On Animals by Pam Ayres is a book that flows over you like a big bowl of warm soup on a frosty winter's day. This collection of poems, plucked from the last five decades, brings together a range of Pam's work that displays her love of animals, both domestic and wild, in all shapes and sizes. Accompanied by some joyful illustrations, On Animals is funny, touching and down to earth, and is a book for anyone needing a hug. If you've ever heard Pam Ayres speak, you will hear her voice as you read her words - in fact it's extremely difficult not to attempt her distinctive burr should you be reading one of these beautiful poems out loud to someone (or indeed just to yourself!). If you don't think you are a fan of poetry, I urge you to dip into this book and you might just be pleasantly surprised. Full of old favourites as well as new works, many of the poems are accompanied by a short introduction about how that particular work came about, or what Pam was doing at the time. This helps to add context to the subject matter of some of the pieces as well as the language/sentiment used within them. My personal favourite is "The Horse's Farewell to His Cowboy" - the last line never fails to amuse! A book that you can dip into and out of when you have a few minutes and you will always feel the better for it.
My STAR rating: FIVE.
Length: 216 print pages.
Price I paid: FREE, borrowed from my Mum.
Formats available: print.
No comments:
Post a Comment