Product Description

Wanna be in our gang? We cause Peace, Fighters fear us, On de streets The very first ground-breaking children's poetry collection from street poet Benjamin Zephaniah. Playful, clever and provocative, this is performance poetry on the page at its very best.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68745 in Books
• Published on: 1995-08-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Review
Zephaniah is the reigning king of children's poetry... He has an unselfconscious relish for language and word-play that never strays into the patronising dee-dum-dee-dum-dee-dum territory of so much of children's poetry: his are poems that bounce up from the page and demand to be read, rapped, sung and hip-hopped aloud. (Independent on Sunday )

This is poetry with attitude. (The Times )

A delight to read aloud. (Brian Patten )

About the Author
Benjamin Zephaniah was born in Birmingham and then spent some of his early years in Jamaica. He came to London when he was 22 and his first book of poetry for adults was published soon after. He appears regularly on radio and TV including a Desert Island Discs appearance, literary festivals, and has also taken part in plays and films. He is most well-known for his performance poetry with a political edge for both children and adults and gritty teenage fiction. His collections Talking Turkey, Wicked World and Funky Chickens broke new ground in children's poetry. He is the only Rastafarian poet to be short-listed for the Chairs of Poetry for both Oxford and Cambridge University and has been listed in The Times' list of 50 greatest postwar writers. Benjamin now lives in East London.

Customer Reviews

The Compassionate and Tender Benjamin Zephaniah
Talking Turkeys is an endearing, captivating and at times melancholic book of poems brilliantly penned by Benjamin Zephaniah. The fate of Danny The Cat is especially heartbreaking. The author is a brilliant and benevolent thinker who obviously loves all creatures great and small. Zephaniah's poems are at once benign and profound and therefore should resonate with people of all ages. If Benjamin Zephaniah's utopian and peaceful worldview were reality, the earth would be an ideal place. Sadly, it is not, but give credit to the poet, Benjamin Zephaniah, for striving to improve life on earth for all its inhabitants ! He uses his enormous talents to engender reverence for life !

Zephaniah's On Phiah!
"Be kind to yu turkeys dis christmas"!

Who else but Benjamin Zephaniah lets us know that turkeys 'jus wanna play reggae' and wakes us up to 'Civil Lies'?

In my opinion this is an excellent, fun, well-illustrated book. Great for young and old and if you haven't got it yet then may I suggest that you put it on your next birthday list.

Nice one Benjamin!

I love this book!
Benjamin Zephaniah is the coolest bloke on the planet. The poems in this book are really funny as well as being thought-provoking. If you think poetry is boring (like I did before I read this book) buy 'Talking Turkeys' and enjoy!