Funny Poems compiled by Jan Dean; Disgusting Poems, Dinosaur

Poems, Silly Poems all compiled by Paul Cookson, Scholastic

Four books from a series of ten. The titles amply describe the contents. These

books are, as far as I remember, about ten years old, but have been revamped

with new illustrations by Woody Fox, who has based his drawings on the

originals by the sadly late, and very talented, Sarah Nayler. The contents of the

books may not be identical to the originals – there are a few new poems and

some that don’t reappear – but they still form a nice collection if you’re looking

for a way to show children that poetry need not be serious. A few of the

‘disgusting’ rhymes are a bit coarse for my taste: I know the importance of

tempting children, especially boys, to poetry through their baser instincts but

this has to be carefully and cleverly done and a little poo can go a long way. And

some don’t quite hit the spot. I like Funny Poems best. A curate’s egg of a

collection. TUC