A collection of poems chosen by Sue Ellis; published by Walker Books

Example: How many Stars?

This morning she got up on the happy side of bed,

pulled back the grey sky curtains and poked her head through the blue window of heaven,

her yellow laughter spilled over....

The sun is laughing and so will you at some of the poems in this bok. But you will frown and sigh and wonder too, for here are poems in a range of different moods and styles - from funny limericks and nonsense verse to thoughtful poems about animals and the natural world.

Think of an eel. He swims like a fish. He slides like a snake.

His fierce jutting mouth has teeth like a sawblade.

He eats like a horse and swims up through the water.

Can there be any creature as mysterious or magical as an eel? Born far away in the Saragossa Sea, eels swim thousands of miles to the very same rivers in which their parents lived... Join one on his amazing journey.

Hugo's mother was going to have a baby. Very soon. She kept saying to Hugo, "I'll only be gone for three days. I'm not asking you to chose a new mother. Just who you are going to stay with till I get back. So, come along, Hugo.

Hugo has to choose who to stay with while his mother's having a baby. Granny? Mrs Mariposa next door? Uncle Jack? Who will care for him - and his dog Henry - the best? See how he decides in this funny story.