This is an anthology that aims to do two things: to set fire to the imagination and to bring together a collection of memorable poems. What we will discover is that the two are inextricably linked. We only have to 'remember, remember the 5th of November' to see a dark night filled with fireworks and bonfires. And in their many different ways - through their sounds, rhythms, stories, surprises and jokes - these poems will set the fireworks crackling in our own heads.

Michael Morpurgo has brought together poems by writers as diverse as Spike Milligan and Louis MacNeice, Stevie Smith and John Lennon, Jo Shapcott and Lewis Carroll. Once read, they won't be forgotten - some may even beg to be learned by heart - and will form the foundation to a fund of writing and a habit of remembering that throughout life will enrich our everyday experience of the world.