Following the great success of AUP's contemporary art book for children, ""Welcome to the South Seas"", comes ""Flamingo Bendalingo"", another book relating to an AUP strength. In ""Flamingo Bendalingo"", all the animals of the zoo, from sea lions to giraffes, from meerkats to elephants, come to life in poems written by 50 children and experienced AUP poet Paula Green. The animals roar, they squeal, they lope and lie, they splash and munch. The lines of the poems capture in words, their funny shapes and their bright colours. Energetic rhythms and sparkling images make you laugh and make you think. In three parts, with Paula's poems making up one part, the poems by the children making up another, and an extensive glossary of definitions and examples, this brilliant book of zoo poems makes writing poetry easy and reading it fun. This book is stunningly illustrated on every page, with whimsical, beautifully coloured pictures by Michael Hight.

Author Biography

Paula Green is a poet who has taught creative writing, film, and Italian literature at University level, she also runs poetry workshops for the general public and curates popular exhibitions, often combining art and text or presenting poetry in unusual settings. She has published three previous collections, Crosswind, Cookhouse and Chrome and is the 2005 Writer in Residence at the University of Auckland. Michael Hight began painting seriously in London in the mid 1980s. He is both a realist and an abstract painter whose ""beehive"" paintings featuring beehives set in dramatic rural landscapes are much sought after. His paintings are held privately and in public collections such as the national museum Te Papa Tongarewa, The Chartwell Trust Collection and the James Wallace Trust Collection.