Who Let the Words Out?
Joshua Seigal, illustrated by Chris Piascik
Bloomsbury Education

Joshua Seigal keeps the mood light again with his latest assemblage of more than sixty poems. Many are on school-related topics including The Orange Table about being consigned to a group of less bright children in class. One verse goes like this: I’m not so hot at school work, / which means I’m not too smart / so I sit on the Orange Table / so I can be kept apart.’

Mistaken Identity refers to a happening I’ve been on the receiving end of numerous times although my gender doesn’t match that here: ‘I Called my teacher ‘Mummy’ / which, I’m sure you will concur, / was really rather stupid / as his real name is ‘Sir’. ‘

I particularly enjoyed Poem For Libraries: here’s the final verse. ‘Come to a place / that can sate your addiction / to rollicking rhymes / and fabulous fiction; / a place you can travel / through time at your leisure: / a library of pages / to savour and treasure.’ That could well be put on the door of every public library we’re lucky enough still to have, as well as on the wall of school libraries.

Cats, either large or small, as well as other animals, feature in several poems; you’ll also find one about a teacher acting very strangely, it’s called Going Feral and the final poem, also about a teacher, is one of the few sad ones: I Found It. I won’t quote any of that but hopefully it will whet your appetite and send you out to find a copy of this smashing new collection so you can read it in its entirety and enjoy Chris Piascik’s drawings too.