View source for What Rhymes With Sneeze? by Roger Stevens

{{infobox1
|title=What Rhymes With Sneeze?
|author=Roger Stevens
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1408155769
|pages=89
|publisher=A & C Black Publishers Ltd
|date=March 2012
|summary=This isn't just a collection of fun poems for children to enjoy but also an excellent introduction to the different styles of poetry and how to go about writing your own.
|cover=1408155761
|aznuk=1408155761
|aznus=1408155761
}}
Poems often seem to lose their appeal as we get older.  They become tricky things that must be interpreted and understood and written about in essays rather than the instantly enjoyable experiences they are when you're a child.  This book contains a wide variety of poems, written by the author but also some written by other poets, and the author uses them to show children about the different sorts of poetry, various rhyme schemes and how to go about writing your own poems too.

He begins by looking at what rhymes are, different patterns of rhymes that are used within poems, always providing examples so you can see what he means.  He goes through a large variety, including the use of alliteration and assonance and internal rhymes.  He then moves on to discuss different types of poems with everything from Limericks and ballads to tongue twisters, haikus and sonnets!  It's all written to be easily understood by an upper primary school aged child, but even younger children will still enjoy listening to some of the poems read out loud.  It doesn't have a 'textbook' feel, so shouldn't be off-putting to any homework-phobic children!  There are black and white drawings sprinkled throughout which add a little more humour and also help with the fun feel to the book.

The final section gives a useful guide to how to write poetry.  It talks about how it can take a lot of practise, to keep a notebook and make sure you read poems aloud to see if they rhythm works.  There's a section on how to actually begin, how to find rhymes, and even how to begin at the end, writing the final line first so you don't get stuck with a tricky rhyme!

Some of the poems are better than others, as is always the case with a collection like this, but they're all excellent examples to learn from.  This would be a great book to purchase for any child who is a budding poet or is interesting in writing generally and would perhaps appreciate some guidance on how to get started.

Children might also enjoy reading [[Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech]] and [[A Children's Treasury of Milligan by Spike Milligan]]

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