Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

[mimsum]

I got this for dd a couple of months ago and had forgotten about it, but this morning she got it off her bookshelf and we had a whale of a time reading the poems out loud - they are just brilliant

I'd had the book as a child and enjoyed it, but my feelings about TS Eliot were rather tainted by doing The Wasteland for A-level ...

dd was thoroughly enjoying the rhythms and rhymes and the way the words just roll off your tongue - some of the language is a bit archaic, but that doesn't seem to put her off

highly recommended

My ds LOVES this. You have to edit or explain a bit of the old fashioned racism, but apart from that it's wonderful.

Another fan! We read it to DS from about 5 or 6; it was the unusual or old-fashioned words that always caught his imagination the most. I think that is true for most children in fact

We were talking about it this morning (DS was saying we should have called our cat Lady Griddlebone ).

I bought it for my dd too (well me really!)

I love the poem about Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat

Popular here too, especially Jellicle Cats - as is the Bad Child's Book of Beasts (though I leave out the alarmingly un pc ones). But the poem about the yak is one of my favourites (although possibly beaten by Ogden Nash's one l lama )

ds is 12 and got the new version illustrated by Axel Scheffler who is my favourite illustrator- he loves it -he is very keen on poetry anyway and mad about cats.
How about Hilaire Belloc ?