Difference between revisions of "Newest Children's Rhymes and Verse Reviews"

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[[Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|*]]
 
[[Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Children's Rhymes and Verse]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->
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[[Category:New Reviews|Children's Rhymes and Verse]]
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15"
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==Children's Rhymes and Verse==
  
<!-- Donaldson  -->
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__NOTOC__
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:Donaldson_Treasury.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1509846131?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1509846131]]
 
  
 +
{{newreview
 +
|author=John Foster
 +
|title=See You Later, Escalator
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 +
|summary=Always a sucker for a good poetry anthology here at Bookbag, we've enjoyed two previous collections from John Foster. ''See You Later, Escalator'' continues in the same vein, with poems from the likes of Tony Mitton, Michael Rosen, Michelle Magorian and Brian Patten.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192731831</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
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{{newreview
===[[A Treasury of Songs by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler]]===
+
|author=Giles Paley-Phillips
 +
|title=There's A Lion In My Bathroom
 +
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 +
|summary=This collection of nonsense poetry takes in all sorts of subjects, from wannabe magicians to armpits, and from failed cowboys to a girl with springs for feet. It's all very silly, all very nonsensical, and good fun. A proportion of profits are being donated to [http://www.beatbloodcancers.org/ Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research].
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956503527</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]]
+
{{newreview
 +
|author=Gervase Phinn
 +
|title=There's An Alien In The Classroom
 +
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 +
|summary=''There's An Alien In The Classroom'' is a collection of school-based poems, and poems aimed at school-age children. Taking in all forms, from limericks and cautionary verse, to acrostics and haiku, it offers a broad overview of poetry. With themes including school, families, seasons, Bonfire Night, Nativity plays and going to the dentist, there's something to appeal to every child.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849392021</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
Some people have all the skills, not only is Julia Donaldson one of the most successful children's authors, she can also carry a tune. For the past few years she has adapted many of her most popular stories into songs and plays them during open readings, or releases them as part of a song book. For the first time A Treasury of Songs brings together several of her books in one omnibus and it also has a CD too of Donaldson singing the songs. [[A Treasury of Songs by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler|Full Review]]
+
{{newreview
 +
|author=Penny Dann
 +
|title=The Orchard Book Of Nursery Rhymes For Your Baby
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 +
|summary=All your favourite nursery rhymes are here, from Hickory Dickory Dock, through Little Bo Peep and Three Blind Mice, to Sing A Song Of Sixpence. With over sixty nursery rhymes to choose from, all the big names are presented in a beautiful compendium that you'll treasure for years.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408304589</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
<!-- Stevenson -->
+
{{newreview
|-
+
|author=Michael Rosen
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
+
|title=Michael Rosen's Big Book of Bad Things
[[image:Stevenson_Garden.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910959103/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
+
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 +
|summary=When he was little, Michael Rosen's dad remembered all the bad things he'd done and reminded him of them when appropriate, so Michael imagined he'd written them all down in a Big Book of Bad Things. Here he presents the eponymous poem, as well as many many other tales of childhood, from the horrors of being a second late to school, to making a raft, to going to a café. Some bad, some sad, some quirky, some funny, some touching, some light-hearted, all wonderful.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141324511</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
+
{{newreview
===[[A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson]]===
