Don't Get Your Knickers in a Twist!

Review also includes:

Ye New Spell Book, chosen by Brian Moses, ill. Alan Rowe, 978-0330397087

Toothpaste Trouble, chosen by Nick Toczek, ill. Gerald Hawksley, 978-0330397537

These three collections aimed at Junior school children are cheerful and entertaining. Cookson’s anthology is packed full of wordplay, clichés and idioms summed up by Nick Toczek’s poem ‘Them’. ‘“If you ask me,” she said, / “They’re two sandwiches short of a picnic / Cos their heads aren’t screwed on right / So they act like the goat, / Monkey around, / Get up to no good / And, when all’s said and done, / Behave like a set of complete idioms.”’

Ye New Spell Book is a collection of magical verse with a spell for almost everything. There are spells to turn hamsters into dinosaurs and to banish pimples. There are curses for enemies and charms for lovers. Toothpaste Trouble is a lively collection of poems taking the reader from breakfast to bedtime. All three anthologies are in the ‘light-hearted fun read’ genre of anthologies and would be a good appetiser for children wanting to write their own poems and experiment with wordplay.