The Rainmaker Danced

Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books

The exuberant John Agard shares his infectious love for the world and its words in this new collection of poetry for children.

The Rainmaker Danced covers all sorts of topics and themes across its 40 poems, from seagulls to space aliens. There are some important issues too – ‘Progress’ and ‘Lines’ nod to war themes and ‘Taking Sides’ and ‘A Single Cry’ questions the nature of "us" and "them".

There is lots of fun to be had, too: a ‘Government Warning!’ issues notice of a tickle free zone, while ‘Hello Moon Hello Pig’ and the title poem are abstract and absurd.

The poems are thoughtful and thought-provoking, and like all good children’s books, they inspire questions and discussions. It would be a great book to use in school, and classes would have great fun writing in response to some of these poems. 

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