One of my long standing  goals as a poet and as an educator  has been to find ways to get more poetry into the hands of hearts of Australian children. So, when I was approached by PETAA (the Primary English Teacher’s Association) to put together a resource for Australian teachers, I said yes. A very enthusiastic yes.  A yes which I may have briefly regretted when I realised the very tight deadline – I was approached in  February, and it needed to be finished by May.

But, in spite of a that super-tight deadline, I am really thrilled that this week PETAA members all over Australia (and some further afield) have received their member’s pack, with my little offering inside.

And, today, my own member’s pack arrived, plus a second parcel with more copies just for me.

Teaching Poetry for Pleasure and Purpose includes:

• practical activities for teaching poetry across the primary school years, linked to the curriculum.
• definitions and examples of key poetic terms and concepts
•  poems (of course) – some are by me, some are by other wonderful poets
• lots of resource suggestions
• an introduction by THE Jackie French.  How good is that?

Oh – and something exciting for me is that some of own photos appear in the book – you can spot one in the image above – a photo of my beach!

Of course most exciting of all is the thought that teachers will find the book helpful for teaching poetry – and that kids will benefit from the pleasure of  reading and writing poetry. If you are not a PETAA member, don’t worry – you can still buy the book direct from PETAA.