About the book
75 poems for 5–10 year olds
Keeping you awake poems
Do not eat (or sniff) this cake poems
Deconstructed rainbow poems
Magic-mixtures, strange-dough poems
Blustery and breezy poems
Sweeping through the seasons poems
Siphonophores and metaphors
WLizardry to wētā verse
Lonely and alone poems
Poems about poems poems
The universe, the next new day, sleepy lions lines that slip away
‘Elena de Roo’s incredible poems dance and dazzle with flair and delight.’ Paula Green
‘This is a delightful collection, chock-full of singing poems, dancing poems, poems to make you smile.’ James Norcliffe
‘Wizardry to Wētā Verse gifts a fresh, original and important voice to young readers in Aotearoa New Zealand.’ Bill Nagelkerke
Elena de Roo is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s foremost poets for children, with her work widely published in magazines, websites and anthologies. She has also written children’s books that have been published in the UK, US, Australia and Aotearoa, and she’s been awarded three Storylines Notable Book Awards. In 2010 Elena was awarded the Todd New Writer’s Bursary to write a collection of poems and Wizardry and Wētā Verse is the long-awaited result. Elena is one of the co-founders of The Poets XYZ, whose mission is to encourage more poetry to be written for children and to set up a network of children’s poets.
Juliet de Roo is Elena’s daughter. These are her first published illustrations. She lives in the Wellington bush, where there are many wētā waiting to be drawn.
