Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble: Magical Poems Chosen by Paul Cookson

By Author / Illustrator

Paul Cookson, Eilidh Muldoon

Genre

Poetry

Age range(s)

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

ISBN

9781472958150

Format

Hardback

Published

17-09-2020

Synopsis

Can you hear the distant dragon's rumble of thunder? And smell the sweet swampy aroma of the ogre? Can you taste the tangy tarantula tarts? And see the girl who's really a wizard? From magic carpets and wands to unicorns, potions, creams and lotions, Paul Cookson's brewing a spell of fantastically magic poems. 'On this tattered magic carpet / You can choose your destination / For nothing's quite as magical / As your imagination.'

Beautifully illustrated by Eilidh Muldoon, this enchanting anthology brings together work from a range of classic, established and rising poets. Whether you're in the mood for a haunting or a spell gone wrong, this collection of mesmerising poems will have you bewitched from beginning to end!

Poets include: William Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Benjamin Zephaniah, John Agard, Valerie Bloom, Matt Goodfellow, Joshua Seigal and A.F. Harrold.Book Band: Dark Blue. Ideal for ages 9+

Reviews

Spells, dragons, witches, unicorns, an ogre (actually he's missing), dark eerie settings: all of these feature in Cookson's anthology of magical poems accompanied by Elidh Muldoon's ethereal illustrations.

Benjamin Zephaniah opens the anthology in his quest for 'De Magic Poem' (p.9) followed swiftly by Paul Cookson's cheerful 'Whizzo McWizzard's Amazing Creations' (p.11), a fabulous list of creations from 'Healthy and calorie-free fish and chips' to 'A pill to prescribe for a sick cockatoo'.

Cookson has assembled an impressive range of poets, contemporary and classic: Lewis Carroll, Tennyson, Shakespeare sit alongside Valerie Bloom, Joshua Siegal and so many more. He juxtaposes Shakespeare's 'Song of the Witches' with Stan Cullimore's 'Song of the Witches (when their internet wasn't working) (p. 48): 'Double, double, click that bubble / We have got computer trouble/'.

Be cautious with whom you share Valerie Bloom's spooky, scary 'We Don't Believe' (p.26): it's not for the faint-hearted! But you could cheer them up with 'How To Turn Your Teacher Purple!' (p.29) with James Carter's anarchic spell to do just what the title says.

I'm a huge fan of list poems as they can empower children's own writing so I was delighted to come across B.J. Lee's 'Witch's Wishlist' (p. 33) with plentiful witchy ingredients and the necessary 'stirring crook' and 'spell book'. There's lots of scope here for the children to generate their own additions. A.F. Harrald's 'Proper Wand Care' (p. 41) also has rich potential for children to conjure up (sorry!) their own ideas of what 'wands gone wild' or 'wizardless wands' might get up to.

Spells are perfect vehicles for word play and the collection selection doesn't disappoint: see Cookson's 'Testing Spelling' (p. 116), Paul Minton's 'Arfle-Barfle-Gloopish- Curd!' (p.21) amongst many others.

The anthology ends on a witty note with Philip Ardagh's 'You will Find Plenty of Poems' (p121). I won't spoil the twist… but I will highly recommend that you add this lovely anthology to your classroom collection.