+
|author=Paul Cookson
 +
|title=The World At Our Feet
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 +
|summary=With the World Cup just around the corner, football is on everyone's lips. Paul Cookson, Poet in Residence at the [http://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/ National Football Museum], has compiled the best football poems for young children.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>033051086X</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
[[image:2star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]]
+
{{newreview
 +
|author=John Foster
 +
|title=Whizz Bang Orang-Utan
 +
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 +
|summary=Subtitled ''rhymes for the very young'', you know what you're getting with ''Whizz Bang Orang-Utan''. It's a poetry anthology, with sweet poems about kids, what they get up to, and of course whizzing and banging orang-utans.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192729934</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
Robert Louis Stevenson was a very versatile writer; he delved deep into the human psyche when he wrote ''The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' but he did not restrict himself to representations of the gothic and the persecuted. He also wrote brilliant children's adventure stories such as ''Treasure Island'' and ''Kidnapped'', but, again, he did not restrict himself to prose writing because here he demonstrates his ability to write poetry. [[A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson|Full Review]]
+
{{newreview
 +
|author=Gaby Morgan (editor)
 +
|title=In My Sky at Twilight
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Teens
 +
|summary=Off the back of the success of Stephenie Meyer's [[Twilight by Stephenie Meyer|Twilight]] series there has been a boom in vampire novels aimed at teenagers. In My Sky at Twilight is perhaps one of the most unusual books to come out of this craze as it is a collection of love poetry aimed at teenage fans of the series.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230745865</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
<!-- Woollard  -->
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{{newreview
|-
+
|author=Children's Trust
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
+
|title=The Walrus and the Carpenter and Other Favourite Poems
[[image:Image.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509814744/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
+
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 +
|summary=Celebrities, including [[:Category:Richard Hammond|Richard Hammond]], Paul O'Grady, Sienna Miller, McFly and Lorraine Kelly, have chosen their favourite poems for this anthology. All proceeds from the book go to [http://www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk/ The Children's Trust]. It's a fantastic charity, who help disabled children, and I urge you all to buy a copy of ''The Walrus and the Carpenter'' to support them.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140632650X</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/ISBN/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
+
{{newreview
 +
|author=Michael Rosen
 +
|title=A To Z - The Best Children's Poetry From Agard To Zephaniah
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 +
|summary=Michael Rosen has picked the best modern children's poetry, from John Agard through to Benjamin Zephaniah. It stemmed from Rosen performing in schools and libraries with many of the poets, and as children's poetry anthologies go, it's amongst the very best.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141324503</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
 +
{{newreview
 +
|author=Hilaire Belloc and Mini Grey
 +
|title=Jim, Who Ran Away From His Nurse and Was Eaten By A Lion
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=For Sharing
 +
|summary=Hilaire Belloc's ''Cautionary Tales For Children'' are rightly lauded as classics. Mini Grey (also [[Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog by Mini Grey|rightly lauded]]), has illustrated one of these fine tales, so that a new generation of children can discover just what happens when you run away from your nurse and a lion eats you. Pay attention kids.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224083678</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
+
{{newreview
===[[Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories by Elli Woollard and Marta Altes]]===
+
|author=Mandy Stanley
 +
|title=Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Other Nursery Favourites
 +
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=For Sharing
 +
|summary=Every small child should have book (or a few) containing traditional nursery rhymes, and every so often newly illustrated collections are published.
  
