Red Fox must be commended for its commitment to helping good causes. Recently it published The Much Better Story Book, all the royalties from which go to Westminster Children’s Hospital School, and now, in a similarly compact and attractive paperback format, comes this collection of poems submitted for the Roald Dahl Foundation First Poetry Competition. Over ten thousand entries were received from writers of 17 years and under (very much under, the youngest contributor being a four-year old from Newmarket), and the resulting volume contains the tip of the verse-berg - a mere two hundred.

Prominent amongst these are the work of Rosanne Flynn who wins a prize as “Poet of the Year”, and entries from two schools which become “School of the Year” and recipient of “The Roald Dahl Wondercrump School Award”. Royalties will go to the foundation set up by Dahl’s widow, and will benefit organisations which help children who have problems with literacy, blood disorders and spinal injuries. Many may want to buy the book for this reason alone.

Wondercrump Poetry! is arranged in 11 sections with titles like “Ma is Chopping Onions” (Poems of Home and Family ), “The Black Cat is Patient” (Poems about Friendship and Love). Achieved poems, such as Sarah Beth Lyle’s “Stowey Mill”, David Thake Stallibrass’s “My Granddad Lives by Candlelight” and Anna Lewis’s remarkable narrative of the Holocaust “Yesterday’s Day” sit side by side with plenty of amusing thoughts, solemn warnings, cheerful word play and sharp observation, as well as some accomplished teacher-directed imitation, particularly of Ted Hughes.

As always in this kind of anthology, it’s very often the occasional phrase or passage rather than the complete poem which catches the attention.

Writing poems, for many of the children here, has helped them to discover a talent for description by replacing the paragraph with the notion of the stanza and its less intimidating perimeter. Invaluable lessons of economy in thought and language have been learnt in the process, even where little sense of form is evident, while a handful of the writers displays an intuitive sense of patterning.

In short, it is books like this ( and there seems to be an ever-increasing number of them) that keep reminding us of the Wonder, of the real enjoyment of writing nourished by so many of our schools. As for the Crump, a poem a day should keep it away.

Books for Keeps and the Reading and Language Information Centre in Reading have published a new Multicultural Guide to Children’s Books: 0 - 12, edited by Rosemary Stones and compiled by Judith Elkin and Steve Rosson. It features 250 titles, articles on multiculturalism, and brief biographical details of authors and illustrators. Price Pounds 4.99 including postage from the Reading and Language Information Centre, University of Reading, Bulmershe Court, Earley, Reading RG6 IHY or Books for Keeps, 6 Brightfield Road, London SE12 8QF.

Nottinghamshire’s Education Library Service has compiled thematic indexes to picture, fiction and poetry books. The Picture Books and Fiction lists cost Pounds 5.50 each and the Poetry list is Pounds 4.50 including postage . Available from Education Library Service, County Library, Glaisdale Parkway, Nottingham NG8 4GP.