Published by Bloomsbury, 2019.

Midnight Feasts is a wonderful collection of poems about food: everyday food – breakfasts, lunches and dinners. There are poems about cakes and sweets and ice cream too. There’s even an ode to the Yorkshire Pudding!

Some poems are about supermarket shopping and others are about foraging for wild blackberries. There’s a midnight feast poem and one about eating in the bath but there are also poems about fasting and hunger. There are poems with delicious language and fabulous imagery. I particularly enjoyed the alternative names for blackberries (velvetberry, jamberry, yumberry) and the description of “vanilla pavements” after children have dropped their ice creams.

I really liked how varied the collection is in terms of length and style of poem, and the range of poets chosen. There’s also a good mix of cultural references and diverse representation in the characters depicted in the illustrations. Lots of the poems are funny but there are some poignant and touching ones too.

There are lovely full-colour illustrations throughout the book; lots are full-page, while others curl around the text. They capture the humour and the fun of the poems and help celebrate the joy of food and eating.

Midnight Feasts is a gorgeous treasury and one which can be enjoyed by the whole family.

Rating: 💙💙💙💙

Suitable for children aged 6+

I originally reviewed this book for the BooksforTopics website (click here for link). Thank you to Bloomsbury  and BooksforTopics for sending me this book to review.