The Good Child's Guide to Rock'n'Roll

Duffy’s latest collection for children is a mixed bag. It begins with 10 poems about rock and roll icons such as Bill Haley. The poems and their subjects are unlikely to grab the attention of many children and I imagine a great many readers giving up at this point. That’s a shame as the collection has some amazing poems and stunning imagery. Who wouldn’t smile at the image of ‘the six wives of Henry VIII standing in the room like bridesmaids’? Or for that matter the idea of the dead enjoying fine weather as the living come and picnic on them. Some of the poems including ‘The Wasp’, ‘Moth’ and ‘A Child’s Song’ hark back to a more nostalgic type of children’s poetry. Elsewhere Duffy continues her gender twisting poems with poems such as ‘Henrietta, The Eighth’. This collection will sell because of her name and reputation. Knowing this though, I suspect her publishers have been a bit lazy with both the look of this collection and its editing. As a result it may be quite hard to get children to actually read it.