Mr Mensh

In his new collection for grown-ups, Michael Rosen offers a view of the world based on some of the characters found at the kitchen table of a secular Jewish family in North London in the 1950s, like Mr Klutz (a fool), Mr Bubkes (who talks rubbish) and Mr Mommsers (you don’t want to meet him). Not forgetting Mr Kvetsh (who complains about the soup), Mr Shmalts (who dribbles soup down his shirt), Mr Shnorrer (who wants your soup), Mr Ganuf (who nicks your soup) and Mr Gantse Macher (who owns the soup factory).

Mr Mensh is a book about the absurdities of everyday life, soup, raspberry pips, toe-nails, warts and all. It’s also a book about the violent absurdities of everyday politics in the twenty-first century – the End of Austerity, anti-Semitism, Racism and Fascism. In this clever follow-up to his best-selling Smokestack collections Don’t Mention the Children and Listening to a Pogrom on the Radio, Michael Rosen again confirms his reputation as the heir to Jacques Prévert, Ivor Cutler and Adrian Mitchell.

Author Biography

Michael Rosen was born in North London in 1946. After university he worked for the BBC on Play School and Schools TV. He has written and edited over 200 books, including Mind Your Own Business, Wouldn’t You Like to Know, Mustard, Custard, Grumble Belly and Gravy, You Tell Me, No Breathing in Class and Quick Let’s Get Out of Here. You Can’t Catch Me! won the Signal Poetry Award. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, won the Smarties Prize. He currently presents Radio Four’s long-running Word of Mouth. Recent books for grown-ups include The Disappearance of Emile Zola, The Author, Workers’ Tales, Reading and Rebellion and So They Call You Pisher! and three Smokestack collections – Don’t Mention the Children, Listening to a Pogrom on the Radio and Mr Mensh. He was Children’s Laureate from 2007-9 and is Professor of Children’s Literature at Goldsmith’s, University of London.