Hello! I’m Liz Brownlee, National Poetry Day Ambassador! What’s on the poetry roundabout? Quickie poetry writing ideas for children, teachers, parents and librarians, crafty poetry projects, all types of poems including animal poems, funny poems, empathy poems, and of course, poetry videos. Use the menus or search for them on the right. There are also interviews with poets, poetry book reviews and poetry competitions. Thank you so much to @chriswhitepoet for my little cartoon me and Lola and @mrs_darl teacher for the window to pop us in! Welcome!
Thought I’d take a moment to say how thrilled we are that this book has been chosen to be in the EmpathyLabUK 2022 primary collection, as it reflects so many issues around empathy and emotions.
Being Me, Poems about Thoughts, Worries and Feelings, is by me, Matt Goodfellow and Laura Mucha, wonderfully Illustrated by Victoria Jane Wheeler, and published by Otter Barry Books.
Mental health problems among primary children are at an all-time high – and no wonder with all the pressures they have nowadays on top of all the thoughts, feelings and worries youngsters experience anyway.
We have attempted to cover a wide range of issues, poems to reassure, poems to find yourself in, poems hoping to start thought processes that might lead to asking for help, poems to open discussions between guardians, teachers, parents and youngsters.
You can buy it signed from me – tell me who to mention via email :
Being Me
A ground-breaking collection offering understanding, support and encouragement, and advice from a leading developmental psychologist.
Razzmatazz! The Poetry World of Roger Stevens, Illustrated by Mike Smith, Otter-Barry Books
Razzmatazz! The Poetry World of Roger Stevens, Illustrated by Mike Smith, Otter-Barry Books.
Roger Stevens has done a lot to light the poetry world, and his poems always brighten an anthology – he is a funny person to be with, a hilarious person as a compère of any poetry event, and it is obvious that any book full of his own poems will be fabulous fun as well. And this is – plus inventive and offbeat and quirky.
This book gives poetry writing and performance tips along the way – but the biggest tip ever on how to get poetry inspiration is to do what Roger ALWAYS does, and that is take a notebook with you everywhere. I have never seen Roger without his. Spend a day with him and there will loads of poems you might hear along the way or later, or notes for poems that will emerge, polished and edited one day.
These pages are full of Roger’s voice and I love his poems – and I also like the fact they might be hilarious or sad, thoughtful or silly – full of razzmatazz and jazz and music and laughter, but whatever they are about, they are always kind, like him.
From Razzmatazz! The Poetry World of Roger Stevens, Illustrated by Mike Smith, Otter-Barry Books
Very much recommended, wittily illustrated by Mike Smith. Five stars – and it’s out on Wednesday 12th January.
100 Best Christmas Poems for Children, Edited by Roger McGough, Illustrated by Beatriz Castro, Macmillan
100 Best Christmas Poems for Children, Edited by Roger McGough, Illustrated by Beatriz Castro, Macmillan.
When you are fed up with Christmas fare, you can fill up with Christmas spirit by cracking open this little book packed with festive poems. There are lovely poems in here – beautiful poems, humorous poems, gentle poems, and poems to lift the hairs on the back of your neck with their evocation of Christmassy wonder. It’s a perfect selection, charmingly illustrated by Beatriz Castro.
Here is one I love:
From 100 Best Christmas Poems for Children, Edited by Roger McGough, Illustrated by Beatriz Castro, Macmillan
Wonder, The Natural History Museum Poetry Book, Ana Sampson, Macmillan.
Wonder, The Natural History Museum Poetry Book, Ana Sampson, Macmillan.
This is a truly delicious book of poems on the delights you can find within the cavernous chambers of The Natural History Museum, occasionally illustrated with prints from the pages of old books.
I found many poems (poems that have been given space to breathe) I have not read before. I read a lot of nature poems. Excellent poems, poems to make your mouth water, your breath seize, your mind soar, your thoughts fill with wonder. I love the choices Ana Sampson has made.
I have one poem in there and I am very proud of this. Here it is:
Blackbird, by Liz Brownlee, from Wonder, The Natural History Museum Poetry Book, Ana Sampson, Macmillan.
Definitely a book to buy – I would give it more than 5 stars if could!
When Poems Fall From the Sky, Zaro Weil, Illustrated by Junli Song, ZaZa Kids Books and Troika
When Poems Fall From the Sky, Zaro Weil, Illustrated by Junli Song, ZaZa Kids Books in association with Troika, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
What do you do if you want to submerge yourself in poems about nature? Diving into a copy of this book would be a good start, and letting them rain upon you from the pages.
