Dirty Beast by Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl's Dirty Beasts is a treat of humorous (slightly black) poems about animals. Poems include The Pig, The Crocodile, The Lion, The Scorpion, The Anteater, The Porcupine, The Cow, The Toad, and lastly, The Tummy Beast. They are all written in rhyming couplets and take ordinary animals and turn them into people-eating monsters, usually for reasons of self-preservation or because of some misunderstanding. This book is perfect for reading out loud and Quentine Blake's illustrations are as lively as ever. The one about the emaciated anteater who eats an aunt is good fun, but my  favourite poem is probably The Porcupine. You can watch an animation of it below:

Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes illustrated by Kate Greenaway

This is an enchanting, stitched,  little hardback published by Chancellor Press. The late eighteenth century style illustrations by Kate Greenaway do justice to these traditional nursery rhymes. Greenaways paintings were reproduced by chromoxlography, a process which was popular from the mid nineteenth to the early twentieth century, by which colours were printed from hand-engraved wood blocks. This is a beautiful facsimile of the original 1881 edition filled with over forty famous nursery rhymes. It is a welcome edition to our poetry section in the Little Library of Rescued Books in our classroom.

The contents page  and one of the first rhyme of the book

Australian Verse For the Young by Bindi-Bindi and Lynne Wilson

Poetry at its best,  the book Australian Verse for the Young, written by Bindi-Bindi and beautifully illustrated by Gympie artist Lynne Wilson, offers a fresh and engaging look at some of our Australian animals and landscapes through its verse. Rhyming couplets are a big feature. There are poems about a crocodile and a snake, a bilby, a dolphin, a cassowary and many other well-known Australian animals.. The settings for these poems are typically Australian, the iconic sandy white beach, the Australian Bush and  the outback. There is also a celebration of the Aussie barbecue and one of our great national parks, Kakadu. The book has a handy contents page and also an informative glossary at the back which gives an excellent summary of each of the animals making an appearance in the book. This book is a welcome addition to the poetry bookshelf in our classroom. Finally, a message from the author Bindi-Bindi:

We hope you'll enjoy this book of verse,

Some poems are wordy. others quite terse,

But our fauna is there for you to enjoy,

So come and meet them - don't be coy.

And whenever you open this picture book,

And at each of these creatures, you take a look,

Make them your friends, and you will find,

That animals, like people, will respond if you're kind.

Poems of Growth selected by Amanda Earl & Danielle Sensier

As the title suggests, Poems About Growth, this is a book all about things that are growing or in the minimalistic sense on the move, but its mainly limited to plants,  the seasons, buildings and physical growth. None of the poems are about personal growth. There are example of Haiku poetry, rhyming couplets but  not really any free verse entries. There are nineteen poems in all and each has an accompanying photograph. The photography is a definite feature of this book. Some of the poets/poetesses  include Christine Rossetti, Robert Fisher, Barbara Baker but there are also a few anonymous ones. There is also a contents page which probably isn't that necessary due to the limited nature of this anthology. Nevertheless, there are some great poems and this will be a useful addition to our basket devoted to poetry.

Loads and Loads of Limericks collected by David C. Harris

This hardback edition contains twenty-six limericks, each with a bold and detailed illustration by Allan Stomann. Some of the limericks have a publisher's note which often adds to the humour. See an example of this below These limericks were collected by David G. Harris (who sadly, does not come from Paris.) There is  a contents page at the beginning which is useful when trying to quickly locate the limerick you want. This compilation was first published in Australia by Angus & Robertson in 1985. It is a welcome edition to my classroom poetry selection.

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The Best Primary Poetry Anthology Ever selected by Lesley Pyott

It seems I have had this poetry wonder forever...well since my third year teaching in 1986. I have used it countless times to inspire children to poetry and it covers many topics, some being: Ghosts, The Circus, Trains, Animals, Cats, Dogs, People, The Beach, just to mention a few of the chapters in this book. Not only does it have a wide variety and forms of poetry, but it also includes some helpful suggestions to get students writing. This book now joins the poetry section in our Little Library of Rescued Books. It contains my favourite poem ever by Alfred Lord Tennyson:

The Eagle

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

The Dinosaur Diner and Other Poems by Paul Sidey

This hardback book contains twenty-four quirky poems about dinosaurs. It has a fairly sizeable cast including a fun-loving camarasaurus, a postie tyrannosaurus, the swotty iguandon, the struthiomimus who lives in  a penthouse, the parasaurolophous with strange dress sense and many more. The accompanying comical ink illustrations by Susan Hellard,  mirror the text well. This illustrator has a great portfolio which is worth a visit. Click on the link under the cover. The Dinosaur Olympics, one of the longer poems is certainly worth a read.
http://www.arenaillustration.com/Artists/thumbsSusanHellard.html

The Dinosaur rap is very entertaining:

If you wanna be a reptile you gotta stay cool
Snarl at your parents, don't go to school
Talk with your mouth full and pick your nose
Who's gonna stop you, do you suppose?

