Title: Ready for Spaghetti: Funny Poems for Funny Kids
Author: Michael Rosen
Illustrator: Polly Dunbar
Publisher: Walker Books
Genre: Children’s picture book, Poetry
Book format: Hardback
Sweet Strawberries: 
Description: Michael Rosen’s irresistable rhymes follow readers from the second they jump, up, up, uppity-up, out of bed to the hush and a hush as they finally drift off to sleep.With beautifully observed pictures from Polly Dunbar, this book will make you want to tap your feet, clap your hands and chant along, over and over (and over) again!
*Free copy provided by publisher for review…
Review: This is a fun picture book for children filled with lots of fun and silly rhymes. ‘Ready for Spaghetti’ is wider than A4 in size and is filled with thick pages of colourful illustrations and some text. At the start of the book is an introduction by the author Michael Rosen, explaining about how children learn language by learning and copying the wounds of words. I like this introduction as it explains just why so many of the rhymes in this book are so silly to say out loud!
After the introduction there are pages filled with rhymes, usually across one or a double page depending on how many words there are. Each rhyme is so simple, with many rhyming, and others repeating words, including made up ones that create a fun sound like the ssh ssh sound of brushing teeth! Each rhyme seems fun and simple, with some of them being more silly than others. I like the rhyme ‘Ready for Spaghetti’ which lends itself to the title of the book too, it’s definitely silly and fun to read aloud.
The illustrations are good. I do like the different children, how they look and their expressions in different scenes. I like the scene towards the end too where you see their parents, it’s fun to see the same children appearing throughout the story, and even the little detail such as the child who has a hearing aid. The illustrations make the book more fun to look at and they are my favourite part of this picture book.
Overall, this is a good book for those that enjoy making silly sounds with their children, and for those who just like silly rhymes. Unfortunately I just didn’t enjoy this as much as others have. I think I just prefer rhymes that rhyme more, and prefer some other titles with rhymes in them by the author compared to this one. But overall a good book and one which I’m sure many children will enjoy reading, especially out loud!
What do you think of this book? Are there any fun rhymes of poems you enjoyed as a child? Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂
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