Tuesday, 4 September 2012

Give Us a Goal by Paul Cookson (Children's, Non-Fiction, Poetry, 8/10)




August 2012, Janetta Otter-Barry Books
96 pages, Paperback
Review copy

Themes: football games, different levels of ability, team formations, joys of winning & misery at losing, poetry, lots of illustrations, lots of humour

Summary from Frances Lincoln

A family fun-filled holiday,
Seaside football – match of the day,
On the beach – the score nine nine
When the match went into injury time.
We soon forgot our day for sports
When the wasp flew up my brother’s shorts.

Meet sensational scorers, dependable defenders, great goalkeepers and fanatical fans like Great Gran. Find out who always shouts at the ref, what is scary about being in the wall, where the wasp flew and why you shouldn’t put mums in goals.

Nayuleska's thoughts

This is a brilliant poetry book because it uses a range of poetry styles which are more captivating to football lovers than the original poems. Every high and low of football is covered. I wasn't always 100% keen on the illustrations or content as not all of it felt like it was respecting certain people. For me making fun of a person's characteristics isn't funny. However, a lot of skill has gone into the poems - especially the really short ones, and I'm sure this 8/10 read will make learning poetry more fun.

You can find out more on Paul's website.

Suggested read

For more interesting poetry check out Can It Be About Me? by Cheryl Moskowitz (Soon to be reviewed here on NRC)

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