Read Poems Aloud free for 7 days. £7.99/month after - less than a paperback.
Joseph Coelho's Poems Aloud is a collection of performance poems for 7 year olds that are much more fun said out loud than read quietly.
Most sections start with a tip on how to perform the poems in them. Read this one as fast as you can. Read this one slowly and breathe. Start this one softly and finish LOUD. It turns a poetry book into something closer to a show.
Tongue twisters come first, made for tripping over. "Try taping your temper to the tip of your nose" is a good one to start with! Red robots race on rails, and a slime oozes through several schools.
The Shockadile Crocodile is the one to try with a group. Every time you hear a word ending in "ock", the audience shouts "ODILE!" Knock-odile, sock-odile, frock-odile. It's very silly and very catchy.
Some of the funniest ones rely on timing. A pretty clown fish is flattered by a handsome fish who says the loveliest things. He wants her for... DINNER. There are riddles to test your family with, animals speaking in their own voices, and a phone that's sick of being shouted at ("You really know how to press my buttons!").
Then there are quieter ones. A pencil case that loves holding "the soft-rubbed corners of your mistakes". A pair who are hopeless at hide-and-seek (a pumpkin on your head is not a great hiding place). A tickly poem to whisper in someone's ear that ends with something kind.
One thing to flag. A handful of poems are much darker than the rest. An old bear shuffles out of a cage rusted with blood specks. An explorer stumbles into a cave full of strange skeletons. "Don't Look Now" is properly creepy to whisper. The last poem is about the planet, with tears for pollution, war and "every child who will never get to grow old".
None of it is gory. But a sensitive little one might need you nearby for those, and you might want to choose which ones to read first. If spooky poems and big ideas are your child's thing, they're the ones that stay with you.
Most of it is pure fun, though, and it really rewards reading together. If you've got a little performer who loves an audience, this is PERFECT.
If they're after more from the same poet, Courage Out Loud is all about being brave. There's a diving-board poem with wolves howling in your tummy, and a lovely one about learning when to say no.
A library hand-picked by an English teacher, delivered through a calm, ad-free app. If your child already loves reading, we keep up.
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