Charley Poon’s Pomes by Robin Hawdon

Unable to find good funny poems to read aloud to his grandchildren – other than the ninety year old A.A. Milne classics – Robin Hawdon decided to write some himself.

The result is ‘Charley Poon’s Pomes’ (sic) a newly published collection of thirty “hilarious and touching” poems, beautifully illustrated by Wendy Hoile, which have received rave reviews from blog sites such as Linda Hill, Emily Williams and Book Room.

The poems recount the exploits of young Charley Poon – every parent’s nightmare – and his eccentric menagerie of nursery animals.

They cover everything from youthful games and exploits, to the problems of growing up, to the ups and downs of school and family life, and the joys of seaside holidays.

For all parents and grandparents who want something new and entertaining with which to occupy those tricky lights-out bedtime moments.

charley poons poems book cover
5 out of 5 stars

Amazon Reviews

A lovely book for adults and children to shareLinda’s Book Bag  (Top Amazon Reviewer)

I always complain when children’s books don’t model conventional spellings as in Pome in the title to Charley Poon’s Pomes (and some of the words used in the poems) because I always want books to show children the correct spellings as their language is developing. However, I can almost forgive this in Charley Poon’s Pomes as I think they exemplify his character really well!

I thought the way in which the book is presented was lovely. The writing is akin to that of a child in its different colours but still perfectly legible and there were some interesting invented words to get children thinking about language. The rhymes are great and the poem Squawkers Pome is brilliant for reading aloud, exploring assonance and alliteration and generally having fun with a real tongue twister. The section Spelling could lead to hours of language exploration as the author takes the reader from ‘know’ to ‘slough’ with all the homophones in between.

Robin Hawdon has a wonderful understanding of how children think and I loved the poems about friendship and childhood activities like riding a bike and playing in the snow. In fact, although these are children’s posm, they ignite memories for adults too. I’m quite sure teachers would agree with the sentiments in School! My favourite was Grownups – I think all adults with children should read it as a salutary lesson.

Charley Poon’s Pomes is a vibrant, hugely entertaining book that adults and children can share and enjoy together.

Such a sweet and fun rhyme bookDanny (Top Amazon Reviewer)

Such a sweet and fun rhyme book . Got it for my daughter to have for Christmas. She will love it . Would recommend this sweet book to all parents with children that loves rhymes . The way it’s written makes it fun to read out loud. Such a lovely book to have.

Other Novels by Robin

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