Channel 4 Learning


[ home page ]    [ channel4 ]    [ writers toolkit ]   [ secret passages ]

Michael Rosen

Michael Rosen writes 'stuff'. He doesn't mind whether its called poetry or not, but he likes writing that sort of thing and children like reading it.

Michael's parents were both teachers, and so were many of their friends. In fact, when Michael was young he claims that he believed that everyone was a teacher and, if they weren't, they ought to be!

Despite this, Michael never became a teacher himself. Originally, he wanted to be an actor but then he started training as a doctor. He then changed to studying English at University and finally became a writer. His first collection of poems, Mind Your Own Business, was published in 1974. It is a collection of poems about when Michael was boy: his relationships with his brother and his parents, and his perceptions of the world around him.

Since then, Michael has written many anthologies of poems and edited collections of classic poems. He has also written some picture books. Michael writes anywhere, scribbling down his 'stuff' on buses, trains, beaches, as well as in his own back garden.

As a child, Michael's favourite books included Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Erich Kastner's Emil and the Detectives.


Centrally Heated Knickers

A hundred poems all about science and technology, from the sun's warning that it might not always be there, to the water tank that needs a new jacket. Why? It hasn't got arms and it hasn't got pockets! Serious learning made fun. (8+)

Published in Puffin Books


Quick, Let's Get Out of Here

Michael Rosen's poems capture all the little details of family life, for example the relationships between brothers in poems such as Tricks and Washing Up; and there's a whole glorious poem devoted to Chocolate Cake. Yummy! (7+)

Published in Puffin Books


Lunch Boxes Don't Fly

Lots of poems all about food! There are the wonders of ice cream in Ice Cream, the perils of eating with your mouth open in Shut Your Mouth When You're Eating and some surprising confusions in I Don't Like. (8+)

Published in Puffin Books


You Wait Till I'm Older Than You

From Who Started It? - a poem about two brothers fighting with familiar questions being asked about who started it - onwards, this is a collection that takes a look at the funny things that happen in families. Brothers, father, mothers and friends all play their part. (10+)

Published in Puffin Books


Uncle Billy Being Silly

Friends and family crowd into these funny poems about the oddities of everyday life. Uncle Billy is just one of the relatives who gets caught out being very silly, but there are loads more to enjoy as well! (7+)

Published in Puffin Books


Book of Very Silly Poems

Festering Food, Amazing Animals and Verbal Burble - these are just some of the categories of funny poems that Michael Rosen has collected in this hilarious anthology. (9+)

Published in Puffin Books


[ home page ]    [ author - flash version ]    [ author - non-flash version ]    [ other authors - text only ]

[ Windows Media Clip 1- 'Stealing' from You Wait Till I'm Older Than You! ]

[ Windows Media Clip 2- Yeah I could write like that ]

[ Windows Media Clip 3- Sometimes I write down stories ]