Please Mrs. Butler

According to a list I saw the other day, Please Mrs Butler is one of the top ten favourite children's poems in the UK. It is the first poem in this collection and we used to have it read to us in infant school every day so it felt. Due to oversaturation, it is not my favourite of the collection, but I do think this whole book is filled with very clever observations of the absurdities of both children and teachers and creates a lot of nostalgia. They are a little old-fashioned. Even when I was in school, teachers didn't smoke in the staffroom and headteachers couldn't punish children with slippers, and that was over thirty years ago, so I've no idea how accurate it is to MODERN primary school life, but it certainly feels accurate to what show more I remember. I always think this would make an excellent school play.

Side note: Listening to Please Mrs Butler in infant school was one of the first ways I learned that I was different to most other children - when the child complains that Derek Drew keeps taking their rubber, the teacher suggests 'Keep it in your hand, dear. Hide it up your vest. Swallow it if you like, my love.' And without fail all the other kids would fall about laughing because the word 'vest' had been mentioned because it was a bit of UNDERWEAR! It really bugged me because clearly swallowing it is the escalation line and no one paid any attention to that because for the next five minutes they were just shouting 'vest' and giggling. Hiding in in your clothes is not that unusual but swallowing it could actually kill you, so why are we not reacting to a teacher suggesting THAT? That was what all of infant school was like for me. show less

This is a great book to introduce kid friendly poetry that is easy to understand and it is also relatable. It talks about the troubles of a person who wants to "tattle tale" on the butler to fix his problems. This is also great creative way to reinforce that we need to solve our own situations.

This book is marvellous: the catchy rhythms draw you in and the ideas will appeal to anyone who has ever been to school.

was introduced to this book by my English Teacher when i was 10 years old-I loved it then. Now after re-reading it, I remember why I loved it, the memories of my whole class sitting round the table hearing these short poems brings back many happy school memories...

FROM PUBLISHER'S INFO:
Everyone will recognise the familiar sayings and events of the classroom, the never-ending projects, reading test, quarrels, friendships and excuses in this witty collection of poems about primary school life.