I Wish I had a Pirate Hat by Roger Stevens
| I Wish I had a Pirate Hat by Roger Stevens | |
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| Category: Children's Rhymes and Verse | |
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Reviewer: Julia Jones
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| Summary: Simple, humourous poems for young children – entertaining and with educational use. | |
| Buy? yes | Borrow? yes |
| Pages: 80 | Date: August 2015 |
| Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781847806185 | |
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I was worried, initially, that all these poems were going to be about pirates. How would Roger Stevens keep the interest going if he was confined to the staple diet of treasure maps and skull and crossbones? In fact, there are only three pirate poems but they are the first three and the book cover gives little indication of the variety within. I Wish I Had a Pirate Hat contains forty-five poems grouped into Fun Time, School Time, Home Time. No poem is longer than a page and there’s sufficient range of form and tone to keep one reading. There’s also sufficient consistency to allow one to drop in at random and with confidence.
The poems are generally charming, simple and varied and will help young children experience the joy of words. Teachers may also find this book helpful when explaining techniques such as the use of similes - as quick as a scribble in a green notebook. Just occasionally the tone may tip towards the twee, becoming overly self-conscious in adopting the child’s point of view and therefore patronising. This is only occasional however and I will have no hesitation in handing this volume directly to my grandchildren as well as reading it with them.
I might also give them a pack of colouring pencils as the slightly glib black-and-white illustrations would be much more fun if coloured in and perhaps extended by the child’s own imagination. I hope that these unpretentious poems will also encourage young writers to have a go themselves.
Budding writers would certainly benefit from Roger Stevens's advice and examples in What Rhymes with Sneeze. A lovely gift for slightly older children would be Michael Rosen's collection A to Z The Best Children's Poetry from Agard to Zephaniah. You might also enjoy A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea: Favourite Rhymes from an Irish Childhood by Sarah Webb and Steve McCarthy.
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You can read more book reviews or buy I Wish I had a Pirate Hat by Roger Stevens at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy I Wish I had a Pirate Hat by Roger Stevens at Amazon.com.
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