You Wait Till I’m Older Than You!

Michael Rosen's You Wait Till I'm Older Than You is a book of funny poems for 10 year olds about growing up with a big brother, a best friend called Harrybo and a dad who's always one question away from exploding.

What happens

These are poems about Rosen's own childhood, and most of them are little stories told in the words people actually said. Mum explains who started the very first fight between him and his brother. (It was him, aged two, with a spoon.)

Dad cross-examines him about a toy car that Harrybo has just announced he "nicked". Harrybo eats raw potatoes, and whole apples, pips and all. Michael makes a fake bird's nest out of dead grass to win the class Nature Chart, and Harrybo believes in it for ever.

And there's the waterproof torch. Michael takes it underwater swimming in the bath. It breaks. Dad is furious, then takes it back to the shop and tells the man exactly the same fib Michael told him. When Michael starts to own up, he gets a kick on the ankle!

Reading them feels like sitting with someone who remembers EXACTLY what it was like to be told off. The lines are short and easy to follow, and they're brilliant read aloud. Dad's voice in particular is so real you can hear the sighing.

It isn't all just about family, either. There's a toddler called Eddie having a full meltdown in the supermarket ("Bince!"), and a calculator that spells out cheeky messages upside down.

One thing to be aware of. Not every poem is a joke. In one, Rosen says plainly that Harrybo died when he was seventeen. Another tells how a cousin's parents were killed in a Nazi death camp. There's a man in a hospital ward whose face was burnt, and a bit of shoplifting and a mention of snogging too. None of it is dwelt on, but a child who's grieving could be caught off guard.

For most readers the sad ones will probably sit quite naturally among the funny ones, the way they do in real life.

What to read next

If you've got a reader who likes a story about a boy who keeps accidentally annoying his dad, Rosen does it again at Christmas in Bah! Humbug!