Cautionary Tales: Comic Verse for The Twenty First Century by James Landale

There is a Roald Dahl-esque delight in poetry that gives foul little children their just desserts, so deliciously politically incorrect in this day and age. Hilaire Belloc's 'Cautionary Tales' are a perfect example; remember 'REBECCA, Who Slammed Doors for Fun and Perished Miserably' or 'JIM, Who ran away from his Nurse and was eaten by a Lion'?

And just as Dahl followed on from Belloc's legacy and heavily satirised children who did things like watch too much television, so James Landale has here created his own set of Cautionary Tales for our time, with poems about kids like 'HARRY, Who took Drugs and Perished Miserably' and 'NICHOLAS, Who refused to Tidy his bedroom and Died Alone'.

Though there is clearly an intended resemblance to Hilaire Belloc, right down to the moralising couplet at the end of each poem, Landale has replaced Belloc's characters, who Run Away from Nurse and Slam Doors, with twenty first century hell raisers who instead Play Computer Games, Shoplift and Wind Up With An ASBO.

It is a smart idea to take a poetic formula that really works and update it - but it is a dangerous one too, and unless you write something brilliant enough to take the original one step further, the shadow of what came before can loom too large. But though Landale admits (in the introduction to his book) that reproducing Belloc's formula is perhaps a little presumptuous, his verses can match the original in parts, often being really funny at the expense of his little tykes.

In these poems we don't quite see the no-holds-barred grossness key to the brilliance of Belloc or even Dahl. And just as Dahl needed Quentin Blake, there is sense that these poems, in order for James Lansdale to really reach the lofty heights of his predecessors, need zanier and more unique illustrations to bring the characters to life and make their gruesome fates more enjoyable.