Moonstruck: Poems About Our Moon

It is always a treat to have a new anthology from Roger Stevens. This collection certainly does not disappoint. Taking inspiration from the celebrations around the first moon landing fifty years ago, Roger has gathered together work from a galaxy of poets, sprinkling the contemporary with the past, The result is an eclectic mix of the lyrical, the matter-of-fact, the humorous. Many of the poets are already well known – Roger, himself, Liz Brownlee, Rachel Rooney, Shelley, Yeats. Others may not be so familiar but readers will want to find more from their imaginations after meeting them here. Throughout, Ed Boxall’s atmospheric illustrations and page decorations capture the flavour of each poem – magical, mysterious, haunting, funny. Here, in words combined with images we meet the moon in all guises; a rock in the sky, an inspiration, a piece of cheese. This is an anthology that does stand out and should be visited again and again, allowing young readers to be drawn in by the ideas and images the poets offer. It is an anthology to be explored both in the class together, or privately.