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]]
+
''Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'' is part of such a new series called ''Time for a Rhyme'', published by Harper Collins and illustrated by Mandy Stanley known for her [[The Fairy Ball (Lettice) by Mandy Stanley|Lettice]] stories and other picture books.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007315635</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
Now, whatever our age, there are probably a few books that we have all encountered at some point in our childhoods. They have stood the test of time to such an extent that they have become a piece of our culture common to so many of us, and are known throughout the world. One of them is by Rudyard Kipling, who brought a child's sense of wonder and his own Victorian absurdist set of explanations to play in a dozen examples of warm whimsy. In shrugging off evolution he got to convey how the rhino skin is so ill-fitting and rumpled, how the whale learnt he cannot eat humans, and how the elephant got such a thing as his trunk. In doing so he entertained his young daughter, not knowing she would die as a child long before he produced a book-length collection – and way before he saw something into print that has lasted ever since. Just in case these tales are not for your young audience yet (and it won't be long, trust me), you can start them in early with this lovely and bright adaptation. [[Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories by Elli Woollard and Marta Altes|Full Review]]
+
{{newreview
 +
|author=T S Eliot
 +
|title=Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 +
|summary=In 1939, TS Eliot's cat poems for his godchildren were first published. Seventy years and an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical later, they're republished here, complete with illustrations by Axel Scheffler, best known for his work on [[The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson|The Gruffalo]].
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571240615</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
<!-- Harris -->
+
{{newreview
|-
+
|author=Spike Milligan
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
+
|title=The Magical World of Milligan
[[image:Harris_Rhyming.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1509881042?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1509881042]]
+
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Confident Readers
 +
|summary=Some people you just have to love. It's the law. Spike Milligan was always fantastic, and he's much missed. He's got the perfect mix of nonsense, heart, and surreal humour. He speaks to people of all ages, and he's just plain lovely.  
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905264844</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
 +
{{newreview
 +
|author=Carol Ann Duffy
 +
|title=New and Collected Poems for Children
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Anthologies
 +
|summary=Sometimes the title is all the introduction you need: Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy's 'New and Collected Poems for Children'.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571219683</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
+
{{newreview
===[[I'm Just No Good At Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris and Lane Smith]]===
+
|author=Harry Horse
 +
|title=Higglety Pigglety Pop! And Other First Poems
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=For Sharing
 +
|summary=A poetry anthology that includes Edward Lear, Spike Milligan, AA Milne, Lewis Carroll and Michael Rosen is immediately worth a look. They're timeless classics that everyone has read and has had read to them.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406323144</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]]
+
{{newreview
 +
|author=Debi Gliori
 +
|title=Noisy Poems
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=For Sharing
 +
|summary=Any book of poetry that starts with Spike Milligan and ends with Roger McGough will get the thumbs up from me. Noisy Poems is full of just that: poems about sounds, with trucks honking, ducks quacking, trains clickety-clacking and shoes squeaking. It's awash with alliteration and rhythm. It's crying out to be read aloud and joined in with.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406323195</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
In the sniffy world of literary poetry, people seem to be able to knock together a dozen verses and get an audience of twenty people to buy a pamphlet, and they call themselves published authors. You get a similar thing at times with poetry for the young – most poetry books, after all, have a lot more blank space in them than routine volumes, and people compile their best arrays of very few words in between two covers and bingo, they have a book, and twenty minutes later bingo, you've read it. That's most certainly not the case here, for this is crammed with what has to be considered a major outpouring of wit and rhyme. And whatever age you are, and whatever experience with verse you may have, this will not seem to you like someone's first book of poetry. [[I'm Just No Good At Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris and Lane Smith|Full Review]]
+
{{newreview
 +
|author=John Foster
 +
|title=Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=For Sharing
 +
|summary=I was recently subjected to a good 20 minutes of the rude version of Happy Birthday in Catalan, even though it was neither my birthday nor am I Catalan. I responded with the ol' squashed tomatoes and stew version that we all know and love, for a very restrained 15 minutes. Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar is packed full of such things. Kids love those sort of rhymes, and childish adults love 'em too. Whilst Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar isn't exactly rude, it does have a cheeky glint in its eye, a muddy splash on its new shoes, and gleeful laughter throughout.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192755811</amazonuk>
 +
}}
  
