Chuckles in Rhyme is a compilation of short and frolicsome punch-line poems dealing with both the human score and the world of animals. Although Richard Wheeler is best known today for his many books as a military historian, he was once a leader in the field of humorous verse, and he never wholly abandoned the calling. He considers Chuckles in Rhyme to be his paramount effort as a versifier.

Richard Wheeler began a full-time writing career upon returning to his home state of Pennsylvania at the close of World War II. He had served in the Pacific as a U.S. Marine, being severely wounded in the assault on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, scene of the famous flag-raising --a feat achieved by the 250-man rifle company to which he belonged. Turning first to the writing of light verse, Wheeler placed some eight hundred pieces with American periodicals. In the 1960s he began producing non-fiction books dealing with the human side of the nations military history, and he published seventeen titles over a period of thirty-five years. The works include many Civil War "eyewitness histories" and his best-selling Iwo, widely affirmed as the leading book on that World War II battle. Chuckles in Rhyme marks Wheeler's return to the field of light verse, which his heart had never abandoned.