Andrea Shavick comes to call And now, fellow poets, please put your hands together for our very special guest, visiting The Poetry Zone for the first time, the wonderful, warm, witty, whimsical, wise, wondrous and wuvverly, Andrea Shavick. (Sound of thunderous applause) Andrea, welcome to The Poetry Zone. Thank you, Roger. So tell us, what sort of poems do you enjoy writing? Funny poems - especially about yucky but funny things like this one: Little Miss Muffet Sat on a tuffet The poor little spider Lay chewed up inside her Other characters I've written about are Miss Nits, the teacher with headlice; Mother Christmas who wants children to send presents to her; Spiderwoman with her creepy plan to take over the world, and Auntie Ethel who is really a hungry extraterrestrial. I also love writing scary poems. What are your favourite poems? Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, The Painting Lesson by Trevor Harvey, Can't Be Bothered To Think Of A Title by Ian Macmillan and Superheroes I Could Have Been and Special Abilities, both by Roger Stevens. There are also some lovely poems on my website sent in by children from all over the world. Can you tell us how you get your ideas? Ideas come from family, music and dreams, but mostly from just lying in the bath! But sometimes I get stuck. Then what do you do? I use something called 'sleep programming.' All you do is think about the bit of the poem you're stuck on just before you go to sleep. If it works, you wake up in the middle of the night with the answer! If only everything in life was that easy. Of all the poems you've written, which is your favourite? Grandma was Eaten by a Shark! It's the title poem from my brand new collection of the same name, and I love it because whenever I visit schools the kids always want to hear it again and again. GRANDMA WAS EATEN BY A SHARK Grandma was eaten by a shark Dad, by a killer whale And my baby brother got slurped up By a rather hungry sea snail A cuttlefish cut my mum to bits An octopus strangled my sister A jellyfish stung my auntie's toes Giving her terrible blisters A pufferfish poisoned my grandpa A dogfish ate my cat And then a catfish ate my dog! I was very upset about that So you go for a swim if you like Just don't ask me to come too I'm staying here with my camera I can't wait to see what gets you! Where can we read your poems? In Ridiculous Relatives, The Word Party, Unzip Your Lips Again, We Are Not Alone, Read Me 2, Wild Wacky Animals, Spectacular Spooks, Historical Hysterical Tudors, The Works, Superheros, Dr Mucus Spleen Superbad Villains, When the Teacher isn't Looking (all published by Macmillan Children's Books); Word Works (Folens); The Cowpat Throwing Contest (Hodder); The King's Pyjamas (Belitha); Words to Whisper (Belitha); Loony Limericks and Teasing Tongue Twisters (Harper Collins); A Year of Rhymes (OUP) and of course, Grandma Was Eaten by a Shark! which I think is in the Poetry Zone shop. Did I hear you say you write books for children too? Yes. I've written 7 children's books (and 3 for grown-ups too). My favourite one is a funny picture book for young children called You'll Soon Grow, Alex. It's about a little boy who wants to grow - right now! It's illustrated by Russell Ayto, and already translated into 15 languages. Another funny picture book is The Truth About Babies published by OUP. It's all about how hideous babies are, and is perfect for any child just about to acquire a new baby brother or sister. I've also written The Truth About Families, The Best Pet, Zap and the Alien and for older children (7-15) a biography of Roald Dahl called Roald Dahl - What's Their Story? published by Oxford University Press. You can find out more about them on my website www.shavick.com How about another poem before you go? Here's one I wrote for the eagerly awaited Macmillan anthology Taking Your Human for a Walk. You have to sing it really. THE PUSSY CAT HOKEY COKEY You put your right paw in Your right paw out In out in out Shake it all about You make some silly noises 'til your human shouts that's what it's all about Meow I'm so annoying Meow I'm so annoying Meow I'm so annoying Claws out, back arched Purr Purr Purr Thanks very much, Andrea. Andrea's web site   Take me back to the surface please, mister diver!