The Highway Rat

I love the poem The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. We do it at school with the kids and it's a fab story that really gets a lot of children hooked on poetry. Before they study this particular poem they tend to just love nonsense poems with rhyming couplets.

Anyway I picked up The Highway Rat in Asda yesterday for £3.50 (massive bargain) for Henry's book collection. It's obviously a totally different story aimed at children (no forbidden love or suicide!) but the rhythm of the poem is the same as the original and it has some direct similarities too. It is a fantastic book and a huge hit with my niece and nephews. Henry's still a bit young but he loves being read to and looking at all the beautiful illustrations.

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler can do no wrong in my eyes, absolute geniuses in children's literature.