Some light relief

... like a breath of fresh air! This humorous book of barmy ballads, written and illustrated by Colin West, arrived in today's post - kindly sent to me by the author himself - a delightful surprise! I started chuckling even before I'd opened it, admiring Colin's cover illustration. It came as light relief in this mad, mad world.

As many of you know, I write poetry and am an 'internationally widely published children's poet' (in well over 200 anthologies, when I stopped counting). But lately, I've found the children's poetry 'scene' increasingly depressing. Every new book that's pushed at children in the classroom and bookshops seems to be full of propaganda promoting social, environmental and political 'issues' - from global warming to the problems of plastic, from gender to race, from political correctness to environmental awareness. The list goes on and on. Never does the agenda to entertain seem to enter into what is offered to children. Or to what publishers want to publish. The underlying message seems to be "let's get youngsters used to worrying, feeling guilty, and keep them scared".

This funny book of traditional style rhyming, rhythmical ballads does none of that. Its ditties feature stereotypes of the best kind - funny, but never unkind, old-fashioned and modern; the book is a sheer delight. A joy. Uplifting, silly, bonkers fun ... and just what the world needs right now.

Sorry if this reads as a cross between a book review and a rant! Can't add my actual book review to the Amazon site as they now only permit one to post a review if one has spent a minimum of £40 with them. I've spent nothing, preferring to support local bookshops. But if you need a chuckle - and are aged between 1 and 101 - add it to your crimbo list!

Normal blip-blurb will resume tomorrow. Apologies if I've offended anyone. Easily done, these days! Have a great weekend, blipmates.