Books by Michael Rosen

We live in a world surrounded by all the stuff that education is supposed to be about: machines, bodies, languages, cities, votes, mountains, energy, movement, plays, food, liquids, collisions, protests, stones, windows. But the way we've been taught often excludes all sorts of practical ways of finding out about ideas, knowledge and culture - anything from cooking to fixing loo cisterns, from dance to model making, from collecting leaves to playing 'Who am I?'. The great thing is that you really can use everything around you to learn more.Learning should be much more fun and former children's laureate, million-selling author, broadcaster, father of five and all-round national treasure, Michael Rosen wants to show you how. Forget lists, passing tests and ticking boxes, the world outside the classroom can't be contained within the limits of any kind of curriculum - and it's all the better for it. Long car journeys, poems about farting, cake baking, even shouting at the TV can teach lessons that will last a lifetime. Packed with enough practical tips, stories and games to inspire a legion of anxious parents and bored children, Good Ideas shows that the best kind of education really does start at home.

What does it mean to be a humanist? Is humanism a new idea? How do people live their lives without religious beliefs? The first of its kind aimed at the new curriculum for upper primary and lower secondary school children, this book will examine how humanists respond to fundamental questions about morals and ethics, the origins of life, religion and the state. It will look at how humanists mark the milestones of birth, marriage and death. How do people without belief in God live moral and fulfilled lives, with respect for humankind and the universe? A thought-provoking approach will encourage readers to think about the big questions for themselves.The book will include contributions from a number of prominent humanists, such as Stephen Fry, Camila Batmanghelidjh, Philip Pullman, Jim Al-Khalili, Natalie Haynes and Shappi Khorsandi, who will explain their own philosophy and tell us what is important to them.

When Terri-Lee goes to the pet-shop she thinks she'll be choosing a dog - she doesn't expect the dog to be choosing her! But Crumble is no ordinary pet and he's got a few questions to ask:How many walks will you take me on?Do you like to dance?Will Terri-Lee's dance moves and answers be enough to convince Crumble that she could be his owner?

The ridiculously talented Michael Rosen and Neal Layton have paired up to bring young readers the most uproarious comic fiction we've ever published!

From minding your Ps and Qs to wondering why X should mark the spot, Alphabetical is a book for everyone who loves words and language. Whether it's how letters are arranged on keyboards or Viking runes, textspeak or zip codes, this book will change the way you think about letters for ever. How on Earth did we fix upon our twenty-six letters, what do they really mean, and how did we come to write them down in the first place? Michael Rosen takes you on an unforgettable adventure through the history of the alphabet in twenty-six vivid chapters, fizzing with personal anecdotes and fascinating facts. Starting with the mysterious Phoenicians and how sounds first came to be written down, he races on to show how nonsense poems work, pins down the strange story of OK, traces our seven lost letters and tackles the tyranny of spelling, among many, many other things. His heroes of the alphabet range from Edward Lear to Phyllis Pearsall (the inventor of the A-Z), and from the two scribes of Beowulf to rappers. Each chapter takes on a different subject - codes, umlauts or the writing of dictionaries. Rosen's enthusiasm for letters positively leaps off the page, whether it's the story of his life told through the typewriters he's owned or a chapter on jokes written in a string of gags and word games. So if you ever wondered why Hawaiian only has a thirteen-letter alphabet or how exactly to write down the sound of a wild raspberry, read on . . .

A fantastic new collection of poems featuring classic favourites and brand new poems by poetry legend Michael Rosen. Illustrated in colour throughout by the exuberant Babette ColeIncludes a CD of the poems read by Michael Rosen

Build your child's reading confidence at home with books at the right level Inspiration for poetry can come from anywhere - a memory, an insight and even broccoli! Former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen explains the inspiration behind a selection of his own quirky poems, highlighting that ideas can come from many different places.

Elvie is desperate for a puppy that she can train up to do amazing tricks. But it's not a puppy Mum returns from the pet shop with, it's a fish. Determined to fulfill her dream of having a performing pet she trains up Fluff the fish. Fluff can't sit, she won't bark on command, but she does have a very special fishy talent all of her own . .

