W is for Kate Wakeling, Poet Writing for Children #AtoZChallenge #ZtoA

Photo Credit: Tom Weller

Kate Wakeling

Kate’s poems have appeared in many magazines and anthologies. Her debut collection of children’s poetry, Moon Juice, illustrated by Elīna Brasliņa (The Emma Press) was described by The Sunday Times as “clever, funny, inspiring”, and won the 2017 CLiPPA (the only big poetry award specifically for children’s poetry); it was also nominated for the 2018 Carnegie Medal. You can buy and read about Moon Juice here. There is a link to Kate’s website here.

Here is one of Kate’s great poems:

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Little-Known Facts

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In secret, children can turn lightbulbs on and off with just their eyebrows.

 

When a child sneezes, the nearest adult briefly loses all reception on their mobile phone.

 

Left unwashed, children’s feet smell of perfectly-cooked spaghetti.

 

You can predict the next day’s weather on how tightly a child’s hair curls after a bath (extra curly = sunshine).

 

Behind children’s left ears grow tiny cacti which yield delicious juice every summer.

 

Children can see through brick walls of up to 15cm if the thing on the other side is definitely worth looking at.

 

When a child jumps up and down, fish in the nearest pond rise to the surface and blow a celebratory stream of bubbles.

 

Children can set up a reliable internet connection in any location using a pigeon and two drinking straws.

 

Children are able to smell a lie being told from 180 metres away.

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© Kate Wakeling (From Moon Juice, the Emma Press)

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