Reissue of the prizewinning first collection from an author now firmly established as a leading children's poet
Teach me the language of Cat:
the slow-motion blink, that crystal stare,
a tight-lipped purr and a wide-mouthed hiss.
Let me walk with a saunter, nose in the air
Full of wordplay and riddles, with poems that will make you laugh, tell you stories and make you think. Rachel Rooney's prize-winning debut poetry collection, first published in 2011, is now reissued by Otter-Barry books by popular demand, for a new generation of children.
A box of delights Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate 2009-19
Thoughtful, quirky, sensitive, amusing, edgy Books for Keeps
Funny, fast-paced, lyrical and thought-provoking ... the poems will grow in the reader's mind with re-reading, year by year. Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, prize citation
This book is brilliant because anyone, at any age, can read and enjoy it. It would be perfect for a birthday or Christmas present, and anyone who got it would be very lucky! English 4-11
This is a re-issue of Rachel's first and award-winning collection of poems and what a smasher it is, brilliantly inventive and inviting readers to look at the world and things in it, in an entirely fresh way... Altogether the book's a testament to the power of language and its versatile nature; there's something to please all tastes here. Quirky stylised drawings by Ellie Jenkins grace many of the pages.
* Red Reading Hub *Rachel Rooney is among the most admired children's poets of our time. She worked as a teacher of special needs children while bringing up her three sons, and continues to take a close interest in the welfare of children with mental health problems. She is the author of My Life as a Goldfish (2014), A Kid In Our Class, shortlisted for the CLiPPA Children's Poetry Prize in 2019, and Hey, Girl! (2021). She lives in Brighton, East Sussex.
Ellie Jenkins is a freelance illustrator. She graduated from University College Falmouth in 2010 and has illustrated a wide variety of children's books, including fairy tales, folklore story adaptations, and poetry. She is also illustrator of Rachel Rooney's second collection of poems, My Life as a Goldfish. Ellie Jenkins lives and works in Bristol, England.