Michael Rosen is one of the most popular authors of stories and poems for children. His bestselling titles published by Walker Books include We're Going on a Bear Hunt, A Great Big Cuddle, Little Rabbit Foo Foo, Michael Rosen’s Sad Book, This Is Our House, Tiny Little Fly, Dear Mother Goose and its sequel Dear Fairy Godmother. Michael received the Eleanor Farjeon Award for distinguished services to children’s literature in 1997, and was the Children’s Laureate from 2007 to 2009. He is a distinguished critic and academic, co-directing an MA in Children’s Literature at Birkbeck College. He is often called upon to talk about children’s literature and his poetry readings are adored by children and adults. He also presents radio programmes for the BBC. Chris Riddell is one of the country's finest children's book illustrators. He has won the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal three times – for Pirate Diary, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver (both published by Walker) and most recently for The Sleeper and the Spindle, written by Neil Gaiman. He is a political cartoonist for the Observer and has collaborated with Paul Stewart on the extremely popular Edge Chronicles and Muddle Earth series. In recent years he has had success writing and illustrating his own books, including the Ottoline stories and Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse, which won a Costa Book Award.
Ready for Spaghetti: Funny Poems for Funny Kids […] is a fabulous collection of new rhymes for young readers. Michael Rosen has a special understanding of how little ones think and he weaves his wordsmith magic to full effect here. Each short poem captures a moment from childhood from the joy of waking up – ""Up up uppity-up!” to being “all setti for spaghetti” at dinnertime. Polly Dunbar’s accompanying artwork perfectly captures the chaos and delights of childhood. -- Emma Dunn, Hanna Sycamore * The Scotsman * ""This is a great book for a parent to share with a very young child and for teachers in the early years to read to their class. Children will quickly know their favourites and in no time will be reading along with the adult."" -- Jane Carter * Books For Topics * Michael Rosen and Polly Dunbar visit every corner of the small child’s sensory-world – the bathroom, the swings in the park, boiled eggs for breakfast, clouds, sucking up spaghetti, hugging teddy, baking cakes, leaping about, messing in the paddling pool, the sandpit – and weave around them eccentric rhyming spells and pictures which cannot fail to enchant and stimulate children aged three to seven. * The School Reading List * Michael Rosen’s virtuosic text tracks the joy and wonder of being a toddler, a sense of freedom and excitement captured by Polly Dunbar’s soft yet bubbling illustrations. Rosen’s poems are meant to be read aloud, sung, shouted and giggled over. An absolute riot. * The best illustrated poetry for young bookworms, Irish Independent * Featured in Pen & Inc Autumn/Winter 2022 listings, highlighting the best in diversity and inclusion in children's books. * Pen & Inc *