Tag Rachel Rooney

The Language of Cat

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The Language of Cat
Rachel Rooney, illustrated by Ellie Jenkins
Otter-Barry Books

This is a reissue of Rachel’s first and award winning collection of poems and what a smasher it is, brilliantly inventive and inviting readers to look at the world and things in it, in an entirely fresh way.

Some such as Post are deliciously droll. Take this wherein a queen, ‘Fed up bored, decided to quit / so used her head and some royal spit. / Flicked through a book, picked a random address : / 5, The High Street, Inverness. / Stuck her face on a card, destination beneath. Does one fancy a swap, Ms Morag Mackeith? / Posted if off, didn’t delay.’ (Sadly however said queen receives no response.)

It’s absolutely impossible to choose favourites, I’m likely to change my mind at each reading of the book but today some I especially enjoyed are Defending the Title which begins ‘I am the word juggler’ and concludes ‘I am the champion’ both of which are entirely applicable to the author.

O the Wonderful shape of an O is a superb example of a shape poem – 


Gravity made me smile: the thought of ‘ripe conkers, bombs, cow dung, / those pencils we lose / from coat pockets, high jumpers / like large kangaroos, / confetti, leaves, litter, a melee of fruit, / all those sticks thrown for puppies / and those footballs we boot.’ all whirling around in space if it weren’t for gravity.

Predictive Text really made me laugh as I’m forever cursing my Mac for changing things I write and need always to be watchful and check blogposts at the last minute (pooing and weeing just now got altered to posting and seeing).
Then there’s Bookmark that strongly appeals to my bookish nature.

Altogether the book’s a testament to the power of language and its versatile nature; there’s something to please all tastes here. Quirky stylised drawings by Ellie Jenkins grace many of the pages.

A Kid in My Class

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A Kid in My Class
Rachel Rooney illustrated by Chris Riddell
Otter-Barry Books

This is an absolutely smashing collaboration between prize-winning poet Rachel Rooney and former Children’s Laureate, illustrator Chris Riddell.

As the author says at the outset, readers will likely see elements of themselves in not just one, but several of the characters portrayed in her superb poems and Chris’s awesome artwork.
It’s pretty certain too that school-age youngsters will be able to say, ‘that person’ in any of these works ‘is just like so and so’. I recognise all of the members of Rachel’s learning community; I suspect I’ve taught each and every one of them, many times over. There are those who’ll drive you crazy, make you laugh, cry, leap for joy; but no matter what you’ll love them all.

There’s First; this pupil is always first to arrive in the playground; first on the register; first to put her hand up to answer a question; first to have that new item that becomes a craze. This young miss can be more than a tad annoying.

As a teacher I’ve always had a soft spot for a Daydreamer; one who’s head and mind are somewhere far away from classroom reality perhaps during circle times or when the register is called.

I could have been the model for A Girl; the bookish child with ‘a farway look. // Head in the clouds. Nose in a book.’
… ‘Views the world in black and white. … Thinks. //… has pale, thin skin. // Bones of a bird. Heart on a string.’ Still am pretty much, even now; that’s me.

Then there’s The Artist, the inveterate doodler who cannot resist adding the personal touch to the photos in newspapers, who fashions a tattoo ‘ a black and blue rose’ around a bruise, or adds creatures to crawl up the brickwork.

I could go on raving about each and every person that is part and parcel of this class; imbued with one of childhood’s most crucial features, a boundless imagination, they can all engage in flights of fancy, imagining him or herself as fighter of a grizzly bear and astronaut in training (Don’t Walk, Run!);

or ‘speedier than googling Wikipedia’ potential Thesaurus, Wordsmith; even the class pet hamster has the ability to see itself as  muscle exerciser, French learner, Kandinsky recogniser.

Recently it’s been reported in the news, that poetry doesn’t really have a place in classrooms nowadays. What utter rubbish. It’s a book such as this that will most definitely demonstrate the absurdity of such a statement. Share a couple of these poems with a class or group and I’ll guarantee they’ll be clamouring to get their hands on a copy.
Totally brilliant!

