Poetry Pizza – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Playful poems about childhood feelings.
Children’s book title: Poetry Pizza.
Children’s poet: Simon Mole.
Children’s illustrator: Tom McLaughlin.
Genre: Children’s poetry.
Published by: Otter-Barry Books.
ISBN: 9781915659866.
Recommended for children aged: 7+.
First published: Paperback February 2026.
This children’s book is ideal for: children who enjoy funny, thoughtful poems about play, classroom humour, wordplay, worry and growing up.
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Our review:
This brilliant collection has something to say about the many emotions which people experience and grow through in childhood and early adolescence. Let’s look at some in more detail.
The sheer joy of play, and playing:
Then you bang it, hit the sweet spot, really connect!
And that feeling when the ball hits the back of the net,
is a feeling that you never for get!
That’s what it’s for!
The Beautiful Game
The strangeness of others:
There’s a boy I know
who can solve any Rubik’s Cube with his eyes closed.
He doesn’t even use his hands, he just twists it with his toes,
three hundred cubes an hour, five hours in a row.At least that’s what my brother said he told him.
YO! YO! YO!
Being naughty in class and how a good teacher deals with it:
The Long Weight
I won’t quote from it; the whole thing is hilarious.
The pleasure of messing about with words:
A cross between a Whirt and a Skiddle.
Whirtskiddle
Looking at things afresh (and bringing a great poet into view):
1.
Give one a name.
Make sure it’s a name that really suits it.
Like Shellby, or Geraldine Gloppington,
or Lord Squish the Thurd.
Seven ways to fall in love with a garden snail
(after Wallace Stevens)
But childhood is also a time of doubt, confusion, regret and anxiety, often about things which adults regard as trivial. It’s so easy to forget! Look at these two wonderful examples:
Why it’s hard to understand grown-ups.
Dad always tells us
kindness doesn’t cost a thingand there’s a man at the station
sitting on the floor with a sign:Hungry – please help
Dad looks, then looks away.
We walk by
And this, from Seven ways to fall in love with a garden snail, mentioned earlier:
When I was little, if I ever found an empty snail shell
Gran used to smile and say, ‘Nobody at home.’
I wished that I had told her
I liked it when she said that.
So, if any poet out there wants to knock out a short verse or two about the three weeks I spent locked in baffled terror at the sight of a protractor when I was nine, I’ll supply all the details. If I can face them again.
Many thanks to Otter-Barry Books for the review copy.
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