The Heart of a Child
The second edition of a collection of Wendy Whatmore’s delightful children’s poetry, “The Heart of a Child” was launched recently at a ceremony held at the Victoria Masonic Temple.

Coming from a poet who loved working with children, the anthology contains 115 delightful poems that also contain trifles written when the author was just nine years old. Many of them were written especially for her young pupils, who enjoyed reading them. The variety of topics on which the poetry is written will certainly attract young readers, as they range from Bubbling-blowing to Popsicles to Mermaids, and are written in a simple, easy-to-understand format. The collection also comprises poetry that tackles those issues like ‘Growing Up’ and a child’s perspective of fashion in ‘A party frock – for 1970’.

The book is a wonderful teaching resource as well. To be helpful to readers, and teachers who may want to use it in their work, the poetry has been graded in the manner in which Wendy used them in her teaching. Section A contains poems for enjoyment. Another category contains poems which could be helpful for speech training, while a separate section has poems especially for dramatization, mime and movement, and choral speech.

The poetry is full of life and laughter, and with a brilliant flow and rhythm that children will love, it is the perfect anthology, whether you want to recite, teach or just curl up on a chair and read!

by Aaysha Cader

Speed

In olden times, my granny says,
All vehicles went slow,
You scarcely heard of accidents,
That peaceful ‘Long ago’!

But nowadays we modern folk
Can think of nought but speed,
We rush in bus, on bike, in car,
To ‘Bobbies’ ne’er pay heed.

We always eat and drink and speak
With haste when there’s no need,
We act and work, and even think
With most amazing speed.

I think that in emergencies,
‘Speed’ ever wins the test,
But Granny says, “Oh! No my child,
Go slow, it’s always best!”

Bubble blowing

I blew a little bubble
Up in the air
And in my rainbow bubble,
WHO do you think was there?

A little laughing baby,
Floating by the tree,
I stood tiptoe and looked at her,
And goodness! It was ME!!!

Raindrops

Fat little raindrops
Splashing in my eye,
Falling pitter-patter,
From the April sky.

Quick! Pull out my rain cape,
Smart and gleaming blue,
Aha! You naughty raindrops
I’m dry and safe from you.

You can’t creep down my
collar,
You can’t hide in my hair,
You only laugh and dimple,
In puddles everywhere.