Poems on Toast
Attie Lime, illustrated by Emily Ford
Troika Books
Probably most suitable for KS2 readers is Attie Lime’s latest collection of poetry. Her focus is childhood experiences and although the majority of the poems are upbeat, others embrace more serious subjects, including sadness. This is something she presents sensitively, particularly in Nan:
‘Full to the brim with smiles / she knew how to / turn a day on its head, / discover silver streamers in the grey sky, / find golden treasure in the long, wet grass.’ Beautiful that. So too is Three Weeks After wherein two sit side by side beneath a big tree ‘… and we were for a minute, listening to the wind. // Then she said, Come on Pet, can you grow me a little smile? / I tried to remember all the things you need for / something to grow / but the only one I could think of was / light. // … It’s still too dark, I said.’
In light-hearted mood is Once Upon a Riddle that uses fairytale memes: ‘Once upon a hungry troll / lived three goats on a bridge. / … Once upon a time grandma / lived a wolf in wait of Red. / Once upon a spindle / lived a sleeping girl (not dead)./ … Once upon a poem / lived a riddle in your head.’ This poem could well inspire children to invent their own ‘Once upons’ having heard this one read aloud. So could Things I Imagine When I Am Bored that begins: ‘Rocket-fish and yogurt trees / tiger-slime, cake dungarees / lorry-lollies, jelly-pens’ and ends with ‘unhatched poem-eggs.’ I wonder what might hatch from eggs of the children in your class or family.
Getting to know oneself is a theme in Things I didn’t say at School Today and The Race, both of which will resonate emotionally with most children, the latter describing lying awake worrying about a forthcoming running race.
There’s the odd riddle and occasional nonsense such as the rather tongue-twisting Hatched, the opening lines of which are: ‘On a snoozle-coloured tumpday / when the clouds were full of hoo / an egging hatched wiffly / and out popped a snuglet (blue).’
A terrific read aloud book illustrated in black and white by Emily Ford that I heartily recommend.