Poetry Bookshelf

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If you want something to get your children enthusiastic about poetry then one of these (or all) will surely appeal …

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There’s a Monster in the Garden
David Harmer
Frances Lincoln pbk
This is a new edition from ex-headteacher, Harmer, re-illustrated and with an additional ten poems. Some of the poems feature school in its many aspects but the author covers a wide range of topics. Not schoolish unless you are thinking of Hogwarts or want your teacher to grow donkey’s ears is Harry Hobgoblin’s Superstore that sells all manner of spells, powders and potions; or Frosty Pinchface – what a wonderful name – with his ‘Fingers like icicles poking us to death,/Horrid hoarse whispers chill us to the core.” BRRR! And, if you’re out and about, watch out for Great Gran who is ‘manic on her motor bike.’ – a stunt-woman extraordinaire or that ghosty pirate of old Whitby Dock.
David Harmer is popular as a performance poet and it’s easy to see why. I too have had great fun sharing the contents of this book with primary school children on many occasions. (I did have to have a secret practice of Slick Nick’s Dog Tricks and Pasting Patsy’s Pasty Posters first though).

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Crazy Classrooms
Paul Cookson
Frances Lincoln pbk
This is a funny, schoolcentric collection of over sixty snippets of life all seemingly written by those in the thick of it. There are also some more serious poems such as First Day New Class Blues, Iqbal Doesn’t Really Like School and Mothers’ Day Cards all of which really pack a powerful punch.
All aspects of life in a primary school are covered from The First Day After the Holidays which celebrates what’s good about the start of term, the school photograph – always something of a nightmare in my experience, there’s a humorous look at what teachers wear on their feet (boring socks) and around their necks – The Ties That Blind, a look at the joys (and otherwise) of school trips the playful take on teachers and their subjects – ‘The music teacher with no rhythm – Mister Beet’, ‘The depressing French teacher … Miss Eree’, not forgetting ‘The supply teacher who teachers all the subjects – Miss Ellaneous’ – to name just three of the cast of Twenty Teachers at our School. We also visit the staff room, meet The Office Manager – a vital person in any school, bullies, friends and much more – animate and inanimate.
Every one herein cries out to be read aloud but make sure you don’t leave your copy lying around in a primary classroom; it’s bound to be nicked.

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My Life as a Goldfish
Rachel Rooney
Frances Lincoln pbk
This is the second of Rooney’s collections for children and she is the deserved winner of the CLPE Poetry Prize  Every one herein delights in its own way. Playful or thoughtful? Public or private? Long or short? Rhyming or not rhyming? You’ll find them all here whatever your taste. I’d find it very hard if not impossible to pick a favourite, but some I particularly love are Stone the first couplet of which is‘ Stone remembers sea: its salty lap./Sea remembers river’s winding map.’
Wide Open is also wonderful, managing in just 15 lines to capture much of the magnificence of our cosmos through a ‘magic eye’: an unhatched baby bird within its egg, sun, stars and a nameless planet in the galaxy, the vibrating hairs on the belly of an ant and finally, ‘Yesterday it spied on your nightmares/and tomorrow it will spy on your dreams.’ It makes one shiver and shudder inside. As does, for altogether different reasons, Wolf Girl who having lapped up hot pea soup is ‘curled in the lair of her robes,/howls for her brothers prowling the woods below.’
Then there’s two that (with my teacher’s hat on) really made me laugh Mrs Von Hugh – the teacher so fierce she could scare off the flu; and The Problem with Spelling which beautifully and succinctly sums up just that. And there’s the much more serious Liar wherein we are shown the alarming consequences of telling a single lie. It fed in the dark, grew fat on my shame/as I carried it with me. It whispered my name.
A book to draw readers in and then, I’m sure they’ll find themselves trapped within the covers for many hours relishing what they discover. It’s also one to share with a class and I suspect, like mine, your audiences will keep demanding, “Just one more.”

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