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Michael Rosen's A to Z Michael Rosen's A to Z

The Best Children's Poetry from Agard to Zephaniah
by Michael Rosen

This poetry collection features poets for every letter of the alphabet – well almost! Chosen by former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen, there is a poem for every mood and moment – from sensationally silly, to poignant and powerful.

Includes poems from Allan Ahlberg, Paul Cookson, Carol Ann Duffy, John Hegley, Jackie Kay, Roger McGough, Adrian Mitchell, Gervaise Phinn and many more.

 

This book is for you whether you’re new to poems or poetry’s biggest fan – you can dip in and out of, or read from cover to cover!

 

Publisher: Puffin

Extract

 

Spellbound


Ride with me
On this lyrical roller coaster
My syllable slices
Will feed your hunger
As they pop up and down
Like a Jamaican toaster

Chilling in my simile cocoon
Just biding my time
The moment is perfect
Let’s get ready to rhyme

Watch your step
As my Webb is spun
Drop your baggage at check in
The lighter you travel
The more fun

Submerge yourself, in this
Lip-hop metaphor
Resistance is futile,
As I hold the key to the door

I leave you tongue-tied like Houdini
You’ll never escape my barrel of words
Your belly expands with laughter
As you guzzle on my contagious verbs

My acid adjectives
Hack deep into your heart
Reprogramming your software
Be afraid!
Be very afraid
For this is just the start

You’ll be my reluctant patient
And I’ll play the over enthusiastic nurse
Drip feeding rhythm and rhyme
Through my life saving verse

Bringing forth gifts of expression
With the knowledge of 3 wise men
Verbalizm is the one Like Nio
Now five plus four equals ten

Verbalizm is the ultimate fighter
A lion that can’t be tamed
A fusion of text and colour
This canvas is too big to be framed

There’ll be no light limericks
This operation is far too serious for that
Lights, camera, action!
Cut! . . .
Now that’s what I call a Rap!

Ad-libbing like a master chef
Preparing food, to serenade the nose
One whiff of this concoction
Leaves you spellbound, by my Moorish prose

 

Adisa

 

The Soldiers Came

The soldiers came
and dropped their bombs.
The soldiers didn’t take long
to bring the forest down.

With the forest gone
the birds are gone.
With the birds gone
who will sing their song?

But the soldiers forgot
to take the forest
out of the people’s hearts.
The soldiers forgot
to take the birds
out of the people’s dreams.
And in the people’s dreams
the birds still sing their song.

Now the children
are planting seedlings
to help the forest grow again.
They eat a simple meal of soft rice
wrapped in banana leaf.
And the land welcomes their smiling
like a shower of rain.

John Agard

About the author

  • Michael Rosen
    Michael Rosen

    Michael Rosen

    Children's Laureate 2007-2009 Michael Rosen is one of the best-known figures, not only of the children's book world, but also of the British arts scene. His first book of children's poems was published in 1974, and he has gone on to write numerous award-winning children's poetry books, picture books and... Read more about Michael Rosen

Video & audio

  • Michael Rosen's A to Z Booked Up video

  • Michael Rosen's A to Z Booked Up video (signed version)

Featured reviews

I love reading poems and this book is every type of poem I love. There are funny poems,...
Fred
I think this book is a brilliant book to read. It won't only make you laugh it draws...
Keely-Ann

Reviews

I love reading poems and this book is every type of poem I love. There are funny poems, tongue twisters and ones that you really have to think about to understand. The book is amazing value for what it is. It will last for ages, because there are so many poems that you just want to read aloud to your friends. Michael Rosen has chosen simply brilliant poems and I recommend it to anyone who wants a book that you can basically just open it up anywhere and have a quick read.

Rating: 5 star
Fred
Budmouth Technology Collage
12 November 2010

I think this book is a brilliant book to read. It won't only make you laugh it draws you in to it with great poems to read. I would recommend it to any one.

Rating: 4 star
Keely-Ann
Burntwood School
17 September 2010

This book was not what i expected, i did not enjoy it and would not read it for pleasure. I hope others enjoy it more than i did.

Rating: 1 star
Olivia
Dixons City Academy
16 March 2011

i enjoyed the book because i like poems.

Rating: 3 star
Jessica
Urumlin Integrated Collece
18 February 2011

I really liked this book because of all of the funny poems in it, i couldn't stop laughing!

