Perfectly Peculiar Pets

Review

This book features two magic ingredients that inspire and engage younger readers with words: animals and rhyme.

Wonderfully quirky, these pet-themed poems are set out to represent each letter of the alphabet.

A, for example, is for armadillos, and as the book covers all 26 letters we meet a kookaburra, a quokka and even an umbrellabird, as well as other animals that will be more familiar to young readers, such an elephant, a whale and, of course, a zebra.

There’s also an encounter with nits. And in case you’re wondering which animal covers the troublesome letter ‘x’, the author gets round this in an original and amusing way.

These poems are satisfyingly silly, and perfectly complemented by black and white illustrations by Anja Boretzki.

Readers also get a lesson at the back on how to write their own poems. Sure to get the children giggling – and writing.