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How do you follow a roaring success like Kitchen Disco? Why, with a Bathroom Boogie of course. Who knew that when we’re out our bathrooms become discos for the contents? That’s the premise of this wacky new picture book from Clare Foges and Al Murphy. We see Shampoo playing some funky beats, Mouthwash making cool minty moves, and the toothbrushes happily headbanging in the sink. Told in bouncing, rhythm and rhyme, and with the brightest of bright illustrations this will have everyone shaking it in the shower if not tap dancing on the taps! Good clean fun. ~ Andrea Reece
In a nutshell: 366 poems, an inspiring new anthology ‘Poetry powerhouse’ Allie Esiri follows up the bestselling A Poem for Every Night of the Year with another lively, inspiring collection. There’s a huge range of poems included, by poets old and new, and from across the world. Each poem is linked to a particular day, some very closely – Mary Elizabeth Coleridge’s I Saw a Stable for Christmas Day, Valentine by Wendy Cope for 14th February – while other connections are more tangential: Blake’s Jerusalem for 12th July, the day James Hargreaves applied for a patent for the spinning jenny. Esiri tells us to think of these poems as ‘a boost of words for the day ahead’, and they are just that, a short connection with another human being. The more poetry in our lives, the better, and this is a book everyone in the family will enjoy. ~ Andrea Reece
A larger than life collection of poems for a middle grade audience about one wild, hysterical and hilarious Mum. Lovereading Review will follow.
Winner of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award 2018 | The first published collection from Hip Hop poet Karl Nova has a refreshing directness, honesty and authenticity. Many of the poems are drawn from the workshops he does with children and young people as well as from his performances. Notes accompanying the poems give insights into his process and encourage children to believe that they are poets too. The poems capture the rap beat and tone, demonstrating the currency and significance of rap as a form, especially for young people. A book that opens doors.
UKLA Longlist Book Awards - 2019 | Shortlisted for the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award 2018 | This second solo collection from Joseph Coelho, Overheard in a Tower Block, explores further some of the themes from Werewolf Club Rules (which won the CLiPPA in 2015). More suited to an older reader than that first collection, this is an extraordinarily powerful and moving book. Each poem offers us glimpses into the life of the main character as he grows, over the course of the collection, from young boy through adolescence to adulthood. The ingenious threading of fantasy, story, myth and magic throughout the poems only illuminates further the challenges and hardships of this young man’s life, but ultimately concludes in moments of optimism, joy and possibility.
They’re all here in this sometimes funny, sometimes touching, often surprising new collection: the Abracadabra Dad; the Jukebox Dad; the Pirate Dad and the Prison Dad; the Refugee Dad and the Rollercoaster Dad; right through to the Zen Dad and the Zzzz Dad. Using a wide variety of forms, Justin Coe parades 50 or more different fathers in front of his readers in poems that will make them laugh, smile, think or just nod in recognition. Not all of these dads are lovable, but there’s no doubt that they all feel real, and this is a collection that is well worth close reading. ~ Andrea Reece
Both an engaging guidebook to the major sights of our capital city and a collection of new London poems, this is a lovely book to read aloud and to look at. Sam Usher’s attractive pen and watercolour illustrations catch the beauty and grandeur of the city as well as its energy, its busyness made particularly appealing here. They are an excellent accompaniment to Patricia Toht’s poems which show us the city through a child’s excited gaze, from the London Eye, ‘a bracelet that hangs off the arm of the Thames’, to Piccadilly Circus in the rain. She takes particular pleasure in the various sounds of the city, from the bonnng of Big Ben to the ‘Hisssss. Ka-thunk’ of closing tube doors. ~ Andrea Reece
Poems that span the globe encouraging all readers to look at the good and the bad aspects of it make this a rich and original anthology. Twinning the themes of the wonders of the world and the horrors of how we despoil it means that the poems are both celebratory and angry. That leads to an interesting contradictions of styles and moods. Piet Grobler’s vibrant illustrations bring the feel of different countries to life. ~ Julia Eccleshare
A delightful board book with simple rhyming text and engaging interactive pictures. Children will be able to find characters that are mentioned in the text, such as Mother Hubbard and Cinderella. Wonderful detail in the illustrations provides endless entertainment in that with each view you find yet more in them – so clever and yet so simply done. Janet was an artist extraordinaire whose life was sadly cut short by illness some years ago. ~ Julia Eccleshare
A delightful board book with simple rhyming text and engaging interactive pictures. Children will be able to find characters that are mentioned in the text, such as Mother Hubbard and Cinderella. Wonderful detail in the illustrations provides endless entertainment in that with each view you find yet more in them – so clever and yet so simply done. Janet was an artist extraordinaire whose life was sadly cut short by illness some years ago. ~ Julia Eccleshare Kate Greenaway Medal winner in 1978.
A stunning collection of poems for children by the Poet Laureate. Carol Ann Duffy’s collection opens with ‘The Words of Poems’, which is a perfect introduction to the feast of delights found within this anthology. Duffy’s poems encompass everything from ‘The Good Child’s Guide to Rock’n’ Roll’, which is at least as much fun for adults as children, and the more obviously child directed, ‘The Sock’. This really is an anthology to treasure. ~ Julia Eccleshare
Joshua Seigal is a rising star in the children’s poetry world and this new collection of his poems will be a real crowd-pleaser. Many of them are crying out to be read aloud, Brontosaurus for example, with its Stomp Swamp Chomp chorus, or My Dog Eats Spaghetti, but others are quieter, to be read, considered and remembered. He has particular fun with shape poems, of which there are many, look out for the Fruit Bat and Bat’s Fruit pairing! For children inspired to write their own poetry – and Seigal certainly makes it look fun – there are useful tips and suggestions included too. ~ Andrea Reece
Brian Moses is one of our most widely read and popular poets, a regular visitor to schools and festivals. This collection gathers together over 100 of his best poems. It includes some of the poems that make his public performances such barnstorming hits – Walking With My Iguana, What Teachers Wear in Bed – but also more thoughtful poems, such as the beautiful title poem Lost Magic, with its mournful refrain ‘but there are no unicorns now’. My favourite is probably The Bonfire at Barton Point, a vivid description of a particular moment of childhood, but everyone will have their own. ~ Andrea Reece
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