Page 9 - Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright

So, why not a poetry anthologythat was all about ani mals? A glorious collection of as many ani mal
poe msthat we couldfind, with one poe mfor every day ofthe year,that a child(or parent or uncle
or carer orfriend) could dipin and out of asthey pleased. Andthisfeltlike a veryi mportant decision.
Poemsandreading“matter” morethaneverbutsodoesthenatural world.Ifthisbookcannurture
alove ofthe ani mal kingdo m,then maybeit will also help createthe conservationists ofthefuture.
Fiona,the anthologist, hasfound wonderful poe msfor youto enjoy, and Britta,the artist, has created
abeautifulvisualstoryoneverypage. Therearepoemsto makeyouthink,poemsto makeyoulaugh,
poemsthatyou’ll wanttoshareandsomethat willstay withyouforever. Therearesomepoemsthat
you might kno w already, but hopefully you’ll makelots of exciting ne w discoveries,too. You mightfind
thattherearesomeyou wouldliketogobackto. Andperhapsthatpoem willsayadifferentthingona
different day. Re me mberthat you don’t al ways haveto understand a poe m. Poe ms arelikethat.
Andjustasthereareallsorts of poe ms,thereareallsorts ofcreatures here,too. So meti mes ourjob
wasn’t easy –it’s quite hardtofind a poe m about an aardvark! – but wethinkthatthere are enough
speciesheretofilltheark,fromthecrabsonChristmasIslandto migrating monarchbutterflies,the
s pl e n d o u r of a n I n di a n el e p h a nt a n d, of c o u r s e, pl e nt y of d o g s a n d c at s a n d li o n s a n d ti g e r s a n d b e a r s.
Therearealsolotsofunsungheroes–thehumblesnail,thetinyant,theshyplatypus. Whoknows,
maybe yourfavourite ani mal will appear on your birthday? Wouldn’tthat be nice?
Ifeel very proudto have helped makethis book and hopethat allthe wonderful poe ms here might
makeyourheartsingandyourskintingle,and make youapoetryperson,too.
Louise Bolongaro
HeadofPictureBooks, NosyCrow
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