Water, seeds, shoots and trees, fins, feathers and fur, colours, clouds, dreams, and moonbeams, all the delights of Mother Earth wind their own words into poems, raps and plays, growing through the delightful, playful illustrations by Junli Song.
Another lovely feast for the eyes book from Zaro Weil, ZaZa Kids Books, and Troika.
The Best Ever Book of Funny Poems, collected by Brian Moses, Macmillan.
The Best Ever Book of Funny Poems, collected by Brian Moses, Macmillan.
Humour is subjective – what doubles me up (I am afraid) is anything involving an unfortunate end for the subject of the poem, but I also love it when the poem turns on its head at the end with an absurdity so surprising it makes me really laugh. There are plenty of those slipped inside the banana skin cover of this anthology collected by Brian Moses – along with clever wordplay and ridiculous poems from most of the poets you know and love. Including me.
I’m glad to say as soon as I unpeeled this book it did hit my funny bone, as that is not always the case with anthologies of funny poems.
Here’s a sample from the wonderful rhyme-master, Colin West:
Our Hippopotamus
We thought a lively pet to keep
Might be a hippopotamus.
Now see him sitting in a heap,
And notice at the bottom – us.
Colin West
Definitely one to buy if you hanker after non-stop humour! Brilliant fun.
How Many Points for a Panda, Hilda Offen, Troika Books
How Many Points for a Panda, Poems for Everyone, Hilda Offen, Troika Books.
This tackles subjects such as what to do if you are swallowed by a whale, and other tricky subjects that must be solved by young and old alike. The book’s poems are beautifully illustrated by the poet herself.
My favourite poem in this is The Naming of Clouds:
From How Many Points for a Panda, Hilda Offen, Troika Books
Hey, Girl! Poems by Rachel Rooney, Illustrated by Milo Hartnell, Otter-Barry Books
Hey, Girl! Poems by Rachel Rooney, Illustrated by Milo Hartnell, Otter-Barry Books
This is a remarkably honest and tender look at awakening, awareness and acceptance of self as a young girl enters adolescence. Rachel’s poems often directly confront and embrace truths – and this book is a portrait of the poet herself.
The poems also explore navigating these tumultuous and confusing times as someone with autism, which will have added to the feelings of vulnerability, isolation and difference, although Rachel didn’t know of her diagnosis at the time. But the poems that touch on autism give both sides of the coin, and the whole collection also relates shadows and songs along the journey to the future.
Rachel is a stunning, exacting poet – her poems are illustrated by her equally talented son, Milo Hartnell. It adds up to a book worth getting with its message of courage to be yourself.
Break-time
Your mouth moves in synchronicity
with sounds I can hear,
some of which are recognisable,
like partyinvite and latestgossip.
And somewhere deep inside you,
invisible strings are being pulled
that make your eyes swivel,
shoulders rise, palms jerk upwards.
But even though I am holding
what I hope is an understanding half-smile
and feel satisfied with the tilt of my head,
I am thinking about that wasp in the window,
trapped amongst the stationery.
The way it alternates between
resigned torpor and active despair,
the tap of its wing against the glass.
Rachel Rooney
Hey, Girl! Rachel Rooney, Illustrated by Milo Hartnell, Otter-Barry Books
Highly recommended. Five stars.
*Rachel Rooney’s former CLiPPA award-winning book, The Language of Cat has also recently been republished by Otter-Barry Books – excellent for key stage 1 and 2.
Cloud Soup, Kate Wakeling, Illustrations by Elīna Braslina, The Emma Press
Cloud Soup, Kate Wakeling, Illustrations by Elīna Braslina, The Emma Press
I love Kate Wakeling’s poetry – her poems turn corners, they leap out from behind you, they don’t progress
down
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
~~~the page
in the way you would expect. They are full of invention and surprise and ideas and she has the gift of writing about ordinary things and making them extraordinarily themselves.
Here’s an example. Poets have all met poems like this.
Polka Dot Poems, 100 Weird and Wonderful Nature Haiku, Zaro Weil, Illustrated by Lucy Wynne, ZaZa Kids Books and Troika.
Polka Dot Poems is a feast of witty, wise and wonderful pint-sized nature poems, beautifully illustrated in colour with many details and humour by Lucy Wynne.
