The Orchard Book of Favourite Rhymes and Verse

A lively collection comprising some 40 poems, jingles, counting rhymes, action rhymes and songs. There are nursery favourites such as ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ and Carolyn Sherwin Bailey’s ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’, nonsense verse by the likes of Lear, Nash and Milligan, and contemporary poets are represented by, among others, John Agard, Grace Nichols and Tony Mitton alongside the more classic Milne, de la Mare, Hood and Rossetti. The mood is largely upbeat and many of the choices are highly ‘join-inable’, though there is also the occasional more contemplative offering such as Kipling’s ‘The White Seal’.

With no fewer than 22 illustrators used there is a great variety of style and page layout so, assuredly this makes it a great book for dipping into whenever there are a few minutes to fill. Such are the pleasures to be found therein however, one could easily find those minutes stretching out into much longer sessions. A book to foster a love of language – both verbal and visual – at home or at school.