Get down my man and blow your horn
We're gonna party until dawn
There's no need to read so don't bother to write
It hurts your brain - hey let's go fight

If you mess with me you're gonna get zapped
Who says funky dinosaurs can't adapt?
If the world explodes, OK, no sweat
Let's boogie in the ruins to a rap cassette.

This could well be the anthem for a couple of students in my class this year.  Anyway, this will join the poetry section of our little classroom library and is a great reference point for looking at rhyme schemes and rhyming couplets.

The Hypnotiser by Michael Rosen

This is true to Michael's Rosens quirky  and sometimes side-splitting style.  His poems are created out of real situations which confront kids in every day life from the difficulty of eating a soggy pizza stuck in its paper bag on a train to a boy's beloved gold fish dying in its tank. There are many about the family and the funny little situations families are often confronting on a day to day basis. Many students will be able to identify with the themes in these poems. So, this poetry book joins two others by Rosen in our little classroom library. I promise the poems will brings smiles to your faces. Below is Rosen reading one of his poems from this book.

A Children's Zoo compiled by Julia Watson

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world he stands.


The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

This is one of my favourite poems, The Eagle by Alfred Lord Tennyson and it is one of the poems in this book. We had to learn it for an Eisteddfod when I was in grade 5 at Ulverstone High School. This poetry book, as the title suggests, is all about animals. It includes poems by Robert Frost, Rudyard Kipling, Ian Serraillier and D.H. Lawrence, as well as many others. The first section is all about the insect world, the following section is about four-footed animals, then there's a section on two footed creatures with poems entitled The Ostrich, The Bat, The Red Cockatoo, and the final part is an assortment ending with a poem called Wilderness. 
The poems are accompanied with ink drawings done by Karen Strachey. 

Down Behind The Dustbin

Michael Rosen's poems are actually funny and my last year's class just loved him, especially his video clips performing his own poetry which are available on line. This little book was one of his first. He writes about every day objects and circumstances, about things that would happen in a home... like the one about the mum waiting for her son to put his shoes on and he can't find them, or the one about what dad feeds the kids when the mum is away. I always was a big fan of his Down by the dustbin poems.

Down by the dustbin

I met a dog called Jim.

He didn't know me

And I didn't know him.

Check out the clip below of Rosen reciting some of his dustbin poetry.

Water Bombs by Steven Herrick

Steven Herrick is one of Australia's most popular poets. He has published many poetry book for adults, teenagers,and children. He prefers free verse and performs his poems throughout Australian schools, in pubs, at festivals and on radio and television. This is one of my favourites from this book.

10 Things You Will Never Say to Your Teacher:

Yes Mrs Meldrum, we'd love some more homework.

You never give us enough.

Oh no, not Sport again. Can't we stay inside and do Maths, please?

Yes Mrs Meldrum, we'd love to clean the classroom.

We hate it when it looks a mess.

We agree Mrs Meldrum, exams are fun.

What's that? You are sending us to the Principal.

Great! We love the Principal.

Yes Ms, you certainly do look too young to be a teacher.

Oh no, not another excursion!

We hate the beach.

Yes Ms, that was the lunch bell, but let's finish the lesson first.

We can wait for lunch.

But Ms, Mufti Days are so boring.

Can't we wear our uniforms instead?

Is tomorrow the last day of school?

Oh no. We hate holidays.

Can we come to school next week anyway Ms?

Please Ms, please.

Click on the link below to hear Steven reading his poem Trains which is also in this book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xeIkFLVNFI

Here's another from the book entitled To My Son Joe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmoTMJ8BxJw

Our Village by John Yeoman and Quentin Blake

John Yeoman and Quentin Blake have created an entire village, filled with interesting, eccentric and endearing characters. It is essentially a book of descriptive poems describing each of the main characters in this village. There is Mr Crumb the Baker, Mr Pruce the Postman, Mr Henry Arkwright who loves his penny-farthing bike, Little Miss Thynne the school teacher, two elderly citizens...Lily Bins and Elsie Crumb and many others.

The use of rhyme keeps the readers walk through the village lively and anticipating the next character. Farmer Trotter is quite memorable:

Old Father Trotter has five pigs,

All fat and pink and white;

He scratches at their backs until

They're grunting with delight.

Quentin Blake is one of my favourite illustrators whose quirky and comical drawings I came to know well though his illustration of Roald Dahl's books. He also illustrates for more recent author, David Walliam's. The maps provided of the village on the end covers of the book make for useful reference points.