Full of creatures you may not have heard of, alongside poems on subjects such as flowers and mountains, tides and the moon, described in a few words to tantalise you into investigating further. A great book to share with children interested in nature. There are plenty of facts to think about and questions to ask.
Caterpillar Cake, Matt Goodfellow, Illustrated by Krina Patel-Sage, Otter-Barry Books
Caterpillar Cake, Matt Goodfellow, Illustrated by Krina Patel-Sage, Otter-Barry Books.
This is a hardback poetry book for very young people filled with Matt’s trademark poems, which are always delicious to read aloud.
It’s not everyone who can write with such quality for small readers – Caterpillar cake is an engaging recipe whipped with warmth and wonder, and topped with poetry icing.
Here’s a sample – this poem is a two page spread, but I’ve had to cut it in half!
Caterpillar Cake, Matt Goodfellow, illustrator Krina Patel Sage, Otter-Barry Books.
Beautifully illustrated by Krina Patel-Sage, this is a first poetry book to be enjoyed by parents and children alike.
Little Light, Coral Rumble, Illustrated by Shih-Yu Lin, Troika Books.
Little Light is an extraordinary accomplishment – a verse novel with a story so engaging and immersing you often don’t notice it’s in verse, even though Coral frequently breaks the boundaries of the page to play with form.
Living in one room with her mum and two siblings after a marriage break up, on the cusp of leaving primary and entering secondary education, Ava is a child lost between worlds, her old school, her old self, her old life and that yet to come. Her discovery of a stray dog leads her into the future.
The light that Ava shines and finds is beautifully kindled by Coral’s luminous writing.
The book is sensitively illustrated by Shih-Yu Lin.
A sample:
Wagging
Wagging is a strange word.
If you’re wagging school –
you’re in trouble,
if a finger is pointed at you –
you’re in trouble,
but when a dog’s tail is wagging –
you’ve got approval.
Coral Rumble
Very much recommended – every school should have a copy. Five Stars.
There’s a Crocodile in the House, Paul Cookson, Illustrated by Liz Million, Otter-Barry Books
There’s a Crocodile in the House by Paul Cookson, Illustrations by Liz Million, Otter-Barry Books.
This is a book made for reading aloud – a parade of mad animals, pirate teachers, aliens and carnivorous toilet seats join the crocodile in the house, all poems just screaming for audience participation, heckling, joining in and repetition. This is a fun book for younger poetry lovers. The charming and witty illustrations are perfect.
Stars with Flaming Tails, by Valerie Bloom, Illustrated by Kevin Wilson-Max, Otter-Barry Books.
Stars with Flaming Tails by Valerie Bloom, Illustrated by Kevin Wilson-Max, Otter-Barry Books.
This is a super collection of poems in a multiplicity of forms – from the clever, funny wordplay and instantly recognisable family situations through poetry of dreams and fantasy, Valerie Bloom’s warm, empathetic voice shines. It’s a joyous book with a hug and I love it.
Here are a couple of examples:
Stars with Flaming Tails, by Valerie Bloom, Illustrated by Kevin Wilson-Max, Otter-Barry Books.Stars with Flaming Tails, by Valerie Bloom, Illustrated by Kevin Wilson-Max, Otter-Barry Books.
I now have a safe PayPal facility installed which means you can buy books straight from me, signed with a personal dedication – the perfect Christmas present!
Available are:
A few copies of first print run Animal Magic– Poems on a Disappearing World, illustrated by Rose Sanderson, and published by IRON Press.
Animal Magic, Poems on a Disappearing World
Review: It’s not every book of poems that crosses over the grown-up/child divide – but this is one that does so beautifully. Elegant poetry sits alongside interesting facts, enhanced by charming illustrations.
Price includes P&P. Email dedication wanted from contact page, with your name and address, and book’s name.
£10.00
Being Me, Poems about Thoughts, Worries and Feelings
Written with Laura Mucha and Matt Goodfellow, a ground-breaking collection offering understanding, support and encouragement, and advice from a leading developmental psychologist.
Price includes P&P. Email dedication wanted from contact page, with your name and address, and book’s name.
£8.00
Shaping the World, 40 Historical Heroes in Verse
20 amazing women and 20 amazing men who helped shape the world – in shape poems, all with biographical notes! Find out about Florence Nightingale’s pet owl, Benjamin Franklin’s windsurfing, and the youngest Nobel Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai.
Price includes P&P. Email dedication wanted from contact page, with your name and address, and book’s name.
Poetry Roundabout 