The Flying Machine of Dreams
Kate Wakeling and Viviane Schwarz
Otter-Barry Books

From The Softest Things to a Shapeshifter and Word Food to a Little Worm, Kate Wakeling finds things to celebrate, things that will amuse readers in her seventeen beautifully crafted poems in her first collection for younger audiences.

A number of the poems celebrate close, careful observation: being a tree lover, one such that I particularly enjoyed is Six Ways of Looking at a Leaf. Here’s number 6: ‘Leaves breathe. / (It’s why we can too.)/ Hold the leaf close. / Breathe in and out. / See how it sways.’ It’s absolutely full of potential if shared in the classroom.

So too is Bubble: ‘ … a million rainbow twinkles, /winking in the sun. //It’d be fun / to dance through / soft, / round as a moon / made of magic glass.’ Bursting with joy, that one for sure.

Perfect for those times when you want nothing more than to relax is Song of the Slow which invites the reader/listener to ‘Feel slow inside, / like the soft green grass / as it grows, // then wave hello / to the things / that sing / the song of the slow.’ I wonder what slow things a group of children might wave to.

With their immediacy and directness, every poem is enormously engaging and will excite and inspire Foundation Stage and KS1 audiences, all the more so with Viviane Schwarz’s gorgeous illustrations.

A treat for all the senses, this is a simply splendid, must have book for both home and class collections.