Poems Aloud: An anthology of poems to read out loud

By Author / Illustrator

Joseph Coelho, Daniel Gray-Barnett

Genre

Poetry

Age range(s)

Publisher

Wide Eyed Editions

ISBN

9780711247680

Format

Hardback

Published

04-02-2020

Synopsis

Poems are made to read OUT LOUD! A wittily illustrated anthology of poems, designed to be read aloud.

20 poems by the award-winning Joseph Coelho arm children with techniques for lifting poetry off the page and performing with confidence. Perfect for confident children and shy readers alike, this book teaches all sorts of clever ways to performing poetry.

Children will learn 20 techniques for reading aloud by trying out 20 funny and thoughtful original poems by the much-loved and award-winning performance poet, Joseph Coelho. There are tongue twisters, poems to project, poems to whisper, poems to make you laugh. There are poems to perform to a whole class and others to whisper in somebody's ear. Richly textured, warm and stylish illustration by Daniel Gray-Barnett bring each page to life.

Reviews

This vibrant book aims to get children performing poems, alone, with friends and in large groups. It's a fantastic introduction to a wide range of different poems - free verse, riddles, rhyming poems to name but a few. There are poems that personify, poems to be read by more than one person, each poem is designed to make you use your voice as an instrument and really think about the words.

I absolutely love the idea of Poems Aloud: An anthology of poems to read out loud, and is well executed - it's written well to guide children through the poetry and exposes them to a great range of vocabulary. It would link really well to spoken verse strands of English, performance in Drama and to encourage group work/confidence.

There are fantastic cross-curricular links to exploit, too, you could use the poems as a stimulus for a piece of artwork, write your own 'feelings' poem in PSHE, or investigate the life-cycles of the animals mentioned in science, just as a few starting ideas.

40 pages / Ages 5-10 years / Reviewed by Lizi Backhouse, teacher