Squeak! Squawk! Roar!

"A tail, a beak? A roar? A squeak?" There's so much to choose from in the animal world. Kate Williams's collection is a zoological excursion populated by a colorful and characterful range of creatures. Some of the poems are lyrical, like the beautifully atmospheric red deer in A Vision on the Moor, or Fox Trot with its final lines: "Quick dash--red flash--vanish." Many are comic, as with Rover, the globe-trotting sheep in Woolly But Cool, or the problematic dental patient in Can't Snap Out of It who turns out to be a crocodile. Others acknowledge the fragility and vulnerability of some birds and animals like the thrush and the turtle. Stick insects, wombats, hippos, snakes, woodlice and many more find a place in this collection, as diverse in its moods and forms as the animal world it depicts.