Michael ROSEN’S
Book of Very Silly Poems
PUFFIN
PUFFIN BOOKS
Book of Very Silly Poems
Michael Rosen was brought up in London. He originally tried to study medicine before starting to write poems and stories. His poems are about all kinds of things – but always important things – from chocolate cake to bathtime. In 2007, Michael was appointed the fifth Children’s Laureate – a role he decided would be used to be an ‘ambassador of fun’.
www.michaelrosen.co.uk
Books by Michael Rosen
CENTRALLY HEATED KNICKERS
MICHAEL ROSEN’S BOOK OF VERY SILLY POEMS (Ed.)
NO BREATHING IN CLASS (with Korky Paul)
QUICK, LET’S GET OUT OF HERE
YOU WAIT TILL I’M OLDER THAN YOU!
Michael ROSEN’S
PUFFIN
PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
www.puffinbooks.com
First published by A & C Black (Publishers) Ltd 1994
Published in Puffin Books 1996
21
Text copyright © Michael Rosen, 1994
Illustrations copyright © Shoo Rayner, 1994
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
ISBN: 978-0-14-192745-9
Contents
Festering Food
Gunerania’s wedding cake
’Neath the crust of the old apple pie
Quick, quick
School dinners
Peanut butter
Clothes for Clots
I can’t do my bally bottom button up
Black socks
Undressed
Personal Peculiarities
Do your ears hang low?
Nobody loves me, everybody hates me
I love to do my homework
Bugs go wild, simply wild, over me
Amazing Animals
In Frisco Bay there lives a whale
A G-nu
Three craws sat upon a wa’
Nel and Ned
BIG Boasts!
Sylvest
Wizz Kings
The biggest aspidistra in the world
Mega Monstrosities