Hi. My name is Jeff Mondak. I’m a children’s poet and songwriter. I live in Champaign, Illinois with my wife, Damarys Canache. Our sons Ryan and Chris both are professional musicians. Ryan is the guitarist who plays with the vocalist Emmaline; their videos have received about 45 million views. Chris has played bass on 19 CDs, including his own 2019 CD Eternal Youth, and he has performed jazz concerts throughout the U.S., and in Australia, China, Mexico, and Panama. I have written poems for Ryan and Christopher, and for anyone else who will read them, since 1997. I have written over 200 poems, some of which appear on this page. Check back from time to time to see my newest works. Be sure to look around my page for information on my book The Toy Box Ate My Brother, Mick Brady’s CD Triple the Pickle and on Sergio Wals’ CD Michael Closed the Bathoom Door (I wrote the lyrics for both CDs), and for information on the books and magazines that include my poems. When not writing poetry, I am the James M. Benson Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at jeffmondak@jeffspoemsforkids.org. I’d love to hear what you think of the poems! Also, let me know if there are any poems you’d like me to put back onto the site. You also should send an email message if you’d like me to visit your school.

Some students in Texas put together a Wikipedia entry about me. You can read it here.