Sheep Don't Go to School: Mad and Magical Children's Poetry

This is something special. The poet Andrew Fusek Peters, whose parents fled Prague in 1948, has selected a fantastic array of poems, rhymes and riddles from Eastern Europe. There are some familiar poets - Gerda Mayer, Miroslav Holub, Nina Cassian, Marin Sorescu and Yevtushenko, accompanied by traditional tales and rhymes, older than children's poetry, but which speak directly and poetically to the reader like the traditional Serbian poem 'Brotherless Sisters': 'Two sisters who had no brother/ Made one of silk to share,/Of white silk and of red./ For his waist they used barberry wood,/ Black eyes, two precious stones./ For eyebrows, sea leeches,/ Tiny teeth a string of pearls...' There are funny poems, magical poems, thought provoking and heart stopping poems, inspirationally translated by some of our best translators. Czech born Prachatick$aG obviously loved every minute of illustrating this book and her inimitable pictures beautifully echo and complement the poems and the spirit of the book. This book should be in everyone's poetry collection, not just because of the wonderful poetry, fresh views and new experiences; but because it gives us a chance to think of Eastern European countries like Albania, Estonia, Russia and the Czech republic as places with people who have dreams and a sense of humour rather than just names we hear on the news. Buy it!