Higglety Pigglety Pop! And Other First Poems by Harry Horse

Higglety Pigglety Pop! And Other First Poems by Harry Horse
Buy Higglety Pigglety Pop! And Other First Poems by Harry Horse at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Children's Rhymes and Verse
Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
Summary: An anthology of poems for young children including such classics as Lear, Milligan, Milne, Carroll and Rosen. In its own right, Higglety Pigglety Pop! is a wonderful set of poems, but other recent anthologies have raised the bar considerably.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: May 2009
Publisher: Walker
ISBN: 978-1406323146
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A poetry anthology that includes Edward Lear, Spike Milligan, AA Milne, Lewis Carroll and Michael Rosen is immediately worth a look. They're timeless classics that everyone has read and has had read to them.

These old favourites are as amusing as ever, with wonderful rhymes and rhythms. They crop up fairly regularly in anthologies (not that one should take them for granted), so the real measure is the strength of the other poems. Of those that I wasn't already familiar with, I particularly enjoyed Laura E Richards' Eletelephony, Eleanor Farjeon's Cats and Shel Silverstein's Valentine.

A few of the other poems are slightly less strong. They're not weak links by any means, they just don't click quite as well as the excellent ones. I've always just assumed that's the nature of the beast with poetry anthologies - most are great, some are wonderful, some merely ok. However, there have been some particularly wonderful anthology releases recently, which have raised the bar.

Harry Horse's illustrations are lots of fun. They're simple, effective, and manage to suit all the different styles of poems perfectly. They allow the poems to shine, but still provide a cohesion throughout.

In its own right, Higglety Pigglety Pop! is a wonderful set of poems for reading with young children. They'll love them. If it's one of many poetry anthologies you'll own, it's a great choice. If you're only going to have one on your bookshelves, then there are some that are magnificent, rather than just very good.

I shall simply cut and paste what I said on the review of the excellent Noisy Poems by Debi Gliori: We've been spoiled for choice with books about poetry recently. Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar by John Foster is a slightly longer, but equally wonderful, set of quirky poems. A Kick In The Head: An Everyday Guide To Poetic Forms by Paul B Janeczko and Chris Raschka might sound like it would be worthy but dull, but actually it's great fun and a must-read. Favourite Nursery Rhymes by Brian Wildsmith is a must-have.

My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag. We also have a review of Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back by Shel Silverstein.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Higglety Pigglety Pop! And Other First Poems by Harry Horse at Amazon.com.

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