Rating: 4 star
Adam
Crumlin intergrated college
18 February 2011

This book is the best book ever. It has hundreds of cool poems in it. I have two favourite poems 'I wanna be a star' by Tony Mitton and 'Shopping trolley' by Brian Moses. I like these poems because they have a beat to them. I enjoy singing them. They also have good rhyming words and are a little bit funny. My least favourite poem is 'In daylight strange' by Alan Brownjohn. It is a bit boring and long. I think it is more like a story than a poem. It doesn't have a beat or rhyming words. I enjoy poems that have a beat, rhyming or funny. I really love this book.

Rating: 5 star
Tyler
Carr Hill high school
29 January 2011

i think michael rosen's a-z is a great book because it is full of rap rhythm and rhyme. it is a great book cover to cover. i think it is the best book there has ever been.THUMBS UP!!!!!!!!!!

Rating: 5 star
adam
denefield school
26 January 2011

I like this book because i read some of these poems when i was in year 5 and 4 so i like that book because of that. another reason is, some of the poems i can relate to in my own personal life, like i speak the language because i have been to many countries and spoken many languages. in year 5 i had a teacher that put in the morning different languges for good morning.

Rating: 5 star
regan
denefeild school
26 January 2011

This book has the best poems put in alphabetical order from the authors name. there are loads of diffrent types of poems so you can read one which fits your mood. my favourite one is called the death of a bully.

Rating: 3 star
Jordan
Denefield School
26 January 2011

We both agree that this book is spectacular. It really spoke to us. All the different poems that were about culture and race were really fascinating. We want more books like this! One of our favourite poems was I Speak the Language by Francesca Beard. It was really cool because in the poem the languages were spoken backwards. Another of our favourites was School Trip by Gervase Phinn. We recommend this book to people who love poems.

Rating: 4 star
Andrew & Saa
Denefield
24 January 2011

This book is really good book because it grabs your attention and it encourages people to make their own poem and put it in a book themselves.

Alanha
The sele school
17 January 2011

I really liked this book, especially the rhyming poems .I thought it had all differrent types of cool poems and it is suitable for males and females. I would highly reccomend this to anyone who likes to laugh, have fun and be serious.

Rating: 4 star
Alice
Towers school
14 January 2011

i think it was really good, i really enjoyed it and it was great that there nothing but just poems in it.

Rating: 5 star
gizem
connaught school for girls
11 January 2011

Really good book, i like the poems.

Rating: 3 star
William
Langtree
5 January 2011

I love my free book! It is filled with funny peoms and it is very easy to read. You can just pick the book up and read a poem and put it back down. A great book for confident and non confident readers.

Rating: 5 star
Lucy
Hanley Castle High School
14 December 2010

BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!! funny funny and funny. i love poetry and this book is probably the best poetry book ever.

Rating: 5 star
Matthew
Hanley Castle
14 December 2010

i am really enjoying this book because there are loads of different sorts of poems, raps, tongue twisters, loads to read and something just to pick up and flick through the pages and read the poem you land on.

Rating: 4 star
Gemma
Hanley castle high school
10 December 2010

this book is brilliant, i love the poems, thank you.

Rating: 5 star
abbie
hemsworth arts and community collage
9 December 2010

I really like the book because it's full of poems I like.

Lauren
Parkside Federation
2 December 2010

Hello Reviewers! During this review I will be telling you about what I think about this book I am reading. To start off I think generally it is a very interesting, funny, amusing, informative book, and much more. It makes me laugh out loud, makes me confused at times because there is a deeper meaning that I do not quite understand yet.


I especially like the short poems because most of them are snappy and more interesting. I do not particularly like the longer poems because after a while my attention runs out and I become very bored and I don’t feel as if I want to read any more. I think short poems are really good beacuse they keep the reader interested and wanting to read more.


I also think that the titles in the book are very clever and have a deeper meaning than the reader first sees. For instance, ‘OK Brown Girl OK’, which I think is talking about racism. The poet, James Berry starts off by saying that a girl called Josie wrote to him telling him about people who picked on her because of her colour and that made me feel quite emotional. I really like the part where is says: ..‘like thousands and thousands and thousands of children, who are brown and white, and black and pale-lemon colour. All the time brown girl Josie is okay.’ This line tells me that it does not matter what colour you are because everyone is special and accepted in their own way. I also like the bits in the poems about songs and raps because even though these poems are pretty long you can get through them very quickly because they are very fast, sound like songs, and are really amusing.


