Falling Out Of The Sky (edited by Rachel Piercey and Emma Wright)
The Emma Press

Hmm, at first I wasn’t sure about this anthology. I love myths and monsters and so do most children. But as I perused the book I wondered if some of what I was reading was the work of poets who usually wrote for adults trying to adapt their verse for children, rather than writers who really understood what children want and like to read. Now I am NOT advocating a dumbing down of poetry. I do NOT think children need to be written down to or patronised. I think they ARE capable of considerable intellectual thought and even analysis of poetry. And there ARE some lovely poems here, enhanced by interesting snippets of information. As I read them all again I realised that this was a book for older children. It’s definitely not a poetry starter – but why should it be? I did find some of the poems just a little inaccessible and think that they might be beyond the comprehension of even the most advanced primary school pupil. And when I read the poet biographies I discovered that my suspicion about their credentials was correct. But it’s good to see children’s poetry being treated seriously. TUC