This anthology of poetry written for children begins in the 18th century and ends in 1995, with the emphasis on modern work, and the explosion of talent that has emerged on both sides of the Atlantic in the last 25 years. It contains over 350 poems by more than 200 poets, in which narrative poems jostle with limericks, nonsense verse with nature poems, concrete verse and performance poetry with poems of the classroom and playground. Acute observation and language inform all these poems, which represent the ethnic and cultural diversity of contemporary writing for children ranging from African-American and Aborigine to Caribbean/Black British and New Zealand and Canadian. Familiar names such as Edward Lear, Christina Rosetti, Rudyard Kipling and A.A. Milne lead on to new generations, including the work of Charles Causley, Ted Hughes, Roger McGough, Allan Ahlberg, Jackie Kay and many more.