The first collection of Roger McGough’s I read was Gig - long after its publication (1973) and quite a lot longer after the first enthusiasts of the Mersey sound applauded McGough along with his co-conspirators, Brian Patten and Adrian Henri, around the university circuit.

Those of us who emerged from childhood into Thatcher’s Britain were used to hearing about the glorious days of self-expression we had somehow failed to appreciate fully from our prams, when everyone was travelling about re-inventing poetry and being a pop singer. But art and humanitarianism were now out in the cold and, as far as I was concerned, they had taken poetry with them. I picked up Gig because its cover made it look like the sort of record I would like. It was.

Read the full reviewnbsp;in this week’s TES

Also reviewed in this week’s TES are a selection of magical tales for pre-teens...

The Spiderwick Chronicle:
The Field Guide
The Seeing Stone
Lucinda’s Secret
By Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
pound;5.99

Cat and the Stinkwater War
By Kate Saunders
Illustrated by Adam Stower
Macmillan Children’s Books
pound;9.99

The Tail of Emily Windsnap
By Liz Kessler
Illustrated by Sarah Gibb
Orion Children’s Books
pound;7.99

Old Peter’s Russian Tales
By Arthur Ransome
Illustrated by Faith Jaques
Jane Nissen Books
pound;7.99

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