A Children's Treasury of Milligan. Classic Stories and Poems - Spike Milligan > Reviews (5)

I am 47 and a friend of mine has just bought me a copy of the book called A Children’s Treasury of Milligan by Spike Milligan and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

Let me explain further ….

When I was a lot younger I had a paperback book called Silly Verse for Kids by Spike Milligan and I really enjoyed reading it. However, I had lent it to someone and it had never been returned. As I couldn’t remember to whom I had lent it, it was lost forever.

I happened to be relating this story one day when I was visiting my goddaughter; Rosie aged 8, who loves books. The next time that I visited lo and behold her mom had managed to find this book in the local cheap bookshop, so she had got two copies, one for me and one for Rosie.

It is a hardback book and contains all the poems and silly stories that were in my original paperback, plus lots more.

This lovely book also contains lots of comical sketches illustrating what is happening in the verses.

The first page of the book is headed ‘This Book Belongs To’ and is edged with flowers and butterflies and would lend itself to a pretty way of personalising the book as a gift.

Introduction
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It was here that I learnt that Spike Milligan had actually written six separate books and that this book is a collection of all six. The introduction is short and written in typical Spike Milligan style, so I was laughing before I got to the poems.

Silly Verse for Kids
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This is the book I had missed for all these years! I could remember a lot of the poems anyway, but there were one or two that I had forgotten and the memories came flooding back. For me it was especially fun to be revisiting these works for the first time with Rosie.

This section includes On The Ning Nang Nong, which was voted the nations favourite comic poem. I can see that this opinion is going to drive my spell check demented!

On the Ning Nang Nong
Where the Cows go Bong!
And the Monkeys all say Boo!
There’s a Nong Nang Ning
Where the trees go Ping!
And the tea pots Jibber Jabber Joo.

That’s just the first verse, but it gives you a feel for the type of verse to expect in this book.

A Book of Milliganimals
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This section contains lots of poems about animals, some real and some imaginary – look out for the sketch of the Strawberry Moose – and a story about The Bald Twit Lion.

Unspun Socks from a Chicken’s Laundry
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This is a collection of poems inspired by children and their speech. Spike listened to his children and made notes of the words they mispronounced or made up – such as ‘bang catcher’ instead of gun – and he then used these as his inspiration for this collection of verses.

Sir Nobonk
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This is the story of ‘Sir Nobonk and the terrible, awful, dreadful, nasty Dragon’.

Startling Verse for all the Family
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This is a collection of verses that, whilst silly enough for the children to appreciate, are clever enough for the adults to relate to. I’ll try and give you an example of what I mean.

I once saw a bittern
In the sky.
Why did that bittern
Fly so high?
Because once bittern,
Twice shy!

Get the idea? The children would enjoy the rhyme and the adults would understand the play on words.

All in all this is an excellent book for children and adults alike, especially if you happen to share Spike Milligan’s zany sense of humour.

If you can get hold of a copy it would make an excellent Christmas present for someone, and even better if you can find it in one of the cheap bookshops. It is a beautiful book, which certainly doesn’t look as though it was purchased at a bargain price!