Grade School Poets Inspired by Their Pets

APPA Announce National Children's Pet Poetry Contest Winners

By VLADIMIR NEGRON

July 7, 2009

A panel of judges have selected the winners of the American Pet Products Association's (APPA) first-ever National Children's Pet Poetry Contest. The contest, which is part of APPA's Pets Add Life Campaign, invited third-graders nationwide to submit the most creative, well-written, inspiring, and/or compelling pet poems they could muster.

According to organizers, the contest drew in more than 300 poems. As you can imagine, many of them were introspective, while others were just plain funny. Here is one of the winning poems:

Hamster
By Manju of San Ramon, Calif.

Wake up hamster, wake up now.
Drink from your bottle, I know you know how.
Eat a small meal,
Or chew on your wheel.
Chew a small toy,
Or play with a boy.
Wake up hamster, wake up now.
Wow, you had babies! Wow!!!

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Ah, from the mouth of babes.