The Book of Not Entirely Useful Advice
- Author A.F. Harrold, illustrated by Mini Grey
- Narrator A.F. Harrold
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
- Run Time 1 hours and 48 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Children’s / Teenage fiction and true stories, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Humorous stories, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Life skills and choices, Children’s / Teenage: Chapter books (transitional storybooks), Children’s / Teenage: Poetry, Children’s gift books.
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Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- £7.99
- £6.99
- £5.99
- £4.99
- £3.99
Listen to a sample
What to expect
A riotous celebration of words and a modern take on cautionary tales – featuring advice on parrots, gravy, mathematics, castles (bouncy), spiders, vegetables (various), breakfast, cakes, and removing ducks from soup.
Advice comes in many shapes.
Poems come in many shapes.
And so, it follows, poems of advice come in many shapes too.
Sometimes they look you in the eye and say, ‘Do this! Don’t do that!’
Sometimes they sidle up beside you and whisper, ‘Have you ever thought about … ?’
Not everything in this book is necessarily good advice, and not all of it is sensible advice. (But if you take the bad or un-sensible advice and don’t follow it, then it may become useful advice in its own way.)
Packed with silly rhymes, witty wordplay and thought-provoking story poems, this collection will delight children of all ages.
Critics Review
Amusingly formal… vibrantly colored illustrations.
[A] generous poetry collection…Grey’s illustrations capture the freewheeling spirit of the poems
This is young fiction of the very best quality, showcasing inspiration, inventiveness and an intoxicating passion for storytelling. The Imaginary has the potential to be a family favourite and a future classic
A lovely collection of poems that play with language […] The illustrations are integral to a lot of the poems, and are Mini Grey’s usual wonderful, detailed and hilarious style.
A hilariously daft, fantastically funny and beautifully illustrated book. This book of super silly poems (or very important advice depending on how you look at it) really brightened up our bedtime reading. […] I’m sure this book would be a favourite of families who love to have a giggle and get silly!
This beautifully bonkers book is a wonder to behold. Expertly crafted, dizzying in its imaginative range and deliciously absurd, The Book of Not Entirely Useful Advice is inspiring, uplifting, touching and very very very funny.
The Book Of Not Entirely Useful Advice is proper fun; it’s not just slightly fun in some parts, all of it is about as much fun as it could possibly be. If there are any teachers left who think the point of poetry is to do children good, like broccoli, this is the book to change their mind … a comic tour de force which will be adored by children and, I would like to bet, very many grown ups.
From singing lunchboxes to birthday surprises, A F Harrold’s collection is a delightfully eclectic cornucopia of wonderful, wacky weirdness
Mix AF Harrold’s words
with Mini Grey’s illustrations,
and stand well back.
This book fizzes with inventiveness
and there’s nothing
you can do about it.
a wonder – funny, inspiring, full of surprises and a delight to share with young readers
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