Showing results by author "Michael Rose" in All Categories

Learning can be much more fun - and former children's laureate, million-selling author, broadcaster, father of five, and all-round national treasure Michael Rosen wants to show you how. We live in a world surrounded by all the stuff that education is supposed to be about: machines, bodies, languages, cities, votes, mountains, energy, movement, plays, food, liquids, collisions, protests, stones, windows.

In our lives, terrible things may happen. Michael Rosen has grieved the loss of a child, lived with debilitating chronic illness, and faced death itself when seriously unwell in hospital. In spite of this he has survived, and has even learned to find joy in life in the aftermath of tragedy. In Getting Better, he shares his story and the lessons he has learned along the way. Exploring the roles that trauma and grief have played in his own life, Michael investigates the road to recovery.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, unique tales inspired by traditional literary forms appeared frequently in socialist-leaning British periodicals, such as the Clarion, Labour Leader, and Social Democrat. Based on familiar genres, these stories were meant to entertain readers of all ages - and some challenged the conventional values promoted in children’s literature for the middle class. Acclaimed critic and author Michael Rosen brings together more than 40 of the best and most enduring examples of these stories in one beautiful volume.

In this hilarious, moving memoir, much-loved children's poet and political campaigner Michael Rosen recalls the first 23 years of his life. The audiobook ends with a letter to his father and the revelation of a heartbreaking family secret.

From minding your Ps and Qs to wondering why X should mark the spot, Alphabetical is a book for everyone who loves words and language. Whether it's how letters are arranged on keyboards or Viking runes, textspeak or zip codes, this book will change the way you think about letters forever. How on earth did we fix upon our 26 letters? What do they really mean? And how did we come to write them down in the first place?

What would it be like to live in the future? Or underwater? What would you do if you could go back in time? Or be a cat? Or a blood cell? What would happen if a monster ate every letter of the alphabet? In this extraordinary collection of brand new poems, beloved writer and former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen will make you laugh, make you smile, make you think, and take you out of this world. Beautifully illustrated throughout by acclaimed artist Ed Vere, this is a book to treasure and share – a perfect introduction to poetry for readers of all ages.

Malcolm is, in all ways, an ordinary boy. This is a perfectly ordinary story featuring one perfectly ordinary 10-year-old, his very bossy uncle, some baked beans, a school which tries to make interesting things boring, the famed Italian city of Ponky and a genie who appears when you rub your nose. It also includes lots of very useful facts - many of which are untrue.

This hug of a book contains joyful surprises everywhere! Marvel at the little girl who found friendship with a frog, the lady who transformed her flat into a hummingbird hospital, the company that makes self-parking chairs, the blind elephants who enjoy swaying to classical music and the man who found a huge dinosaur fossil in his garden - there's a something to delight and inspire for everyone.

Rigatoni the Pasta Cat: Rigatoni is a cat that loves pasta. He loves it so much, he eats it every day. But when his owners have to go away, they leave someone else in charge of dinner. Rigatoni doesn’t get any pasta to eat at all. Hampstead the Hamster: Christmas is coming, and what Leo wants more than anything in the world is a pet hamster. And guess what? He gets one on Christmas morning! Leo names his new pet Hampstead, after an autocorrect mistake on his wish list. Everything is great, that is, until Leo realises that Hampstead is down in the dumps.

Harry Gruber plays the role of Scrooge in his school’s production of A Christmas Carol, and he is extra nervous about tonight’s performance because his father is in the audience - not away for business, as usual. Will the story’s message of Christmas cheer and the redemptive power of love reach his father’s distracted Scrooge heart?

A personal, powerful and resonant account of the Holocaust by one of this country's best-loved children’s authors. By turns charming, shocking and heart-breaking, this is the true story of Michael Rosen’s search for his relatives who 'went missing' during the Second World War - told through prose and poetry. When Michael was growing up, stories often hung in the air about his great-uncles: one was a clock-mender and the other a dentist. They were there before the war, his dad would say, and weren’t after.

Even though Malcolm managed to bamboozle and confuzle Uncle Gobb in the last book (hooray!), it was only temporary (boo!). Uncle Gobb is still living with him - and still roaring at him about peas, poetry and Peter Parker. This time, the plan to get rid of Uncle Gobb has to be mega. It has to be epic. It has to involve America, the Jumblies, the Genie (of course), Aunty Brenda the Mender and Malcolm's long-lost dad. But Malcolm doesn't know that Uncle Gobb also has a plan. A plan to get rid of Malcolm once and for all.

A collection of quirky and hilarious tales by Tony Ross and the former Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen, including 'Burping Bertha', 'Fluff the Farting Fish', 'Bilal's Brilliant Bee' and more.

In a joyful journey through a year of weird words and fantastic phrases, one of the nation's favourite wordsmiths takes a tour of the British Isles and all its vernacular idiosyncrasies, as well as reflecting on the joys of English, in a delightful book for anyone who loves language - whether following its rules or breaking them!

In March 2020, Michael Rosen became unwell. Soon he was struggling to breathe, and he was admitted to hospital with coronavirus. What followed was months on the wards: a month in an induced coma, and weeks of rehab and recovery as the NHS saved his life, and then got him back on his feet. Throughout it all, a diary was kept at the end of Michael's bed, where his nurses wrote him letters of hope and support. And as soon as he was awake, he was ready to start writing his own story.

Shona and her dad are moving house, and at Shona's new school, the rules are pretty confusing; she keeps getting into trouble without realising! It's a lot like how it is for Oliver Twist, that boy she's reading about in English class. After Shona is unexpectedly given a mobile phone, she begins to suspect there's something fishy about the new boys she's met. Where did the phone come from? And some gifts, she soon learns, aren't exactly free....

It was cold, spooky and very boring. Frank hated Friday nights, sitting in the museum while his mum did the cleaning. He felt very alone - until a skeleton came over for a chat! And suddenly the museum didn’t seem quite so boring any more. But after a few chilling encounters with some of the skeleton’s weird and wonderful friends, all Frank really wants is his mum....

Goldilocks and her little dog are off on an adventure, looking for that house again—the one with the chairs, the porridge and beds. The sound of the sea calls to them and before they know it, they have found quite a different sort of a house...there are bowls, and chairs and sort-of beds...plus some rather unexpected and hilarious inhabitants!

Frank isn't much looking forward to the school visit to a local stately home. Still, not even in his worst nightmares did he expect anything like what actually happens! When "Not-Sheba", the servant girl from the picture, just walks out of her frame and demands Frank's help to find out her true identity, Frank realises that there is no escape. Charlie the celebrity-mad mummy doesn't help much either and nor do the Indian statues.

The second hilarious and irresistible collection of stories from two of the best-known figures in the children's book world, Michael Rosen and Tony Ross. 'Choosing Crumble': When Terri-Lee goes to the pet-shop she thinks she'll be choosing a dog - she doesn't expect the dog to be choosing her! But Crumble is no ordinary pet.... 'Barking for Bagels': Shnipp the dog loves to play fetch with Julie and Lara in the park, but she doesn't love their annoying laughs. So one day she decides to run off!