<!-- Esiri  -->
+
{{newreview
|-
+
|author=Paul B Janeczko and Chris Raschka
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
+
|title=A Kick In The Head: An Everyday Guide To Poetic Forms
[[image:Esiri Poem.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509860541/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
+
|rating=5
 
+
|genre=Confident Readers
 
+
|summary=As the subtitle says, A Kick In The Head is an everyday guide to poetic forms. It's a perfect primer to couplets, limericks, acrostics, sonnets, haiku and many more. Each form has a brief explanation, an example, and then a more detailed explanation at the back. It's a wonderful educational book for any child (or for any adult who wants to brush up on their basic understanding of poetry).
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0763641324</amazonuk>
===[[A Poem for Every Day of the Year by Allie Esiri]]===
+
}}
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]]
 
 
 
For those who do not read much poetry, for those who do not know where to start, this is a fun and easy commitment to take on. Reading a poem a day does not take long, mere minutes, and with over three-hundred poems in here there's bound to be a poem that speaks to each reader directly. [[A Poem for Every Day of the Year by Allie Esiri|Full Review]]
 
 
 
<!-- Goss  -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:Goss_600.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785942719]]
 
 
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]]
 
 
 
Consider the Doctor. Just how many birthday and Christmas gifts must he have to hand out each year, were he to keep in touch with even half of his companions? He would certainly need a few novelty gifts for some of them, say, for example, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the life of a Time Lord and that of some of his friends and enemies. As luck would have it, he has the space in his TARDIS to stock up in advance, so my advice to him – sorry, her – would be to pop along to his local Earth-based book emporium and get himself ready. And if you're working on a shorter timescale, with a shorter lifespan, and thinking perhaps just one gift season ahead, well my advice is pretty much the same. [[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies|Full Review]]
 
|}
 

Revision as of 11:41, 22 February 2018

Children's Rhymes and Verse

See You Later, Escalator by John Foster

4.5star.jpg Children's Rhymes and Verse

Always a sucker for a good poetry anthology here at Bookbag, we've enjoyed two previous collections from John Foster. See You Later, Escalator continues in the same vein, with poems from the likes of Tony Mitton, Michael Rosen, Michelle Magorian and Brian Patten. Full review...

There's A Lion In My Bathroom by Giles Paley-Phillips

3.5star.jpg Children's Rhymes and Verse

This collection of nonsense poetry takes in all sorts of subjects, from wannabe magicians to armpits, and from failed cowboys to a girl with springs for feet. It's all very silly, all very nonsensical, and good fun. A proportion of profits are being donated to Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. Full review...

There's An Alien In The Classroom by Gervase Phinn

3.5star.jpg Children's Rhymes and Verse

There's An Alien In The Classroom is a collection of school-based poems, and poems aimed at school-age children. Taking in all forms, from limericks and cautionary verse, to acrostics and haiku, it offers a broad overview of poetry. With themes including school, families, seasons, Bonfire Night, Nativity plays and going to the dentist, there's something to appeal to every child. Full review...

The Orchard Book Of Nursery Rhymes For Your Baby by Penny Dann

4.5star.jpg Children's Rhymes and Verse

All your favourite nursery rhymes are here, from Hickory Dickory Dock, through Little Bo Peep and Three Blind Mice, to Sing A Song Of Sixpence. With over sixty nursery rhymes to choose from, all the big names are presented in a beautiful compendium that you'll treasure for years. Full review...

Michael Rosen's Big Book of Bad Things by Michael Rosen

4.5star.jpg Children's Rhymes and Verse

When he was little, Michael Rosen's dad remembered all the bad things he'd done and reminded him of them when appropriate, so Michael imagined he'd written them all down in a Big Book of Bad Things. Here he presents the eponymous poem, as well as many many other tales of childhood, from the horrors of being a second late to school, to making a raft, to going to a café. Some bad, some sad, some quirky, some funny, some touching, some light-hearted, all wonderful. Full review...

The World At Our Feet by Paul Cookson

4star.jpg Children's Rhymes and Verse

With the World Cup just around the corner, football is on everyone's lips. Paul Cookson, Poet in Residence at the National Football Museum, has compiled the best football poems for young children. Full review...

Whizz Bang Orang-Utan by John Foster

3.5star.jpg Children's Rhymes and Verse

Subtitled rhymes for the very young, you know what you're getting with Whizz Bang Orang-Utan. It's a poetry anthology, with sweet poems about kids, what they get up to, and of course whizzing and banging orang-utans. Full review...

In My Sky at Twilight by Gaby Morgan (editor)

4star.jpg Teens

Off the back of the success of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series there has been a boom in vampire novels aimed at teenagers. In My Sky at Twilight is perhaps one of the most unusual books to come out of this craze as it is a collection of love poetry aimed at teenage fans of the series. Full review...

