Pause for Poetry: A Ticket to Kalamazoo!

Bursting with energy and exuberance, ‘A Ticket to Kalamazoo!’ is the perfect collection for encouraging and developing a love of poetry. These are poems which are crying out to be shared, performed and discussed time and time again, whatever mood you are in! Although pitched for younger readers, there are poems here to be enjoyed by all ages, including those which would work brilliantly as models to inspire children to create and write their own.

The collection is wonderfully interactive! Families or classes could invent their own actions for each of the creatures as they practise counting to ten without realising. As the poem suggests, ‘it might be nice just once or twice to do the ten again!’ There are fun riddles to solve and plenty to laugh about as you have a ‘handful of fun’, do the ‘Goldilocks Rap’ or visit the bug hotel.

Full of colour and fun, each poem is brilliantly illustrated by Neal Layton, making the book instantly appealing. Equally excellent for home or school, this is a must have collection for inspiring poets of the future and kindling a life-long love of words and their playfulness.

A Ticket to Kalamazoo! Zippy Poems to Read Out Loud

James Carter, illustrated by Neal Layton

Otter-Barry Books ISBN: 978-1913074104

Pizazz vs Perfecto

Being super is not easy…

Pizazz is 9 1/2 (finally!), super (in terms of being a super hero) and she still is not at all keen on this role. She finds being super super un-super and her *eye roll* super power SUPER embarrassing. On top of this, she has to deal with super villains- like Perfecto. Being younger, she should be no match for Pizazz, but then Perfecto is…well, perfect. Perhaps Pizazz just needs to beat her at her own game and hatches the perfect Perfecto plan to be perfect in every single way…

The third book in the series, ‘Pizazz vs Perfecto’ is every bit as enjoyable as the previous books. Overflowing with Sophy Henn’s fabulous illustrations, the story is told through the perfect balance of text, comic strip sections and illustrations, making it an accessible and entertaining read.

Sophy has an amazing talent for being able to capture situations and emotions and bundling them up in appealing stories which make them excellent for initiating discussions and developing empathy. In her ‘Pom Pom’ books, for example, she explores the ‘grumps’, what happens when we don’t always win and finding our talents in a way which children (and adults!) can both relate to and sympathise with. Although ‘Pizazz vs Perfecto’ is brimming with humour and Pizazz’s eye-rolling take on life, Sophy also gently makes the point that being ‘perfect’ is like trying to achieve the impossible all the time. Not only is it exhausting, it actually makes you miss out on all the fun bits of life and causes you to feel anxious. Pizazz might not be ‘perfect’, but her good-natured, big-hearted, slightly chaotic self is loveable just the way she is. Comparing yourself to others- whether friends or siblings- is never going to make you feel good about you!

Pizazz is extremely popular with children in my class. Initially attracted by the bright covers and dynamic illustrations, they quickly become engaged with Pizazz as a character, enjoying her battles with baddies and her struggles with being a super. One child recently declared that these were ‘the best books ever’ and is already looking forward to the next one!

Although appealing to early readers, these stories should not be underestimated. In addition to encouraging empathy and exploring feelings, work based around these books could encourage children to create their own comic strips/ graphic novels and develop their own characters. The books also lend themselves to plenty of drama and writing in role- and there is plenty of fun that could be had exploring how Sophy uses grammar and punctuation (yes, I know some people will think this is a contradiction-fun/grammar- but it’s all about how you do it!).

The ‘perfecto’ story!

Pizazz vs Perfecto Sophy Henn

Simon and Schuster ISBN: 978-1471194177

Pizazz’s first two adventures are ‘Pizazz’ (978-1471193989) and ‘Pizazz and the New Kid’ (978-1471194153). The stories do not need to be read in order as Pizazz is very good at filling the reader in with what’s happening in her life!