The Shape of Rainbows

The Shape of Rainbows is packed with wealth of poems which are perfect for sharing and performing, savouring and contemplating. There really is something for everyone to be found in these pages, all accompanied by Will Hughes's witty illustrations.

Classes would have great fun performing poems like 'Brother versus Sister' and could easily be inspired to create addition 'verses', exploring comical opposites as the siblings bicker or creating their own versions using other opposing voices - perhaps cat and dog! 'Fright' is another poem which would work really well as a performance piece, encouraging children to consider the pitch, volume and pace of their performance as well as possible actions and effects they might choose to use! 'Echo' is another which would work well like this!

There are so many poems here which would make excellent models to inspire children to create their own poems and plenty which offer food for thought. There are those which help them to explore poetic techniques like 'Metaphor Man', and 'Adam's Apples' which uses a mixture of alliteration and tongue twister, but above all the collection shares a love of language and word play which excites the imagination and engages the reader/ listener with the musical possibilities of poetry and the joy of expression through this medium. A must-have for every class and home bookcase!

96 pages / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 7+