Don’t Poke a Worm till it Wriggles

What better way to introduce young children to rhythm and rhyme and the various verse patterns than with this cheerful solo collection of 54 poems in which the humble worm achieves celebrity status. As the assortment of worms – happy and pensive, artistic and brave, and even a bookworm – wriggle through the pages, they have plenty to say about themselves and the world. One per page and cheerily illustrated, the poems take on different forms. There are couplets and shape poems, list poems and tongue twisters, alphabet and narrative poems – and more besides.  Written with flair, they all emphasise the richness of sounds and words. Many are based on the familiar patterns of nursery rhymes, chants and action verses – among them Sing a Song of Sixpence, Hey Diddle Diddle, Mary Mary Quite Contrary and Incey Wincey Spider.

The author, an established poet, has also written extensively on the teaching of poetry in the classroom. Both skills are apparent in this collection. While the parodying of nursery rhymes adds much to the jollity of the poems, it also stimulates children’s enjoyment by building on their existing knowledge. A witty and thoroughly enjoyable collection, perfect for dipping into, it also has a place in the classroom as a stimulus for children’s own poetry writing, for performing, in project work and for learning by heart.