Angela Topping

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Biographical note:  Angela Topping is a freelance poet with twenty years experience as an English teacher. She was Head of Literacy and Oracy at Upton Hall School until 2009. Her poems have been widely published, are used in verse speaking festivals all over the world, and feature in textbooks and on the internet education sites of various organisations including Amnesty International and Oxfam. She has mentored many young writers and has tutored creative writing courses for all age groups.

BIC Basic

EAN13:  9781844717651
ISBN:  9781844717651
Author:  Angela Topping
Title:  The New Generation
Series:  Children's Poetry Library
Product class:  BC
Language:  eng
Audience:  General/trade
BIC subject category:  YCET2
Publisher:  Salt Publishing
Pub date:  01-Aug-10
Extent:  80pp
Height:  178 mm
Width:  110 mm
Thickness:  7 mm
Weight:  120 gms
Supplier:   Gardners Books
Supplier:   Ingram Book Group
Supplier:   Inbooks (James Bennett)
Availability:  IP
Price:  GBP 6.99
Price:  USD 9.95
Rights:  World

Short description/annotation:  Vampires, witches, fairies, wizards and mermaids: you will meet them all in Angela Topping's poems. In this delightful collection she shares her wicked sense of humour about school and celebrates festivals, families and nature. Once you have entered Topping's world of magic and mystery you will never want to leave.

Main description:  Vampires, witches, fairies, wizards and mermaids meet them all here in Angela Topping's poems. She shares her wicked sense of humour about school and celebrates festivals, families and nature in this delightful collection of much anthologised poems now brought together for the first time. These poems have been enjoyed by children of all ages the length and breadth of the country in a variety of venues including schools, libraries and festivals. Enter Topping's zany world of magic and mystery, where teenage wizards wear doc martens and your auntie is a vampire. You will never want to leave.

Table of contents:
Acknowledgements
Witch in the Supermarket
Baba Yaga and Katie Weir
A Wizard Teacher
The New Generation
Aunt Jane
Mer-Mum
Midsummer Night
My Old Man
Satanic Supplies
They Mean Business
Dear Spider
Cat’s Prayer
The Prayer of the Rabbits
Counting Sheep
Creatures Haiku
Fears
Snake
The Pigeon Fancies
Rivals
Savoy Hotel Cat
It’s True
Teachers These Days
The Mean Librarian
To Be Chanted Very Loud at Playtime
Classroom Hamster
End of Term Reports
Snitch
Not To Blame
Lonely
My Pets
New Start
The Staff
After School Cinquains
Bonfire Night
Hallowe’en Party
Christmas Tree
Recipe for a Festival
Recipe for a Birthday
The Creation Disco
Winter Morning
Weatherings
Finding Magic
Haiku for the Seasons
Friends
My Best Friend
After the Earthquake
Change Our Ways
Kenning My Dad
Riddle
Hypocrites
After the Match
Little Houses

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Excerpt from book:  

Dear Spider,

Thanks for the invitation
to your cosy dinner for two.
I’d really love to come
but I can’t think what to do.
I can’t decide just what to wear
my clothes are all so fine
and I’m not certain where to find
a suitable sort of wine.
I’m not used to dining out,
it’s really not my thing.
I tend to snatch my meals
when I am on the wing.
My mealtime conversation
is limited in kind.
In short I feel that
I really should decline.
It’s not that I don’t like you
but we are so far apart;
I can’t see it working out
although you want my heart.

Yours sincerely
Fly

Unpublished endorsement:  Among the whimsy that sometimes passes for children's poetry, Angela Topping's new book stands out. It is witty and technically inventive. Like most of the best poetry, it stands at a slight angle to the world.

Fred Sedgwick

Unpublished endorsement:  To quote one of her poems "It's kids stuff – but I like it". Except it isn't just for kids. Rich in language, tone, style and voice, the variety of subjects that matter ensure that adults and children alike will find much to delight in.

Paul Cookson

Unpublished endorsement:  A lively collection that will capture the interest and imagination of young readers.

John Foster

Previous review quote:  She flies up from the everyday in a powerful space-craft to find a wider view of the world. Which is not all beautiful, not all kind, but with its own mythic element.

Anne Born
PQR Magazine

Previous review quote:  Angela Topping's poetry is now fully-fledged: her poems are as finely-crafted as she can make them — the products of always being in quest of perfection, the elusive only-words in their only-order. They are, in a word, self-assured, the genuine article. These are poems for sharing

Matt Simpson
Stride Magazine

Previous review quote:  Angela Topping combines a practical, no-nonsense talent with gentle loving humour.

Janet Walker
Envoi