A story, if well told, can last a lifetime or longer. Brian Pattern’s poem pays homage to great works of children’s literature that continue to give, and live a life of their own. Particular favourites of mine included Love's Philosophy by Percy Shelley, The Buddha by Tony Mitton and the very famous The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. There's also an excellent extract from Shakespeare's The Tempest, which in itself is a play of pure poetry. As such the poems are rich in diversity and carry with them varying degrees of complexity. Although published by Macmillan Children's Books, I think this collection is more suited to an adult reader. There are, certainly, poems in here that a young reader may enjoy, but I think an adult would get more out of poems that deal with larger issues such as love, death and life. I won’t say I’ve became a poem lover overnight, but this was a great stepping stone into a world previously unknown. This is a book of poems marketed at children, but the selection is suitable for everyone and includes work by Shakespeare, Keats, Blake and Benjamin Zephaniah. I particularly like how the poetry matches with the seasons and days such as All Fools' Day, May Day, as well as Christmas and Easter, and historical anniversaries such as the Battle of Hastings, Rosa Parks and El Alamein.

Allie Esiri's delightfully eclectic anthology takes you on a poetic journey through every night of the calendar year. A fun book for all the family to enjoy., Tatler Some books become lifelong treasures and A Poem for Every Night of the Year, edited by Allie Esiri, will be one of them. A handsome collection, it contains not just classics by TS Eliot and Eleanor Farjeon but modern poems by Maya Angelou and Tony Mitton. It is the best book of its kind since Charles Causley's, and a must-have for nine-plus readers. -- Amanda Craig, The New Statesman Lots of classics in here and a mix of newer poets also. Some are funny, thoughtful, inspiring, humbling. There is a companion book of poetry called A Poem for Every Day of the Year, and though I haven’t read the companion yet I do want to mention that the night theme in this book felt appropriate to its content. Many of the poems explore night or death or war; there are a few love poems as well, but in essence this is a darker and perhaps heavier collection than I would expect to find in the companion edition. If you’d rather read something a bit contemplative and grim, this may be the poetry book for you.

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As with every ' a (insert name) a day' book, I started off well. Reading a poem a day and wanting to read more was great, then I kind of forgot about it and left it at my parents which is why I read four months' worth of poems yesterday+today, whoops. Die Mischung ist unausgeglichen. Manchmal folgen ein paar Tage aufeinander Gedichte der selben Autoren. Ich verstehe die Logik dahinter gleich mehrere Werke einer Person vorstellen zu wollen, aber ich fand das nicht besonders abwechslungsreich. I’m now debating if I should keep the book or not. I probably won’t be reading it again. But it looks very nice on the outside. There could have been taken more care of the design on the inside, though. To be honest, it looks a little plain. Well, we’ll see. Maybe it gets turned into a present for someone. Most of the poems were not really my piece of cake, but that's what you get with a collection: a variety of poetic doems, themes, and writers. And the good thing is, a collection makes discovering new writers easy. It kind of forced me out of my small bubble and I added some poets on my to-read-more-of list :)

I like the idea of reading one poem every night before you go to bed. So I’m glad that Trish brought this book to my attention. Poetry, of course, is something that will not always work for everyone at any given time. You have to be in the right frame of mind for some poems to work. And it’s only natural that not all of them will be easily accessible. Especially for a non-native speaker like myself. It was always clear this was going to be a mixed bag. Die Gedichte haben keine Jahreszahlen. Manchmal wird ihr Erscheinungsjahr im Introtext genannt, aber ich hätte diese Information gern bei jedem Gedicht neben Titel und Autoren gesehen. Author Guy Bass introduces SCRAP, about one robot who tried to protect the humans on his planet against an army of robots. Now the humans need his... Author Luke Palmer introduces his new book, Play (Firefly Press) about four boys growing up together, the challenges, the friendships, and what hap... Though aimed at children, there is nothing childish about the anthology A Poem for Every Night of the Year, edited by Allie Esiri - a reminder that poetry is for everyone and for every day (or night). It would be easy - but a pity - for adults to miss out. It is a brilliant idea to divide the year up with a poem for every night - it gets round the feeling of defeat that can set in with unwieldy anthologies. A flamboyantly miscellaneous list of authors ranges from Sappho to AA Milne and from Langston Hughes to Charles 1. Adults and children should read in the new year with this book and keep going. -- Kate Kellaway, The ObserverFor those who do not read much poetry, for those who do not know where to start, this is a fun and easy commitment to take on. Reading a poem a day does not take long, mere minutes, and with over three-hundred poems in here there's bound to be a poem that speaks to each reader directly. I broke the rule though and read it all at once.

