Skip to content

Category: Poetry

Published on

 

Big Green Crocodile - cover image
A beautiful book with rhymes and actions...

Rhymes to Say and Play

A beautiful book full of rhymes with actions, easy to say and fun to do. A star book for Early Years Settings and homes. A new and original rhyme action book to help creative play with babies and toddlers.

A great big crocodile lay down for a nap.

I lay down beside him until he went …SNAP!

Sixteen original play-rhymes, devised and tested to entertain the very young, but also to help develop vital cognitive skills and prevent dyslexia. They cover the events of a child's day from breakfast to bedtime, on themes like animals, bees, crocodiles, tractors, and many more.

My favourite page is Here Comes the Farmer… the red tractor has a load of hay and on its way to the horses, and then the cows and pigs. There are actions and suggestion on every page, easy to do and  easily remembered by the toddler. Learning will flow, discovering which action goes with which page.

Jane Newberry is the author and creator of the rhymes, she lives in Cornwall and has many years experience of working with children, creating play rhymes and songs for early years.

The illustrator who magically brings the rhymes to life is Carolina Rabei, who has a BA in Graphic Design from Moldova and a distinction from the Cambridge School of Art in the Children’s Book Illustrations course.

Otter Barry Books are the publishers and Big Green Crocodile is an engaging book, part of their delightful poetry collections for children. They are an insightful and creative publishers who excel at bringing a uniqueness to children's books with colour and imagination, making a difference in children’s lives.

Greatly recommend A Big Green Crocodile for Early Years Settings and anyone who reads, laughs and has fun with young children.

Sue Martin - Children’s Literacy Specialist  

 

 

 

 


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


Published on

 

This brilliant new collection of poetry by Valerie Bloom is newly published in January 2021. What a great year for delving into poetry, lots of time at home and lots of time for books! There is a huge variety of poems in all shapes and sizes, from a small cinquain to a four verse poems. One of my favourites describes different forms of poems;

 

 

 

TERMS  which starts..

The SLAM of the Door,

the STAMP on the floor,

is onomatopoeia.

When  school bells CHIME,

right on TIME,

that's rhyme.

If the boy IS AS FREE

AS a bird in a tree.

that's a simile.

There are many more great poems and this is definitely a book to buy right now, whether you are home schooling or online teaching. This one is just the thing.

'Valerie Bloom is a performance poet, originally from Jamaica, and many of her poems are in Jamaican Patois. Her published work includes Hot Like Fire which is a Power of Reading recommended text and the award winning picture book Fruits – a Caribbean Counting Poem. She has considerable experience running writing workshops in schools. Valerie was awarded an MBE for her services to poetry in 2008. Several of her poems feature in the CLiPPA 2015 shortlisted book Give the Ball to the Poet: A New Anthology of Caribbean Poetry. Among her most recent work is Jaws and Claws and Things with Wings ( Harper Collins, 2013).' from Poetry Line on CLPE

Ken Wilson-Max was born in Zimambwe  and living in London. He is an internationally renowned  children's book illustrator, author and designer, plus co director of publishing house, Alanna Max. He wrote and illustrated Astro Girl, winner of the 2020 STEAM award

 

 

 

Otter Barry Books are the publishers, with poetry at their heart and have out together this delightful book with two amazing people. It shows how they live up to their aims of pushing boundaries and publishing books that children will love.

This is on my list to buy for those home schooling sessions, or just to sit and read and dream!

Sue Martin


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


Published on

Rhymes to Play and Say, at any time throughout the day.

Devised to entertain and delight small children from breakfast to supper. Busy toddlers will love the pattern of rhymes and actions, it will fill their minds with new vocabulary and playtime activities.

Have fun with jungle animals, buzzing bees, tractors, rockets, aeroplanes and of course ... big green crocodiles.

Jane Newberry has spent many years working with young children, parents and carers. She has a wealth of play-songs, rhymes and activities that she has devised and Big Green Crocodile is a brilliant addition to her work.

Carolina Rabei always loved drawing and gained a BA in Graphic Design in Moldova and then went on to the Cambridge School of Art, Children's Book Illustration. her illustrations have a real appeal for young children and the colours and different creatures make every page a pleasure.

