What the Lizard Said is the first in a series of illustrated poetry books that chronicle the adventures of Wise Dog and his younger friend, Jimmi, two dogs on a quest to learn important lessons about the world we live in. Every poem presents a different animal with different wisdom to impart to Wise Dog and Jimmi on their journey toward a greater understanding of life's challenges and opportunities. The Wise Dog and Jimmi books are designed for children and adults to read together, to encourage them to share their thoughts and feelings about the poems' central message: the variety, unity, and sanctity of all life, and our responsibility to care for the Earth's creatures. The author began writing What the Lizard Said as a reading tutor at a learning clinic, to help children increase their reading and comprehension skills and to expand their vocabularies, all through the rhythms of poetry. New words are introduced within rhyming stanzas, and Wise Dog and Jimmi and the poetic animals they meet gently guide young readers through more complex sentences and grammar. Wise Dog and Jimmi invite you to join them on their future adventures and to meet all the new animals waiting to help them. For ages 6 and up NELS HANSON grew up on a small farm in the San Joaquin Valley of California and has worked as a farmer, teacher, and writer/editor. His fiction received the San Francisco Foundation's James D. Phelan Award and four Pushcart Prize nominations, and his poems the Sharkpack Review's Prospero Prize, a Pushcart nomination, and two Best of the Net nominations. His books can be found on Amazon. MANDANA TALIEH began drawing and painting from an early age and her love of art led her to create the characters Wise Dog & Jimmi and begin her first line of greeting cards. Mandana was inspired by I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, and spirituality has guided her artistic expression. Her animated shorts have been screened at film festivals across America. She lives on the Central Coast of California, where she paints and illustrates children's stories and poems, and now What the Lizard Said, her first in a series of Wise Dog & Jimmi books.