This collection represents Michael Rosen's encounter with an "ethnography of the centre" - the study of the complex, frenzied and interrelated occupational worlds of finance and advertising that create, channel and trade in the currencies of meaning that form the cultural economy of the metropolis.

Beautifully illustrated by Talleen Hackiyan, this features 13 classic fables, retold by popular author Rosen. These modern and humorous versions include "Town Mouse & Country Mouse, The Fox & The Crow" and "The Frog & The Bull". Passes on the wisdom of Aesop in a unique and appealing way.

Shnipp the dog loves to play fetch with Julie and Lara in the park, but she doesn't love their annoying laughs. So one day she decides to run off. It's not long before Shnipp finds a new life with Bessie the Bagel Lady, eating delicious bagels every day.

A comic collection of verse from the illustrious pairing of two former Children's Laureates.

Life story of Roald Dahl, World's No.1 storyteller, creator of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach and many more, brought to life by Michael Rosen - author, poet and former Children's Laureate. Written especially for children, with fun pages and illustrations by Quentin Blake.So, how did Roald Dahl get into writing? Where did he get his ideas from? What ingredients in his life turned him into the kind of writer he was? Michael Rosen comes up the answers to these key questions in his lively biography of the world's No.1 storyteller, written specially for children. Full of stories and funny anecdotes from Roald Dahl's school days and family life, Michael Rosen's fascinating observations creates a vivid picture of one of the most famous writers of all time.

This well-developed, accessible text details the historical development of the subject throughout. This second edition contains two new chapters that provide a complete proof of the Mordel-Weil theorem for elliptic curves over the rational numbers and an overview of recent progress on the arithmetic of elliptic curves.

The arrival of a new poetry collection from one of Britain's greatest children's poets Michael Rosen is always cause for great excitement - and this collection promises to be one of the best. Coinciding with his laureateship and very welcome public promotion of the need for children's poetry in our education system, this brand-new collection of poetry for Puffin will delight readers young and old with Michael's famous sense of humour, wonder and pathos.

Build your child's reading confidence at home with books at the right level What's it like to be a writer, radio presenter and performer? Read all about Michael Rosen's life and find out what he was like as a boy, what he got up to at school and how he became a famous poet in this fascinating autobiography.

From Agard to Zephaniah, the very best of children's poetry from the very best of children's poets appears in this wonderful and exciting anthology edited by Michael Rosen, the Children's Laureate.Coinciding with his laureateship and a very welcome public promotion of the need for children's poetry in our education system, this future classic for Puffin will delight readers young and old, and make the perfect gift.

Michael Rosen's Selected Poems is a wonderfully moving sequence of prose poems extracted from his acclaimed autobiographical triptych, Carrying the Elephant, This is Not My Nose and In the Colonie. In a series of artful, deceptively simple poems, Rosen covers a vast terrain, collating vivid and fragmentary memories from his left-wing Jewish upbringing, his teenage holiday at a socialist summer camp in France, his London childhood and the death of his eighteen-year-old son from meningitis. He takes in, along the way, marriage, divorce, births and the undiagnosed illness (an underactive thyroid) from which Rosen suffered for ten years.

Build your child's reading confidence at home with books at the right level

George says the cardboard house is his alone and isn't for girls, twins or people with glasses. But then he comes back to find that there are people inside who don't think it is for people who have red hair - like George.

A celebratory issue of two poetry collaborations, "You Can't Catch Me" and "You Can't Put Mustard in the Custard". This book includes an introduction and an audio CD of the book.

A collection of poems about school and friends - some familiar favourites and some brand new poems to excite young readers. Michael Rosen's humorous insights into children's lives make this a wonderfully accessible collection, with full colour illustrations by the irrepressible Korky Paul.

Dr Rosen's conclusion to this book is that all attempts at rehabilitation of Hegel are based on misunderstanding. When restored to their speculative-mystical shell the irrational kernel of Hegel's concepts becomes apparent.