Welcome to the wild and wicked words of Benjamin Zephaniah! You'll find loads of the cool people who make up our world in this rapping, happening, hot and hip collection.

So come and meet Benjamin's friends and you'll soon make lots of new ones of your own!

“He’s a real messenger, unlike anyone in Britain in his stand against the mystification of culture. I defy anyone to listen to a performance of his poetry and not come away uplifted. Brecht would have loved him.” Poetry Review

“Zephaniah is the reigning king of children’s poetry... He has an unselfconscious relish for language and word-play that never strays into the patronising dee-dum-dee-dum-dee-dum territory of so much of children’s poetry: his are poems that bounce up from the page and demand to be read, rapped, sung and hip-hopped aloud.” Independent on Sunday

"Benjamin Zephaniah’s poems are short, funny and modern. This is poetry with attitude.” The Times

“Britain’s best known Rasta poet, famous for his hypnotic readings.” Mail on Sunday

“He brings Jamaican rhythms, the patois of the streets, the perception that… poetry can be powerful, provocative, street-wise… He takes poetry off the page and into urban mouths, turns verse into sassy, beat-filled performance.” The Scotsman

“Benjamin Zephaniah writes poems that tickle your imagination and make you think.” Meg@ (The Times)

“His wit is devastating and his well aimed shafts of satire rarely miss their mark.” Junior Bookshelf

“Irreverence for the academic trappings of traditional written poetry, a loose-foot, streetwise approach to form and to content and a large-hearted humanity, permeate his poetry, and this should ensure his popularity with school children – natural inconoclasts – for years to come.” Errol Lloyd, quoted in Books For Keeps