Category: Uncategorized
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Children from St Michael’s RC Primary School in Bury read and assessed my book, Squeak! Squawk! Roar!, soon after publication last year. Here’s what they said – followed by what their teachers said. Thanks so much, children! Thank you, teachers! So glad you all enjoyed the book. Many thanks all, belatedly, for your 5 star…
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One of the many great assets of poetry books for children is that they almost always come richly illustrated! What fun for children, and how helpful for the new or unsure reader, to have pictures popping up here, there and everywhere through the book! Squeak! Squawk! Roar! is no exception, with countless gorgeous pictures by…
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So happy to see my Squeak! Squawk! Roar! included again in the 2026 Books for Topics recommendations! This fabulous review was published soon after the book, last year, together with inclusion in recommended listings for two categories – and now, so it’s great to see it still holding strong, amid new titles for ’26! “A…
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“This is a marvellous poetry collection,” starts Sandy’s review of Squeak! Squawk! Roar! Many thanks indeed, Sandy – belatedly – for your dazzling review! First in the list too – you didn’t wait a moment to share your thumbs-up for the book! So happy that Sandy loves the book as much as her six year…
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“A compact powerhouse of poems” – Bookwagon.Looking through the reviews for Squeak! Squawk! Roar! (all 5-star!), I re-read Bookwagon’s appreciative response and decided it deserved to be shared. So here it is: “Squeak! Squawk! Roar! £8.99 Squeak! Squawk! Roar! Readers are invited to join a trail of Amazing Animal Poems. We might have a wasp join our ‘picnic…
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Planning some poetry-writing with your class? They’ll all love it once they get going, but nervous and hesitant young writers may need a stepping stone to get started, like a fun gap-fill solution: They’ll love slotting in their own word ideas, especially with your heaped spoonful of encouragement! The sheer action of putting pen to…
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Excited to be on the judging panel of this online poetry writing and performing competition for children – ‘Pen to Performance’, an International Poetry Festival competition, presented by the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama. Teachers and parents – this is a great creative opportunity for your children! https://stsd.co.uk/news/ – please click for full…
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Illustration by Hannah Asen, from Squeak! Squawk! Roar! So pleased to see Squeak! Squawk! Roar! – my debut collection of animal poems, published January ’25 – re-recommended for schools a year on by such revered reviewers as BookTrust, School Reading List, Jon Biddle‘s Essential Poetry for Primary Schools, and Just Imagine! The book has also…
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Lots of fun with children at Fairwater Library, Cardiff yesterday, singing with my ukulele, tapping rhythms, chanting rhymes and acting them out, and jumping waves in an imaginary sea! 🌊Seaside was our theme, as you can see, and although we didn’t really take our shoes off, we pretended to, and trod on the warm, golden,…
