Poetry can be fun finds STEPHEN LEWIS as he dips into a volume of verses by local schoolchildren.

"I'D like to be a biscuit,

Chocolate perhaps,

I'd sit all day and talk

To chocolate kind of chaps.

Everyone thinks I'm yummy,

A great dream I find,

But one day I'd get eaten...

I think I've changed my mind!"

AS A meditation on the costs of pursuing popularity at any price, this little poem (we've only got room for the first and last verse here) takes some beating. All the more remarkable that it was written by a nine-year-old York schoolgirl, Hannah Ellison.

Hannah is one of nearly 30 children from Fishergate Primary School whose poetry is featured in Hullabaloo! Yorkshire, this year's volume of poetry by eight to 11 year-old schoolchildren published by Young Writers.

There are also a host of contributions by children from other local schools - Nun Monkton, Escrick and Nafferton primaries among them. Like the children themselves, the poems come in all shapes and sizes. But they demonstrate that this corner of North and East Yorkshire is not short of budding literary talent.

There are the quirky. "My teacher's an alien/ she has a forked tongue/ she always mutters, sing sang song" write Mark Hamilton (10) and Heather Axford and Lizzie Buck (both 11) of Escrick Primary.

There are the gritty. "Bullies do it for attention/ Even if they get detention/ They hit, they kick, they scratch, they bite/ And usually end up in a fight," notes Escrick 11-year-old Liam Waddle.

There is the optimistic - "I couldn't come to school Sir/ because the bus was late," writes Fishergate Primary's Connar Maiden, nine, in a poem entitled Excuses - and the bored. "School, school/It's not cool/You can't play ball/Near the hall," lament Escrick ten-year-olds George Whitby and Graeme Warnes.

What they all have in common, however, is a delight for words and a winning way with an image.

Hullabaloo! marks the 12th year of publication of writing by primary school children. Altogether, about 65,000 poems were submitted, sorted by editors into regions, and then about half in each area selected for publication. Most regions have their own Hullabaloo! book - but if the quality of the entries here is anything to go by, Yorkshire's must be one of the best.

The aim of the Young Writers books, says Hullabaloo! editor Lynsey Hawkins, is to promote the reading and writing of poetry among children.

Angela Johnson, recently retired headteacher of Fishergate Primary School, says the great thing about the book is that it gave the children who contributed a real purpose for writing. "It's a real writing opportunity rather than just a classroom exercise," she says. "The children were all delighted."

As will be any mums and dads who dip into Hullabaloo.

Hullabaloo! Yorkshire, edited by Lynsey Hawkins, is published by Young Writers price £12.99. It can be ordered from good bookshops, or - for an extra £1.45 to cover P&P - direct from the publishers on 01733 890066.

Updated: 08:57 Wednesday, August 06, 2003