Once Upon a Poem: Favourite Poems that Tell Stories

This would make a lovely gift book for any child. Using a tried and true formula, the book asks 15 writers to ‘champion’ their favourite story poem. Who wouldn’t be intrigued to read their favourite writers’ choices? This type of anthology does tend to throw up the usual suspects, but then shouldn’t every child be read ‘Jabberwocky’ at some stage? Most of the choices are classic poems, but it’s nice to see Auden and Dahl taking their place in this collection. The book has four illustrators, which keeps the visual interest high. I would have preferred a bit more from the writer about why they chose the poem, but clearly they were given a very tight word limit, perhaps not to distract us from their choices. This is a beautifully produced book, full of wonderful poems.