Published by Otter-Barry Books, publishers making a difference, pushing boundaries and publishing books that children will love.

We do love this book,  and I am about to Face Time a 3 year old with .... which one shall I choose ... Big Green Crocodile

A great big green crocodile lay down for a nap.

I lay down beside him until he went... SNAP!

A great big brown lion lay down on the floor,

I lay down beside him until he went...ROAR!

A small furry teddy lay down with a yawn.

I lay down beside him and slept until dawn.

Sue Martin

 


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


Published on
If All the World were... - cover image and web link
Buy this book here...

'If all the world were springtime

I would replant my Grandad's birthday's

so that he would never get old'.

A stunningly beautiful book about missing someone.

From springtime to winter the pages travel with a girl and her Grandad, laughing smiling, sharing stories, Indian sweets and home-made toys. A book full of happiness.

Then one day his chair is empty, with only his slippers and a new notebook, but no Grandad.

If All the World Were… by Joseph Coelho & Allison Colpoys - cover image and web link
Free delivery!

In the wonderful illustrations the girl takes the new notebook and writes her memories and draws her best pictures, all of them with her Grandad.

This is just a beautiful book from Joseph Coehlo and Allison Colpoys, published by Lincoln Children's Books. The words and illustrations match the essence of the story; that happiness can be found again even if you lose someone very close.

Couldn't resist adding a video...

I love it!

Recommend for ages 3 and upwards....

Sue Martin

Dolphinbooksellers - logo image
Books for younger readers- free delivery

 


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


Published on
A Kid in My Class - cover image and web link
Buy this book here - free delivery!

Meet a class of school children, every one described in A Kid in My Class, the pushy one to the shy one, the tough kid and the not so tough!

A favourite is...

Cool… He thinks he’s a sub hero dude. A dude.
A geezer who’s too cool for school uniform.
Chews on mint gum. Calls me Swot, Loser, Dumb.
Tells me to chill. Thinks he is it.
Well, he’s not.

This is a great collection and will be much enjoyed by children around ages of 8 –11. It speaks about how you feel as an individual in a class of others. And how others feel the same, even though they don’t say anything.

Buy this book button - image and web link
Free delivery!

Rachel Rooney is an award winning and  well renowned  poet who has contributed to this year’s official National Poetry Day anthology, Poetry for a Change. Rachel lives in Brighton and is in demand for school events and performances at festivals, and as a previous special needs teacher, she has many skills on how best to interact with children and support their enjoyment and learning..

Chris Riddell has some brilliant sketches on every page which make the poems come alive. He was Children’s Laureate from 2015-17 and has many awards for his work. He is also president of The School Library Association. His vast number of books includes Goth Girl and A Great Big Cuddle (Michael Rosen)

Otter-Barry Books are publishers of some excellent books and have an excellent poetry range in their book list.

Sue Martin


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


Published on
A Rocketful of Poems cover image and purchase link
Buy this book from The Dolphin...

Space Poems which will take you to the moon and back again, stay at the Space Hotel, snack on a Mooncheese Toastie and play intergalactic squibble ball.

25 fantastic poems by the best of space poets in the universe, chosen by John Foster and illustrated by Korky Paul.

Ready for blast off!!!!!

This is a brilliant collection of space poems from John Foster, who is a writer of children's poetry and anthologies. The illustrations are by Korky Paul, a very famous illustrator, and  are full of fun and intricate detail with a real space feel about them. It will make a great present, book in the library or at home, to share and read alone. It will get the imaginations soaring across this universe and into the next.

Poems  include; Spaceman MacTavity by Marian Swinger, the spaceman who floated on the moon, Turn Left at the Moon by Eric Finney with a UFO who was redirected to Mars and loads more.

Fun, adventure, exploration, science, creativity and beyond....

 

So much to explore in this book from Francis Lincoln Children's Books. It fits in well with the recent voyage of Tim Peake in the International Space Station, which was so powerful in speaking out to young children about space and our world.

We recommend for ages 7+.

Sue Martin


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.