Collins Big Cat
7 total works
A range of beautifully illustrated Michael Rosen's poems, including many of his classic works such as 'Down behind the dustbin'. The poems resonate with children's lives as they refer to everyday family life issues such as boredom on long car journeys. Many are appropriate for performance and can provide a framework for children's own writing.
- Copper/Band 12 books provide more complex plots and longer chapters that develop reading stamina.
- Text type – Poetry book.
- A ‘feelings wheel’ on pages 30 and 31 encourages children to match phrases from the poems to feelings such as ‘happy’ and ‘cross’. This encourages them to scan back through the poems and reflect on how they should be read aloud.
- Curriculum links – ICT: Combining text and graphics; Music: Play it again – Exploring rhythmic patterns.
A prize of 3500 biscuits, the most terrifying creature on Earth, square tomatoes and underwater torches are just some of the amazing things that crop up in this anthology of three wonderfully weird plays, based on original poems by Michael Rosen.
- Emerald/Band 15 books provide a widening range of genres including science fiction and biography, prompting more ways to respond to texts.
- Text type – Three plays based on poems.
- Curriculum links – Design and technology: Torches.
- This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
by Mark Carthew and Michael Rosen
She starts by swallowing a mere fly, but ends up eating a much bigger animal! Find out what fate awaits the old lady in this playscript by Michael Rosen and Mark Carthew, based on the traditional poem.
- Text type – A play based on a traditional poem.
A strange sound came from the darkness outside and the old woman wished she had never gone into the nearby forest. She made it back home safely to bed, but that's when the spooky stuff really started to happen. Read on to find out what – if you're brave enough!
- Topaz/ Band 13 books offer longer and more demanding reads for children to investigate and evaluate.
- Text type – A play based on a traditional American tale.
- Curriculum links – Music: Painting with sound – Exploring sound colours; Art and design: Viewpoints.
- This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.
Inspiration for poetry can come from anywhere – a memory, an insight and even broccoli! Former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen explains the inspiration behind a selection of his own quirky poems, highlighting that ideas can come from many different places.
- White/Band 10 books have more complex sentences and figurative language.
- Text type: A poetry book
- Pages 22 and 23 summarise some of the inspirations and resulting poems, allowing children to discuss and explore the ideas from the book.
- Curriculum links: Literacy: Really Looking; Language play.
- This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.
What's it like to be a writer, radio presenter and performer? Read all about Michael Rosen's life and find out what he was like as a boy, what he got up to at school and how he became a famous poet in this fascinating autobiography.
- Sapphire/Band 16 books books offer longer reads to develop children's sustained engagement with texts and are more complex syntactically.
- Text type: An autobiography.
- The timeline on pages 54-55 track the major events of Michael Rosen’s life that led to him becoming a successful writer.
- Additional information retrieval devices such as a glossary and index can be evaluated for their usefulness as children develop critical reading skills
- Curriculum links: History: What we can learn about recent history from studying the life of a famous person.
- This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.
Tiddalick was the biggest frog in the entire world, but his thirst was even bigger! One day, he was so thirsty that he drank up all the water in the land. Can the animals work out a way to make greedy Tiddalick give them back the water? Find out in this play based on an Australian Aboriginal story.
• Ruby/Band 14 books give increasing opportunities for children to develop their skills of inference and deduction.
• Text type – A play based on an Australian Aboriginal Story.
• Curriculum links – Science: Solids, liquids and how they can be separated.
• This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.