Book review: ‘Wonder’ by Ana Sampson (ed.)

This is a nice idea for a book: a collection of poems themed on the sort of exhibits to be found on display at London’s Natural History Museum, be they astronomical, geological, fossil, plant, fungi, or animal.

The fact this anthology is published by Macmillan Children’s Books gives an indication, perhaps, of its target audience, although this is not mentioned in the text. The poems are certainly not (thank goodness!) of the pretentiously high-brow variety, and were easy enough for this non-child to follow.

As with all such anthologies, it all comes down to a matter of personal taste: I enjoyed some of the poems, but not others. I was, however, pleased to see Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s The Eagle included in the collection—one of the few poems I can quote verbatim, having had it regularly drilled into me at school.