The Shape of Rainbows
Neal Zetter, illustrated by Will Hughes
Otter-Barry Books

There’s a zippy zing to the poems herein – nearly fifty in all – and they simply cry out to be read aloud to, and by, primary children. Although on second thoughts that excludes Breakfast unless you are a pronunciation wizard and can say ‘Greg / Gges / Segg / Ggse’ as well as R a ndo m because how it looks on the page is part of the fun.

There’s one poem where every single word (and there are rather a lot) begins with the letter A either in its lower case or capital form. It’s title is Adam’s Apple and it tells of a boy who consumed nothing but apples until something unpleasant happened to him and then, on the advice of adults, he changed his diet.

When I was a classroom teacher, be that in the foundation stage, KS1 or KS2, we had a daily ‘together time’ session for children to share their ideas, things they’d made etc and I always shared a poem. Neal’s latest collection is one I would definitely add to my ‘go to’ books of poems to use in such sessions. What child wouldn’t want to hear The Day I Ate My School wherein the young narrator apologises for having consumed a most unlikely school dinner, or learn of an Interstellar Mum and I would certainly encourage everyone to Grab a Book and as Neal says in the opening lines ‘Open it / Relish it / Ogle it / Cherish it ‘ …

Will Hughes adds to the fun of every spread with one of his zany black and white illustrations.