The Poetry Guide -
A How To Guide for Teachers and Librarians

Written by Trevor Millum and Bernard Young

Illustrated by Twink Addison

Publication date: October 2020
Ages: 7+ years
Format: Paperback / 198 x 130 mm / 96 pages
ISBN: 978-1-912745-09-8
Rights available: World
UK retail price: £8.99

This lively guide is packed with practical suggestions for teachers and librarians on how to effectively and creatively teach poetry to kids. It’s also a ‘how to’ book aimed at encouraging children to seek out and read poetry, whether to read or to listen to.

The Poetry Guide is both practical and fun. It’s also full of tried and tested ideas from a ‘double act’ of poets with a wealth of experience in delivering inspiring workshops and events to a wide range of children in a variety of contexts.

So dive into this cornucopia of advice on how to share, perform, publish and – most important – enjoy poetry.

But how did it all come about….?

Trevor
’Bernard and I first met at a writers’ group, many years ago. It was a Saturday morning. Actually, I went to a workshop that Bernard was running. I can’t remember if I said to him or he said to me, ‘We should get together’, but we did. We just clicked.

Bernard
’I was still working as a librarian at the time, and Trevor had just left the classroom after sixteen years of teaching English, to become an advisory teacher. Together, we created a double act and called it ‘Double Talk’. Once we’d tried out some material on a few unsuspecting kids, we figured we were ready to go out on the road!

Trevor
’And we did – for nearly twenty years! We did our double act in schools, in libraries, at conferences and, well, anywhere they’d have us. Bernard’s knowledge of how libraries work and my background in education made for a very happy and effective partnership. We brought out our book - cunningly titled Double Talk - in 1994 and it went through several reprints. So we had fun and we even made some money!

Bernard
’Then, more recently, we thought, why not try to collect together what we’ve learnt about poetry and children, write it down, and put it in a book. Good idea? Crazy idea? With the encouragement of Troika, we concluded it was a pretty good idea and so here it is. We hope you agree!’

Reviews

“Authoritative books on teaching poetry are few and far between: this one should be in every primary school and English department’s library. Playful, engaging and all about working with poetry in an active way designed to lead to engagement, enjoyment and learning… one can’t help feeling that these kinds of approaches provide a far more effective path to a sharp awareness of the structures and effects of language than much of the grammar work this is currently being done in schools.”

Gary Snapper, Editor, Teaching English

“The enthusiasm and excitement that exude from [this book’s] pages are contagious and it will be a sure fire hit for all those converted and those wanting to be - unleash your inner poet now!”

Armadillo Weekly

“If you are a teacher or a librarian then this guide to helping children write poetry is essential. For the purposes of this review I can do no better than quote Ian McMillan, one of the UK’s finest poets, from the cover. “Two established poets and educators guide you through the sometimes thorny thicket of poetry and give you hints and tips and confidence. This book will will ensure that you’re not wandering lonely, you’re wandering with everybody else who’s ever read, written or performed a poem.”

Roger Stevens, PoetryZone.co.uk

“If you are a teacher or a librarian, or even a poet looking for ideas of how to teach poetry to classes or groups, this is the book for you! There are sections on every type of question you may have from 'How to do poetry with pre-readers/writers', to 'How to use audio/video as an aid', and other things covered include 'performance', 'reading aloud', 'music and poetry', 'imagery, similes and metaphors' and even 'how to answer difficult questions'. I really recommend this!”

Liz Brownlee, PoetryRoundabout.com