The book is set out very well, the poems are set into sections and the poets are named after the sections, for instance, ‘A’ is a poet called Adisa, who once came to my old primary school and helped us to write poetry. He has two poems called ‘Spellbound’ and ‘Chick Pea Pie.’ In the ‘A’ section is also a poet called John Agard and he has written two poems you will find in this section called, ‘The Soldiers Came’ and ‘Laughter Rap in Plastic Town’ (and from that name of this poem you can tell that it is going to be amusing and funny, and it is!) So there are two poems by two poems in each alphabetical letter by two poems with the surname of that letter. At one point, in the section that is under the letter ‘U’ it says in the book it gives you the chance to come up with your own poem and I will read you what it says: ‘U are a poet and here is your poem...’ and at this point it has lines to write your own poem on.


I received this book from school and I have enjoyed every poem I have read so far. I recommend this book to people who are interested in a variety of poems, you will be laughing, crying, thinking and writing your own poems after you read this book! In conclusion, I would rate this book 4 stars.

Rating: 4 star
Joel
Parkside, Cambridge
1 December 2010

The title of the book is called Michael Rosen A - Z poetry. I don't have any favorite character because it's a poetry book and there is lots of characters in a poetry book but anyway my favourite character is a little boy who was learning his letters in the poem 'M'.


 


The poems are about everyday life for example school, home and out and about but some are really rubbish but most of them i like. My favorite poem is called 'M' because it's really funny because the little boy sounds cute because he is learning how to say 'M' when the mum says how do you say the first letter of daddy he says ...........


 


I read a a poem called a silly song it was quite good but it didn't explain anything and it wasn't very interesting or funny because i like poems which are funny and intresting. I would recommend the book to maybe 5 or 5+ because it's not made for younger children but i would definitely recomend it, it is brilliant i would rate it maybe 4.

Rating: 4 star
Jodie
Parkside Federation
30 November 2010

i like it because it is very funny because it talks about all different kinds of stuff and it makes me go to sleep if i am not tired and i read it in the morning if i have time to read it beacuse i have to go to school in the moring.


 


I have to fetch my friends and that and i take lots of books out of the libary beacuse i do this buddy reading things on a tuesday, wednesday and friday and it is so fun in there so i have lots of books out of the libary it is so cool.


 


the free book i have got is so wonderful and wicked beacuse there are lots of different stories you can read and the best one i like is dino's family and it is so funny and it make me laugh so much and i make my big sister jump by laughing my head off. It is so cool to read the book beacuse i get to know lots of things about poets if we need to do them at school so that gives me help for my school work so i will get a better graded in the whole class.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating: 5 star
natasha
william allitt school
25 November 2010

I may buy this book!

sophie
22 November 2010

It is the best book i have ever read. Also it is really funny!!

Rating: 5 star
artenisa
four dwellings high school
19 November 2010

I think this book is funny and gets you thinking of what they mean. It's an easy and hard book to read so it is a mixture. Also you don't have to read every single page (one after another) you can just flick through it and pick a random one.

Rating: 5 star
shannon
fourdwellings high school
16 November 2010

I love this book because you can just sit down and have fun. My favorite poem is called Bobby's Bubble Gum. It has funny poems, it has sad poems and lots of other poems. I liked the sound of Love Aubrey and At the Sign of the Sugared Plum. Overall i think this is one of my favorite books i have ever bought.

Rating: 5 star
melissa
bedford high school for girls
5 November 2010

I think that this book has a variety of poems and i am sure that anyone could find a few poems that they enjoy reading. This book has poems in it that are funny, meaningful and just good poems! I am very glad that I chose this book as I think that this book has helped me to like poetry. Overall this book is one of my favorite books that I have ever owned!!!! I also really like the sound of love Aubrey, so I think that I will get that as well. Thank you booked up!

Rating: 5 star
betsy
bedford high school for girls
4 November 2010

I think this book is a wonder of the mind.

Rating: 5 star
Beth
corsham secodre
2 November 2010

i liked this book because it was a good book to read i normally dont read books but i enjoyed this book and i would like to read this again.

Rating: 5 star
chloe
sundorne secondry school
24 September 2010

IT SOUNDS VERY EXITING AND FUN I CANT WAIT TO REED IT

Rating: 5 star
Amber
CHSG
20 September 2010

A to Z has a range of poets and poems in it. There is a poem or poet that you will like. They can be read anywhere and at any time for a bit of a laugh or whatever you prefer!

Rating: 5 star
Theo
18 August 2010

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