diff --git a/src/main/java/kyu5/PigLatin.java b/src/main/java/kyu5/PigLatin.java
index 4527a4a..32b5bdd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/kyu5/PigLatin.java
+++ b/src/main/java/kyu5/PigLatin.java
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ public static String pigIt(String str) {
         String[] words = str.split("\\s");
         for (String w : words
         ) {
-            if (!w.matches("\\W")) {
+            if (w.isEmpty()) {
+                continue;
+            } else if (!w.matches("\\W")) {
                 stringBuilder.append(w.substring(1)).append(w.charAt(0)).append(AY);
             } else {
                 stringBuilder.append(w).append(" ");
diff --git a/src/test/java/kyu5/PigLatinTest.java b/src/test/java/kyu5/PigLatinTest.java
index a6ee6ef..ba173ce 100644
--- a/src/test/java/kyu5/PigLatinTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/kyu5/PigLatinTest.java
@@ -21,4 +21,11 @@ public class PigLatinTest {
     void smokeTestsShouldExecuteApi() {
         quality.SmokeMethodTestHarness.verify(kyu5.PigLatin.class);
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void handlesEmptyTokensWithoutThrowing() {
+        assertEquals("", pigIt(""));
+        assertEquals("eadinglay", pigIt(" leading"));
+        assertEquals("igPay atinlay", pigIt("Pig  latin"));
+    }
 }