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Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble Edited By Paul Cookson
Published By: Bloomsbury Education
Released: 17th September 2020
I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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Synopsis
Can you hear the distant dragon’s rumble of thunder? And smell the sweet swampy aroma of the ogre? Can you taste the tangy tarantula tarts? And see the girl who’s really a wizard? From magic carpets and wands to unicorns, potions, creams and lotions, Paul Cookson’s brewing a spell of fantastically magic poems. On this tattered magic carpet you can choose your destination For nothings quite as magical as your imagination.
Beautifully illustrated, this enchanting anthology brings together work from a range of classic, established and rising poets including Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Benjamin Zephaniah, John Agard, Valerie Bloom, Matt Goodfellow, Joshua Seigal and A.F. Harrold. Whether you’re in the mood for a haunting or a spell gone wrong, this collection of mesmerising poems will have you bewitched from beginning to end!
Amy’s Thoughts
I love the spooky season and am always on the lookout for books with a Halloweeny feel to read in the run-up to Halloween itself. Now, I don’t usually read and review poetry on Amy’s Bookish Life, but when I heard about Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble I was instantly drawn in by its gorgeous cover and collection of poetry by some of the best-established poets, both dead and alive.
This was such a fun, entertaining collection of poetry that will certainly get you into the mood for all things eerie and hair-raising. You can tell that each poem was carefully chosen to be in the collection by the editor, Paul Cookson and everyone was perfect for it. I found myself laughing myself silly when reading several of them and a few personal favourites of mine were I Once Asked A Wizard by Graham Denton, How To Turn Your Teacher Purple by James Carter and Lost Magic by Brian Moses. I also loved how poetry written by renowned writers such as Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll were included. In my opinion, it was interesting to see the contrast from poetry from the 1600’s and 1800s to poetry nowadays and I was all for it.
Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble is appealing to children of all ages and there’s a poem that will resonate with every child. The gorgeous illustrations by Eilidh Muldoon add to this appealing feel and with each illustration, my mind was opened to the world of the poet and what they were thinking when writing the poem. This poetry collection will be a huge addition to any primary school classroom or library and will open up children’s minds to the world of poetry and encourage them to write their own. Maybe the next generation of poets will link back to this book in the future?
Overall Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble was an amusing, enjoyable collection of poetry that will transport you to worlds of magic, witches, wizards, unicorns, ogres and so much more. I finished this book feeling so ready for Halloween and I hope others who read this poetry collection feel the same way.
About Paul Cookson
Paul Cookson lives in Retford with his wife, two children, a dog and several ukuleles. He has worked as a poet since 1989 and has visited thousands of schools and performed to hundreds of thousands of pupils and staff. Paul is the official Poet in Residence for the National Football Museum, the Poetry Ambassador for United Learning and Poet Laureate for Slade. He worked as the Poet for Everton Collection at Liverpool Library, was Poet in Residence for Literacy Times Plus and, as part of the National Year of Reading, was nominated a National Reading Hero and received his award at 10 Downing Street. Paul has 60 titles to his name and poems that appear in over 200 other books. His work has taken him all over the world from Argentina, Uganda and Malaysia to France, Germany and Switzerland.
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