As a child I had a book like this, something I read before I went to sleep every night. I never missed a night for years. So when I saw this my heart leapt. A message from Gaby Morgan, Editorial Director at Pan MacmillanA beautiful collection of 366 poems from familiar favourites to exciting contemporary voices, one to share on every night of the year. All the poems havea link to the date on which they appear, and the collection will take you on a journey through history, the season, and festivals and traditions from many different countries, cultures and religions. Some books become lifelong treasures and A Poem for Every Night of the Year, edited by Allie Esiri, will be one of them. A handsome collection, it contains not just classics by TS Eliot and Eleanor Farjeon but modern poems by Maya Angelou and Tony Mitton. It is the best book of its kind since Charles Causley's, and a must-have for nine-plus readers. -- Amanda Craig The New Statesman A Poem For Every Night of the Year is a collection of 366 poems compiled by Allie Esiri, one to share for every night of the year. The poems - together with introductory paragraphs - have a link to the date on which they appear.Some poems were really enjoyable some were not. There was a good mix of styles and topics. I didn't like the paper this was printed on, very rough, absorbent news paper, not what I want to find in a book. It made me think of cheap toilet paper with a poem a day printed on it, that would probably have made me fit it in to a daily reading. I posted updates whenever there was a poem I especially liked. So if you want to have a look you can just scroll down. It should be something between 30 and 40 poems. And I think there was a similar number of poems that I enjoyed reading too. But it didn’t feel right to post such a huge amount of content from the book. So, that’s about 20% that I enjoyed reading. The rest? Well, for some reason or the other I didn’t connect with those poems, and some I thought were simply bad. Those were only a handful, though. Die Introtexte schwanken total im Ton. Manchmal geben sie interessante Hintergrundinformationen, dann deuten sie wieder recht offensichtliche Teile des Gedichts (was sehr kindgerecht wirkt), nur um bei komplizierteren Gedichten gar nicht auf den Inhalt einzugehen oder irgendwelche Anhaltspunkte zu geben.

This useful anthology is aimed at children but I can't think of anyone who wouldn't enjoy it. The target audience ensures accessibility as well as a satisfying blend of light and shade, while Esiri's introduction is a model of economyand enthusiasm. She offers poetry for the small things in life, the every day, and I can't think of anything more life enhancing than opening this book each evening to sweeten the passage of time. -- Bel Mooney The Daily Mail Night Mayor Franklefink has vanished from the Transylvanian Express - and it's up to you to solve the case! Part of the Solve Your Own Mystery seri...

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My candle burns at both ends; / It will not last the night; / But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends– / It gives a lovely light!” -Edna St Vincent Millay While I do think it’s entirely acceptable to read a book like this at your own pace and inclination, I will say that the historical significance of the poems, included in the introductory paragraphs, was one of the highlights of the experience for me. Connecting the poems to a holiday or war or event piqued my interest in the corresponding poems. Not every poem fit its date exactly, but the ones that did were more fun to read on the appropriate days. Though aimed at children, there is nothing childish about the anthology A Poem for Every Night of the Year, edited by Allie Esiri - a reminder that poetry is for everyone and for every day (or night). It would be easy - but a pity - for adults to miss out. It is a brilliant idea to divide the year up with a poem for every night - it gets round the feeling of defeat that can set in with unwieldy anthologies. A flamboyantly miscellaneous list of authors ranges from Sappho to AA Milne and from Langston Hughes to Charles 1. Adults and children should read in the new year with this book and keep going. -- Kate Kellaway The Observer