Don't Mention the Children - Softcover

Michael Rosen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0993149022 ISBN 13: 9780993149023

Publisher: Smokestack Books, 2015

Synopsis

Michael Rosen is one of our best-loved and writers for children. His poems for grown-ups are less well known, however. Don't Mention the Children is his first collection since Selected Poems (Penguin) in 2007. Fans of his children s books will enjoy the way these poems combine the silly and the sinister to catch the surrealism of everyday life, somewhere between Jacques Prévert, Ivor Cutler and Adrian Mitchell. Few poets writing today can move so effortlessly between childishness and childlike seriousness.

At the heart of this deeply personal as much as political book is a remarkable series of poems about anti-Semitism, Fascism and War, connecting the contemporary world UKIP, Marine le Pen, Palestine (the title poem refers to the refusal of the Israeli broadcasting authorities to mention the names of children killed during the Israeli shelling of Gaza in 2014) to the lives of Rose's parents and grandparents the General Strike, the Battle of Cable Street, Vichy, and even Auschwitz.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Rosen was born in North London in 1946. His parents were both teachers. After university he worked for the BBC on Play School and Schools TV. He currently presents Radio Four s long-running Word of Mouth. He has written and edited over 140 books, including contemporary classics like Mind Your Own Business, Wouldn't You Like to Know, Mustard, Custard, Grumble Belly and Gravy, You Tell Me, No Breathing in Class and Quick Let s Get Out of Here. You Can t Catch Me! won the Signal Poetry Award. We re Going on a Bear Hunt, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, won the Smarties Prize. His many awards include the Eleanor Farjeon Award for distinguished services to children s literature. He is a Chevalier de l ordre des arts et des lettres and was Children s Laureate from 2007-9. He is Professor of Children s Literature at Goldsmith s, University of London.

Edition details

• Publisher: Smokestack Books
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0993149022
• ISBN 13: 9780993149023
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 168