Father William by Lewis Carroll

This nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll has been faithfully reproduced and illustrated by John Anthony King. It is a puzzling piece and it would be interesting to know what students may make of it. Father William appears eccentric but full of energy and his idiot questioner probably should be "kicked down the stairs." The young man is worried about becoming old, whereas the old man is content with his age. This poem appears in his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland which was published in 1865 and is recited by Alice in chapter 5.Evidently, it is a parody of Robert Southly's didactic poem The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them

Roll Over Pavlova compiled by June Factor

Australian rhymes and chants, riddles, and wordplay are just a few of the things covered in this book compiled by June Factor. It contains common expressions you may well hear Australian children singing, chanting or just talking about. There is even a section for adults. Here is one I can remember chanting as a child although we used to sing pencil-case instead of pillow-case:

Fatty and Skinny had a race

Up and down the pillow-case,

Fatty said it wasn't fair

Because he lost his underwear.

and then there is this one:

Naughty child

Angry Mum

Wooden spoon

Sore bum.

Now for some insults, taunts and threats:

Ice-cream and jelly

And a punch in the belly.

Don't look so sad, don't look so blue,

"Cause Frankenstein was ugly too.

Liar, liar, pants on fire,

Nose as long as a telephone wire.

Johnny Appleseed by Reeve Lindbergh and Kathy Jakobsen

There are many book about John Chapman, known as Johnny Appleseed, and this beautiful poetic tribute to him is an enjoyable read. The poetic narrative relates the story of his crusade to spread apple seeds from Masachusetts to America's Midwest. This version shows Johnny to be a gentle, religious with a genuine interest in the environment. The story is told through the eyes of Hannah Goodwin who observed his unusual career over the course of her lifetime. The full-paged and detailed folk art illustrations by Kathy Jakobsen complement the quilt pattern borders on the facing pages of text. The illustrations really warrant close attention as they hold many secrets.

Making Friends With Frankenstein by Colin McNaughton

Well we have just finished a unit on poetry so some of you might appreciate this book of poetry. It is chiefly made up of humorous poems to do with monsters and just plain weird stuff. There are some very clever forms of poetry in this book. The Wild Bill Hickok Bird is probably one of my favourites. Another which I found very imaginative was:

IT WAS A DAY LIKE ANY OTHER IN FISHTOWN

"Spare a penny, mister?" said the sea urchin.

"Neigh!" said the seahorse.

"Outta my way!" said the mussel.

"Halleluiah!" said the angelfish.

"You'll get nothing from me," said the clam.

"Weeee!" said the flying fish.

"Woof!" said the dogfish.

"Shocking!" said the electric eel.

"Do you think I am made of money?" said the goldfish.

The Bad Book by Andy Griffith & Terry Denton

Just ask James in my class if this book is worth reading and he will give you a resounding YES. I must agree they are pretty funny and definitely a little off beat, and sometimes, somewhat foul. Take this little one about grannies; totally politically correct, of course...NOT:

The Bad Granny

Once upon a time there was a bad granny.

She was bad

and evil

and mean

In fact she was so bad and evil and mean that they put her in a truck with all the other bad grannies and took her to the Granny Smith Apple Factory.

The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Poo is quite a take on the traditional old lady who simply swallowed a spider!

Terry Denton's ink drawings add greatly to the humour of the poems and riddles. So if you are feeling a bit sad or slightly depressed this book will bring you some cheer.

The Lonesome Howl by Steven Herrick

Now this might be a good book to take a look at since we are doing a big poetry unit in third term when I get back from France. Steven Herrick was the youngest of seven children, thought you might like to know that Caleigh. Lots of descriptive poetry about two families and bush life: Dad accidentally shooting Winnie the pig, a son escaping onto the shed roof for some peace and quiet, a wolf at Wolli Creek, Lucy crouching by the creek, Jake getting mad with Lucy at the swamp. The poems all link together to give you insight into family life: fun times, arguments, resentments and children with too many questions. Want to meet the author, see what he's like? Click on this link to hear him recite his poem Ten Things Your Parents Will Never Say:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3jZyonew2Y&feature=related

Michael Rosen's a to Z: The Best Children's Poetry from Agard to Zephaniah

In this book famous British poet, Michael Rosen, is promoting contemporary poetry for children. I found this book at Shiploads whilst looking for Cathy Cassidy books. (Turns out all our girls had emptied the shelves of Cassidy weeks ago). It is an A to Z of British poets. Evidently these poems were carefully selected to show the varied ways that poetry can excite, entertain and intrigue. The poems are haunting, musical, compassionate with the world be looked at from many askew angles. Below is a fantastic link to Michael Rosen's website so you can read and listen to some of his poetry. Some of the videos are very funny and really worth watching. One of the funniest ones is London Airport. Fast Food is also pretty funny.

http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/hyp_london.html