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Mind Your Own Business
This is a collection of poetry for children, written by Michael Rosen, and illustrated by Quentin Blake.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
About the author
Michael Rosen
583 books549 followersMichael Rosen, a recent British Children’s Laureate, has written many acclaimed books for children, including WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, and I’M NUMBER ONE and THIS IS OUR HOUSE, both illustrated by Bob Graham. Michael Rosen lives in London.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 1, 2020
There are times when you need some humor, and one of those times is now.
Mind Your Own Business is silly poetry by the wonderful Michael Rosen, and it's filled with equally silly illustrations by the amazing Quentin Blake.
My favorites were the wildly rhyme-y poems that made no sense whatsoever but were fun to say aloud.
A 1001 Children's Book.
Mind Your Own Business is silly poetry by the wonderful Michael Rosen, and it's filled with equally silly illustrations by the amazing Quentin Blake.
My favorites were the wildly rhyme-y poems that made no sense whatsoever but were fun to say aloud.
A 1001 Children's Book.
June 16, 2019
This poetry anthology is entertaining and covers a variety of issues particularly relevant to children.
The vast range of poems contain many poetic techniques that can be explored with children in the classroom.
I enjoyed the poem beginning with 'If you don't put your shoes on before I count fifteen' (page 24-25). It plays around with the concept of a parent tediously counting in order to rush their child to hurry up and do something, commonly experienced by parents and children in their everyday lives. The poem is formatted as a dialogue between a mother and her child. The child's remarks can be perceived as witty and cheeky and act as a way of prolonging the mother's counting by prompting her to respond to the comments made. The fact that the counting starts to include fractions of a second once the mother reaches fourteen is funny as quite accurately mirrors real life where seconds are dragged out to further rush a child along.
I found the poem describing an interaction between a crow and horse (page 45) interesting. The crow mentions 'how green everything is' which causes the horse to respond in disagreement while stating that 'everything looks pink'. The two animals delve into conversation about who is seeing the right colour and the crow mentions that he only sees pink because, when he was born, everybody said his eyes were pink. The creatures fail to come to an agreement so the crow flies off 'to make his nest in the clear green sky'. This causes the reader to realise that the crow thinks that he is seeing everything in the colour green and not meaning that the spring landscape looks alive and fresh as first understood through the initial reading. This causes the reader to contemplate the crow's early life experience that has impacted on why he sees the world as green.
The anthology contains illustrations by Quentin Blake which remain simplistic yet add an element of interest when reading the poems.
The vast range of poems contain many poetic techniques that can be explored with children in the classroom.
I enjoyed the poem beginning with 'If you don't put your shoes on before I count fifteen' (page 24-25). It plays around with the concept of a parent tediously counting in order to rush their child to hurry up and do something, commonly experienced by parents and children in their everyday lives. The poem is formatted as a dialogue between a mother and her child. The child's remarks can be perceived as witty and cheeky and act as a way of prolonging the mother's counting by prompting her to respond to the comments made. The fact that the counting starts to include fractions of a second once the mother reaches fourteen is funny as quite accurately mirrors real life where seconds are dragged out to further rush a child along.
I found the poem describing an interaction between a crow and horse (page 45) interesting. The crow mentions 'how green everything is' which causes the horse to respond in disagreement while stating that 'everything looks pink'. The two animals delve into conversation about who is seeing the right colour and the crow mentions that he only sees pink because, when he was born, everybody said his eyes were pink. The creatures fail to come to an agreement so the crow flies off 'to make his nest in the clear green sky'. This causes the reader to realise that the crow thinks that he is seeing everything in the colour green and not meaning that the spring landscape looks alive and fresh as first understood through the initial reading. This causes the reader to contemplate the crow's early life experience that has impacted on why he sees the world as green.
The anthology contains illustrations by Quentin Blake which remain simplistic yet add an element of interest when reading the poems.
July 22, 2011
Quentin Blake's illustrations hold the collection together and give each a little added meaning that keeps the whole from becoming a little dull or loose.
Many of the quirky little poems are so pointed and true that I'm still astonished that they only fit on 4 lines. Then there are others that ramble around a bit too much for my attention - though those that ramble are mostly about rambling nature so perhaps I'm just not a nuturist at heart.
The subject matter of many of the poems (loneliness, fear, brothers) makes me also wonder if they're weren't written as more a personal journey and remembrance of childhood, rather than as a concerted consideration of making this a book for specifically for children.
Many of the quirky little poems are so pointed and true that I'm still astonished that they only fit on 4 lines. Then there are others that ramble around a bit too much for my attention - though those that ramble are mostly about rambling nature so perhaps I'm just not a nuturist at heart.
The subject matter of many of the poems (loneliness, fear, brothers) makes me also wonder if they're weren't written as more a personal journey and remembrance of childhood, rather than as a concerted consideration of making this a book for specifically for children.
September 1, 2011
I find that Rosen's collection of poetry can become very repetitive and sometimes even boring because the stanzas drag and the lines are usually pointless. They mostly rhyme and are quite funny, but can easily make the reader get frustrated and lose interest. It may however help very young children who are learning how to read because it is simple and basic.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews