Wednesday 8 November 2017

"Firecrackers" by Zaro Weil and Jo Riddell (Troika / Zaza Kids Books)

If there's one thing we've begun to notice lately, it's that there's a seriously inspirational revival in the amount of awesome poetry anthologies coming to market for children.

Perhaps now, more than ever, kids need books that take them away from the day to day humdrum modern world, and let their imaginations fly.

That's the idea behind "Firecrackers" by Zaro Weil with illustrations by Jo Riddell. Inside this book you'll find an impressive collection of poems, raps, haikus, fairy tales and flights of fancy on a diverse range of subjects but all with huge child appeal.

We're complete suckers for poetry books anyway, so we couldn't wait to dive in.

Poem anthologies lend themselves so well to being read aloud, in fact I'd urge parents to give poetry books a go for bedtime reading, to chop and change around from stories for a mo and let clever verse fuel your children's dreams.

"Firecrackers" might've arrived with us just a day too late to latch it onto bonfire celebrations around November the 5th but this book will elicit the same oohs and ahhs as a well organised firework display.

Poems range from silly subjects that will tickle your little ones, to more thought provoking stuff to slide into those gaps in the day where you just want to kick back, relax and hear something soothing.

Jo's illustrations are superb too, simple and child-friendly without distracting too much from the verses.

There's truly something for everyone here in "Firecrackers", and we're so happy to see children's poetry having such a fabulous resurgence in popularity, perhaps giving the next generation of young poets plenty of food for thought.

"Firecrackers" by Zaro Weil and Jo Riddell is out now, published by Zaza Kids Books / Troika (Kindly supplied for review)