Books in The children's library series

Winner of the CLPE Poetry Awards 2011 Philip Gross's classics of poetry for children, Manifold Manor, The All-Nite Café and Scratch City, set a benchmark in the 1990s for opening doors to rich worlds of language and imagination. Off Road To Everywhere takes the challenge into a new century. These poems grow out of twenty years of creative writing work with young people, inviting readers to click out of passive consumer mode and think like writers themselves. Sequences like 'Dreams of an Inland Lighthouse Keeper' offer games, techniques and exercises to be used in writing groups for many ages. This is multi-layered poetry, playful, thoughtful and technically brilliant - as gripping in performance as it is on the page. Inviting but completely unpatronising to young readers, welcoming to adults who think that they don't like poetry, these poems open our eyes to the world and to the riches of language as the birthright of everyone. They speak to all ages, and sit confidently on the bookshelf next to Philip Gross's prize-winning work for adults.

All the Frogs collects together the poems John Mole has written for children since the publication of This is the Blackbird which was shortlisted for the CLPE Award. As in his previous collections, he conveys the mystery, humour and sometimes pain to be experienced in everyday situations, and relishes the free play of rhythm and rhyme. Several of the poems here call out to be read aloud while others are more suited to quiet moments of thought. John Mole writes for children in the playground and for the solitary child in his or her private space. Charles Causley described an earlier collection as 'the work of a true poet' and the same can surely be said of All the Frogs.