If You Could See Laughter

Mandy Coe is an award winning poet and artist. She has published six books including thee collections of poetry for adults and one for children. Her work has been featured on BBC television and radio and she reads at literature events across the UK. As a freelance writer, Mandy works alongside community groups and inner-city schools. Her guide to the work of writers in schools (Our thoughts are bees, co-written with Jean Sprackland) is described as ‘inspiring, enlightening and far-reaching’ (Andrew Motion). Mandy Coe’s first collection Pinning the Tail on the Donkey was short-listed for the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Prize. Her poetry for children is anthologized by Hodder Wayland, Oxford University Press and Bloomsbury. Mandy is a Hawthornden Fellow.

This book is exactly what it should be: useful, practical and detailed but also inspiring, enlightening and far-reaching. Writers as well as teachers will find it invaluable. I recommend it whole-heatedly.

• AcknowledgementsAdvice for ...SeashellFelt Funny All Day'Flowers go to school underground'MoorhenRawRecipe for Good NewsIf You Could See LaughterToo Young to KnowOne Pair a YearThank YouFrogRow Flow BlowSensing MotherSun Loves MoonWhat Lives Down the Playground DrainThe Sunshine of Susan BrowneThe Head's First NameWhen Ms Smith Slammed the Classroom DoorSummer SongFizzBed of GlassOppositesThe GiftAssemblySchoolday's EndElemental RulesOffended CatQueen of the HiveThe Strawberry-Yoghurt Smell of WordsSwimming on Christmas DayLighthouseBeing the BaddieBottling it UpFrom the Mouths of BabesBusy FeetIn My Name (MANDY)Marsh-SpriteSoft as the BlanketCatch WordsUpon OnceButtercupQuestions for a DadMy MaBeing HumanWishThe Girl Who Discovered FireMe & YouCloud That FellMusic's PrayerThe CancanExtinctSmileLost It, Found ItDream FeastNight Night