Wizardry to Wētāverse

Wizardry to Wētā Verse is the latest book from NZ poet and author, Elena de Roo. It is a book of 75 poems aimed at children aged 5-10. Poems range in length from 3-4 lines, to two pages, meaning this book can be used in a range of different primary-aged classes.

I enjoyed the touches of humour, especially Violet Pirate Smoothie, a poem about a smoothie recipe for vegan vampire-pirates, and Mistaken Identity, about being stung by a bee. Some poems include made up words, such as unmistookery, which add a lightness and sense of fun. I sometimes felt reminded of the Spike Milligan poems I enjoyed as a child.

A couple of chapters contain poems about weather and seasons. I was pleased to see that some of these poems talk about experiences of winter (hail, downpours, frost, feeling cold) without mentioning snow. Obviously, snow is not part of the winter experience here in Northland, and it can be hard to find texts for junior classes studying seasons that are reflective of the weather our children can relate to.

I also liked the way that, even though these are poems for children, the author has not been afraid to introduce new, and sometimes complicated, words. There are also words that may be familiar to older students from a mathematical or scientific context, that are now being used in a poetic setting. For instance: tessellation, petrichor, horripilation, cumulonimbus, nematocysts, siphonophore, tymbal, chlorophyll, circumnavigate. Admittedly I had to google a few of them myself! The inclusion of these words will increase student vocabulary and provide opportunities for rich discussion in class.

The book has been cleverly curated with obvious thought being given to not just which poems go in which chapter, but the order in which those poems are set. My favourite example of this is the chapter on deconstructed rainbow poems, where there is a poem for each colour of the rainbow, ordered according to ROYGBIV, and ending with a poem entitled Recipe for a Rainbow.
All in all, Wizardry to Wētā Verse will be a welcome addition to any primary school classroom or library. I can see it being used to compliment lessons on weather, seasons, colour, NZ native species, recipe writing and, of course, poetry.