So They Call You Pisher!: A Memoir

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Reading this book is like having a long, frank, and somewhat wandery chat with a loved friend who sounds a bit like Roald Dahl. Reviews of books I have read, cover to cover, and occasional essays on more or less academic topics. He quickly established himself with his collections of humorous verse for children, including: Wouldn’t You Like to Know, You Tell Me and Quick Let’s Get Out of Here. The man in the photograph is thickset and beautiful in a chequered shirt, holding something to his mouth. You can hear Rosen's voice in every sentence - sometimes seemingly pithy, short, jokey, clever, punning.

And, perhaps more importantly, I found myself believing that getting better is possible, however awful the circumstances. Dusty by Karen Bartlett, Being Red, Howard Fast, I Am Malala, Sarah Churchwell's Careless People about F Scott Fitzgerald, Orwell D. Michael’s recent publications illustrate the range of his output and interests and include books about Shakespeare and Dickens and a Selected Poems (Penguin) which includes some previously published poems, some poems for children and some new work edited so that the book follows a chronological sequence from his early childhood to present day. He adds, “For people who lose somebody, with very long days to get through and very little to do, I think that’s difficult.

Miles, Alice; Rumbelow, Helen (15 September 2007), "Children need freedom and chaos, not tests, ticks, and smiley faces", The Times, archived from the original on 15 June 2011 . I’m right at the very edge of what I understand,” he says, but in writing, in sharing, in striving for meaning, he offers readers a lifeline, and shows them they are not going through it alone. Michael is a familiar voice to BBC listeners and is currently presenting Word of Mouth, the magazine programme that looks at the English language and the way we use it.

Jane Winterbotham, publishing director at Walker Books, has acquired world rights in Sticky McStickstick and a second picture book, Neighbour’s Cat, from Charles Walker at United Agents. We would now think that it’s not a great idea – the general consensus seems to be, ‘OK, you don’t have to let it all hang out, but you can say it, you can talk about it.

His relationships and hobbies, and recovering from COVID, re-learning to do the most basic of things, such as walking, for the third time. Moving , humorous, wise and thought provoking, this is a book that doesn’t deflect from life’s hardest moments but also encourages us to see the joy in simplicity. Michael Rosen is a man of words , poetry, language …as someone who has worked in primary education for 35 years he is also a bit of a legend …but he is also a man of wisdom and compassion and this autobiographical book about life and living shows this . This longstanding practice was only revealed in 1985, and by the time Rosen requested access to his files, they had been destroyed.

He is the presenter of BBC Radio 4's regular magazine programme Word of Mouth, which looks at the English language and the way it is used. If you’re American, it might be helpful to know that by ‘biscuits’, he means cookies… and by ‘brew’, he means tea… and by Hobnobs, he means… wait, do you have Hobnobs in the USA? What I particularly admire about Michael, though, is how openly he has talked and written about some of the very worst experiences we can imagine – not only for his grown-up audience, but for children too. Michael followed his own journey of radical self-discovery: running away to march against the bomb at Aldermaston, writing and performing in experimental political theatre and getting arrested during the 1968 movements. The very last chapter can probably be safely skipped (eat fibre, stay hydrated, take regular exercise, look after your core etc), but then again the very last couple of paragraphs draw a lot of the rambling together a bit.Michael’s been publishing poetry books for children and adults since the early 1970s, presents a BBC Radio 4 show , and has a huge Twitter following , and I think it’s not an exaggeration to say that he’s considered a national treasure here in the UK. The sections dealing with Rosen’s slow recovery from Covid and his confusion arising from his 40 day coma are as excellent as I thought they would be. This is as much a book about finding the words to express our troubles as it is about the author’s life and Rosen, who is professor of children’s literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, is a generous teacher. From professional disappointments to discrimination, health issues and grief, he chronicles how he came through each thing in a very candid, very honest way.