Books in Viking Children's Poetry series

George Szirtes' children's poems comprise riddles, mysteries and parables, strange encounters, cautionary tales, and meditations on just about everything under the sun -- from the sea's hands to the wind's face. All Szirtes' technical virtuosity is on display, the music, rhyme and cadence fusing together with an Eastern European sensibility to provide a unique collection that will be treasured by all children and not a few adults.This generous new selection displays wit and warm good humour with a hint of the absurd. Also included are a series of translations of children's poems from Hungary including works by Sandor Weores and Zoltan Zelk.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CLPE AWARD This book is a celebration of who we are; the good stuff, our amazing senses, language, love, gossip and cheese. John Siddique's poems blast off the page into real life or they can melt as gently as a snowflake on your tongue.Many of the poems in this book were conceived in primary schools, so John has added special bonus material to help you enjoy reading and writing more, and also included is an exclusive interview about what it is to be a poet.

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.