The Walrus and the Carpenter and Other Favourite Poems by Children's Trust

3.5star.jpg Children's Rhymes and Verse

Celebrities, including Richard Hammond, Paul O'Grady, Sienna Miller, McFly and Lorraine Kelly, have chosen their favourite poems for this anthology. All proceeds from the book go to The Children's Trust. It's a fantastic charity, who help disabled children, and I urge you all to buy a copy of The Walrus and the Carpenter to support them. Full review...

A To Z - The Best Children's Poetry From Agard To Zephaniah by Michael Rosen

5star.jpg Children's Rhymes and Verse

Michael Rosen has picked the best modern children's poetry, from John Agard through to Benjamin Zephaniah. It stemmed from Rosen performing in schools and libraries with many of the poets, and as children's poetry anthologies go, it's amongst the very best. Full review...

Jim, Who Ran Away From His Nurse and Was Eaten By A Lion by Hilaire Belloc and Mini Grey

5star.jpg For Sharing

Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales For Children are rightly lauded as classics. Mini Grey (also rightly lauded), has illustrated one of these fine tales, so that a new generation of children can discover just what happens when you run away from your nurse and a lion eats you. Pay attention kids. Full review...

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Other Nursery Favourites by Mandy Stanley

3.5star.jpg For Sharing

Every small child should have book (or a few) containing traditional nursery rhymes, and every so often newly illustrated collections are published.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is part of such a new series called Time for a Rhyme, published by Harper Collins and illustrated by Mandy Stanley known for her Lettice stories and other picture books. Full review...

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T S Eliot

4.5star.jpg Children's Rhymes and Verse

In 1939, TS Eliot's cat poems for his godchildren were first published. Seventy years and an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical later, they're republished here, complete with illustrations by Axel Scheffler, best known for his work on The Gruffalo. Full review...

The Magical World of Milligan by Spike Milligan

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

Some people you just have to love. It's the law. Spike Milligan was always fantastic, and he's much missed. He's got the perfect mix of nonsense, heart, and surreal humour. He speaks to people of all ages, and he's just plain lovely. Full review...

New and Collected Poems for Children by Carol Ann Duffy

5star.jpg Anthologies

Sometimes the title is all the introduction you need: Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy's 'New and Collected Poems for Children'. Full review...

Higglety Pigglety Pop! And Other First Poems by Harry Horse

4star.jpg For Sharing

A poetry anthology that includes Edward Lear, Spike Milligan, AA Milne, Lewis Carroll and Michael Rosen is immediately worth a look. They're timeless classics that everyone has read and has had read to them. Full review...

Noisy Poems by Debi Gliori

5star.jpg For Sharing

Any book of poetry that starts with Spike Milligan and ends with Roger McGough will get the thumbs up from me. Noisy Poems is full of just that: poems about sounds, with trucks honking, ducks quacking, trains clickety-clacking and shoes squeaking. It's awash with alliteration and rhythm. It's crying out to be read aloud and joined in with. Full review...

Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar by John Foster

4.5star.jpg For Sharing

I was recently subjected to a good 20 minutes of the rude version of Happy Birthday in Catalan, even though it was neither my birthday nor am I Catalan. I responded with the ol' squashed tomatoes and stew version that we all know and love, for a very restrained 15 minutes. Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar is packed full of such things. Kids love those sort of rhymes, and childish adults love 'em too. Whilst Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar isn't exactly rude, it does have a cheeky glint in its eye, a muddy splash on its new shoes, and gleeful laughter throughout. Full review...

A Kick In The Head: An Everyday Guide To Poetic Forms by Paul B Janeczko and Chris Raschka

5star.jpg Confident Readers

As the subtitle says, A Kick In The Head is an everyday guide to poetic forms. It's a perfect primer to couplets, limericks, acrostics, sonnets, haiku and many more. Each form has a brief explanation, an example, and then a more detailed explanation at the back. It's a wonderful educational book for any child (or for any adult who wants to brush up on their basic understanding of poetry). Full review...