Everybody was a baby once, and other poems by Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman

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Walker Books, 2010. ISBN 9781406321562.
(Ages 6-10) This little volume of poems by Ahlberg will be a fitting addition to a primary library. Kids will love to pick it up and laugh out loud at the short, funny poems written by Ahlberg. Many involve a reworking of old poems and those by Anonymous, as he writes in his dedication, 'With thanks to our old pals, Trad and Anon'. Thus many are familiar to old hands, although will be very new to the younger set for whom they have been published. Dirty Bill will be at once familiar, but the following poem, Nativity gives a funny slant on that time honoured tradition in British schools. Small hairy mouse, containing the story of a man complaining about the mouse in his stew is well known to my age group but will be new and shiny bright to the early readers. Read out loud or just in a group, these little poems will create enjoyment amongst its readers, who will take delight in the clever line drawings of Bruce Ingman.
Fran Knight

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