July: Rhythm and Rhyme

July's theme of Rhythm and Rhyme is a great opportunity to explore a whole range of poetry across a wide age range. From Disgusting Poems to the Little Book of Love Spells, from Gruffalo Songs to War Poets, we hope that readers of all ages and interests can find here that one special poem which speaks to them.

Dinosaur Poems
Paul Cookson
Young Hippo
9780439951746
It's dino madness: scary ones, silly ones, T-Rexes in dresses and Velociraptors in raptures! Find out if Pterodactyls make good pets and meet the magical Diphlohocuspocus! A Jurassic-tastic poetry collection with enough thrills and spills to bring you to the edge of extinction...

Disgusting Poems
Paul Cookson
Young Hippo
9780439968805
A snotty, slimy, sick-inducing selection of the most disgusting poems ever written. Paul Cookson has collected verse old and new about the most tasteless and revolting things you can imagine... Stinky socks, crusty cowpats, burps and bogies - this anthology has them all, and more!

Funny Poems
Jan Dean
Young Hippo
9780439978071
Want to laugh till you cry, split your sides with mirth, howl till you hurt? These amusing poems will do the trick! Snigger at the shocking spelling test! Titter at Auntie's bald boyfriend (quietly)! Chortle at the bewildered wildebeest! Guffaw at the falling-apart granny and laugh your head off (or your socks) at the silly shopping trip...! This fantastically funny poetry collection from Jan Dean has chuckles, belly laughs and giggles galore!

Magic Poems
Jennifer Curry
Scholastic
9780439977616
Another magical poetry collection from anthologist Jennifer Curry including work by well-known poets such as Tony Mitton, Judith Nicholls and John Foster. This entrancing anthology will magic you away to a world of unicorns and dragons, giants and princes. Take a broomstick ride with a witch, meet Merlin the wizard ... let these poems cast a spell on you!

Silly Poems
Paul Cookson
Scholastic
9780439959810
A ridiculously rib-tickling selection of the silliest poems ever written. Paul Cookson has compiled a collection of verse old and new which will have you clutching your sides and gagging for more...!

School Poems
Jennifer Curry
Scholastic
9780439959728
Another fantastic poetry collection compiled by Jennifer Curry and packed full of poems from some of the best-loved children's poets, including Grace Nichols, Benjamin Zephaniah, Tony Mitton and Wes Magee. And Sarah Nayler's brilliant black and white illustrations on every page help bring the littlest limerick to life!

Slinky Malinki
Lynley Dodd
Viking Kestrel
9780670913510
A rapscallion cat getting up to all sorts and paying the price. Slinky Malinki steals anything from a clothes peg, to a slipper, to a string of sausages, to a clock. Our hero is a bad, bad cat. The story is told in rhyme and through lively pictures - a lovely rhythmic read with great language.

The Nation's Favourite Children's Poems

BBC
9780563537748
A book for giving and for keeping; a good mix of great classic poems and modern poems that entertain and challenge young readers. This collection brings together poems such as The Owl and the Pussycat and Chocolate Cake and authors from A.A. Milne to Pam Ayres.

Knick-Knack Paddy Whack
Illustrated by Paul O Zelinsky
Dutton Children's Books
9780525469087
This is adapted from the counting song. It calls itself a 'moving parts' book and it is so much more than a pop-up book. With secrets and excellent illustrations on each page you can bring this favourite song alive and spot a million other details to engage little readers.

The Gruffalo Song and other songs
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Pan Macmillan
9781405022330
This is a great book and CD set, so you can sing along to the Gruffalo as well as enjoying a range of classics and fun modern songs, from action songs like Pull a Funny Face to the Calypso based Squash and a Squeeze.

Pants
Giles Andrae and Nick Sharratt
David Fickling Books
9780385610391
Risqué and fantastic for any potty training toddlers! "Fairy pants and hairy pants/Run away from scary pants..."! In this picture book we meet lots of different animals and people wearing different kind of pants.

Heard it in the Playground
Allan Ahlberg
Puffin
9780140328240
Heard it in the Playground is a collection of poems that are particularly enjoyed by children aged between 7 and 10. As a former teacher, Ahlberg clearly draws on his classroom experiences, has great insight into the school environment and reveals many humorous aspects of school life. Most of the poems are quite short (although the final chapter consists of four longer poems) and they appeal and trigger the imagination of children who find they can easily relate to each and every verse. This book will help develop a child's interest in poetry and is a great addition to any bookshelf.

Not Just a Game
Eds. Andy Croft and Sue Dymoke
Five Leaves Publication
9781905512133
Not Just a Game is a unique archive of modern British sporting life - angling, boxing, canoeing, cricket, darts, golf, motorcycling, netball, polo, rugby, rowing, running, skating, snooker, swimming and tennis - as recorded by almost 100 poets including W H Auden, Wendy Cope, Seamus Heaney, John Betjeman, Tony Harrison, P G Wodehouse, Carol Ann Duffy, Ted Hughes, Andrew Motion, Douglas Dunn, Philip Larkin, Roger McGough... and John Arlott. It's not just a book for sports fans. It's not just a book for poetry lovers. It's not just a game...

By Heart: 101 Poems to Remember
Edited and with an introduction by Ted Hughes
Faber and Faber
9780571192632
This is an anthology of poems to remember. In his foreword, Hughes gives a short introduction to the topic and his view on the importance of memorising poems. He follows this with 101 of his personal favourites. Spanning four centuries, the anthology offers the reader a 'mental gymnasium' as well as a treasury of some of our most enduringly popular poetry.

Dark as a Midnight Dream
Ed. Fiona Waters
Evans
9780237525866
Featuring over 500 poems, this collection ranges from traditional ballads and classical verse to the very contemporary. Illustrations emphasize the themes and imagery of the poems and aim to create absorbing points of visual interest.

Out of Order
Andrew Fusek Peters
Evans
9780237522902
This collection of poems, some of them specially commissioned, covers a wide range of real-life issues, ranging from relationships and peer pressure to bullying and drugs. contributors include Helen Dunmore, Vernon Scannell, Andrew Motion, Benjamin Zephaniah, and Seamus Heaney.

The War Poets: an anthology
Ed. Ron Hawkins
Jarrold
9780711703988
Over 80 powerful and moving poems including works by Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooke and W B Yeats.

The Little Book of LOVE SPELLS
Joules Taylor
Parragon

Love comes in many guises... sometimes we aren't aware of its presence; at other times the feeling is too strong! This little book is full of ideas for keeping love in your life, from using flowers to woo the object of your desire, to charms and talismans to find your way in the world of love. Included are some of the best love poems ever written.

Serious Concerns
Wendy Cope
Faber and Faber
9780571167050
Serious Concerns proved even more popular than Wendy Cope's first book of poems and parodies which went straight into the Best Seller list. This collection addresses such topics as 'Bloody Men', 'Men and Their Boring Arguments' and 'Two cures for Love'.

Sardines
Stephen Knight
Young Picador
9780330413565
Stephen Knight's poems are surreal, magical and fantastically rich. His quirky look at childhood, including a poem about waiting in a cupboard for 30 years while playing a game of sardines, is totally engaging. This is his first collection for teenagers.