I’m a huge fan of both children’s books and poetry so it gives me enormous pleasure to be part of the launch celebrations for Charlie Poon’s Pomes by Robin Hawdon, illustrated by Wendy Hoile, as In Charlie Poon’s Pomes I get both.

Published by Clink Street on 7th November 2017, Charlie Poon’s Pomes is available for purchase here.

Charlie Poon’s Pomes

Unable to find good funny poems to read aloud to his grandchildren – other than the seventy year old A.A. Milne classics – British playwright Robin Hawdon sat down to write some himself. The result is this collection of thirty hilarious and touching poems, beautifully illustrated by Wendy Hoile, which recount the exploits of young Charley Poon – every parent’s nightmare – and his eccentric menagerie of nursery animals. The poems cover everything from youthful games and exploits, to the problems of growing up, to the ups and downs of school and family life, and the joys of country and seaside holidays. Parents and grandparents will be delighted to have something new and entertaining with which to occupy those tricky lights-out bedtime moments.

My Review of Charlie Poon’s Pomes

Regular readers of my blog will know I always complain when children’s books don’t model conventional spellings as in Pome in the title to Charley Poon’s Pomes (and some of the words used in the poems) because I always want books to show children the correct spellings as their language is developing. However, I can almost forgive this in Charley Poon’s Pomes as I think they exemplify his character really well!

I thought the way in which the book is presented was lovely. The writing is akin to that of a child in its different colours but still perfectly legible and there were some interesting invented words to get children thinking about language. The rhymes are great and the poem Squawkers Pome is brilliant for reading aloud, exploring assonance and alliteration and generally having fun with a real tongue twister. The section Spelling could lead to hours of language exploration as the author takes the reader from ‘know’ to ‘slough’ with all the homophones in between.

Robin Hawdon has a wonderful understanding of how children think and I loved the poems about friendship and childhood activities like riding a bike and playing in the snow. In fact, although these are children’s posm, they ignite memories for adults too. I’m quite sure teachers would agree with the sentiments in School! My favourite was Grownups – I think all adults with children should read it as a salutary lesson.

Charley Poon’s Pomes is a vibrant, hugely entertaining book that adults and children can share and enjoy together.

About Robin Hawdon

Dividing his time between Bath, Australia and the South of France, actor, playwright and grandfather Robin Hawdon has enjoyed a successful forty year career in the entertainment industry. During the early years he was a regular face on British TV — appearing in many series and co-starring with Michael Crawford in ITV’s ‘Chalk and Cheese’ and starring in a number of films. He has trod the boards as Hamlet, Henry V and Henry Higgins in Pygmalion and in leading roles in London’s West End.

Later his love of writing dominated his career and he is now recognised as one of the UK’s most prolific comedy playwrights —with productions including The Mating Game which has played in over thirty countries and Don’t Dress For Dinner which ran in the West End for six years before playing on Broadway and around the English speaking world. Many of his plays are published by Samuel French and Josef Weinberger. Robin has also directed a number of stage productions, and in the 1980’s founded the Bath Fringe festival, and subsequently became Director of the Theatre Royal Bath, England’s premier touring theatre.

He has written several novels including A Rustle in the Grass, published by Hutchinsons in 1984 and republished recently by Thistle. A second novel, The Journey was published in 2002 by Hawthorns and a third, Survival of the Fittest, by SBPR in 2013.

You can find out more about Robin on his website and by following him on Twitter.

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