What is your favourite word?

I like CRUNCHY and FIZZLE and TOAST

CARPET sure takes some beating

But I think I love LOVING the most

From cool boys and Year Six Sisters to the chicken school timetable; from Dad's terrible dancing to Mum's cunning treasure trail; dogs, hamsters, and dragons; sad times, happy times, love and togetherness - plus the joy and fun of poetry.

With themes of Family, School, Pets, the Wild, Being a Poet and Personal Favourites, this is an outstanding, exuberant collection of the very best work from one of the best-loved poets writing today.

About the Author

Roger Stevens started his career as a teacher, but finding how much children enjoy poetry performances and workshops, he switched to writing. His first books were published in the 1990s, and his first solo poetry collection was published in 2002. In 1998 he founded the online PoetryZone, an international platform for young poets and readers of poetry, which has published around 30,000 poems by children and runs regular competitions, reviews and features. He enjoys working with other poets and The Waggiest Tails, "Poems by Dogs", written with Brian Moses, is on the Otter-Barry Books list. He is also editor of Moonstruck! Poems about Our Moon. Roger lives in Hove, Sussex.

Mike Smith is a prizewinning illustrator (Macmillan Prize 2010), who gained an MA in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, and is also an author in his own right (The Hundred Decker Bus). Mike lives in Wales, with his family, two dogs, "and a growing collection of pencils".

Reviews

"Roger Stevens is my favourite children's poet. You'll love this collection."

-- Baroness Floella Benjamin

"All the best and most frequently requested poems from one of the UK's most popular poets."

* The Bookseller *

"From an acclaimed writer of poems about school and family life comes an inventive, inspiring and funny collection that asks to be performed and imitated. A good way to start the new year with laughs."

-- Nicolette Jones * The Sunday Times Best Children's Books of 2022 *

"With themes including Family, School, Pets, the Wild, Being a Poet and Personal Favourites, this is a self-selected collection of Stevens' best work. I particularly enjoyed the poet's italicised annotations at the foot of some of the poems. As he says in the collection's witty introduction, "Just like I do when I'm performing, I often tell you something about the poem; maybe how I came to write it, or how you could perform it."

* Achuka (Book of the Day) *

"Roger Stevens has done a lot to light the poetry world, and his poems always brighten an anthology...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.

Very much recommended, wittily illustrated by Mike Smith. Five stars."

* Poetry Roundabout *

"A lovely collection of poems... its themes will appeal to any school-goer or parents of one as they emerge from the human space of thoughts, feelings like joy, sadness, anger, loneliness and excitement...

A good read beckoning all to learn, empathise, motivate, enjoy and express themselves through poetry as well."

* Armadillo Magazine *

"Stevens' irrepressible humour wriggles its way through the book... A long time favourite poet of mine and the many children and trainee teachers with whom I've share his work, it's a delight to lay my hands on this fizzing collection."

* Reading Zone *



Book Information
ISBN 9781913074418
Author Roger Stevens
Format Paperback
Page Count 112
Imprint Otter-Barry Books Ltd
Publisher Otter-Barry Books Ltd