Choose your superhero

Choose Your Superhero

Norman Silver

Illustrations: Russell Ayto

This book is a compilation of poetry written by Norman Silver. The poems are all individual and do not seem to follow a set theme, length or style. It is a good, quick read, I would suggest it is good for children who might be put off by larger books with long chapters as it is easy to stop whenever you want.

Each poem is about a different topic, all are meant as a light read, but some touch on issues that children could be facing; such as getting along with a new step-parent, dealing with a bully, traveller children and special needs children. The poems promote healthy relationships, but also have the imaginative edge that child fiction has.

There are a few illustrations throughout the book, which aid visualising the poetry and the stories being told.

There is one poem, Day of Doom, which is split up into four parts throughout the book. This keeps the interest through the book, as you want to see how the poem continues. However it also gives you the page number of where it continues so, if you wish to, you could read the poem from start to finish without gaps.

As each poem is different there does not seem to be a logical flow to the poems, however the author has put some key poems in specific places. For example, a poem titled “And Now for Something Completely Different” is about a quarter of the way through, to provide a break. Also, there is a poem called “Intermission” which is situated in the middle of the poem.

The book itself has features that could provide interesting to explore with children, including a contents page, a tag line on the front cover and a blurb on the back.

The language of the poems would be aimed at a higher level of reader with some made up words in some but with a good understanding of phonics the made up words could be deciphered with ease.

Silver, N. (1998) Choose your Superhero. London: Hodder Children’s Books.