fruit.
So it was one sleepless night several years ago that he descended the stairs in his home for a snack, a banana, and settled into an easy chair. He found a TV documentary on the giant snake from the Amazon, noticed the coincidence of syllables, and inspiration struck. His poem begins:

“Oh sleek bananaconda
You longest long long fellow,
How sinuous and sly you are,
How slippery, how yellow.”

Soon, he had invented “broccolions” and “potatoads,” and within weeks had written “Scranimals,” a compilation of logic-defying verse.