Scots North Fife

At the Homecoming event at The National Museum of Scotland Matthew Fitt presented an entertaining discourse on the movement to encourage the knowledge and happy use of Scots. Rabbie Burns wrote in Scots, whose birthday it was. Imagine, the time honoured National Poet whose language is less and less understood. I was born in England, have lived in Scotland for 30 years and for all of that time have a local friend who writes poetry in Scots. You can see and hear Harvey Holton who has always explained that to say it as you see it, is all, then you've got it.




Winnie-the-Pooh in Scots

'Fair fa yer honest sonsie face Great chieftain o the pudding race!'To mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, Scotland's National Bard, Itchy Coo is proud to publish this lift-the-flap board book in the format of the hugely successful KATIE series.There will be many publications in 2009 to mark Burns' 250th birthday, but Rabbie's Rhymes is unique in bringing the best-loved lines of the poet to the very youngest readers. Children will love lifting the flaps to find out: where the wee sleekit cowerin timorous moose is hiding; what the haggis is wearing on his head; and what happens to the Highlander's kilt when the wind blows. A simple, funny, colourful introduction to Burns, Rabbie's Rhymes will entertain the bairns and encourage parents and teachers not only to recite the lines from the poems but perhaps also to sing the tunes to songs like Ca the Yowes and Ye Banks and Braes, A Red, Red Rose and, as a grand finale, Auld Lang Syne. Illustrated by award-winning Karen Sutherland, Rabbie's Rhymes will be one of the highlights of the 2009 Burns celebrations.

About the Author
James Robertson and Matthew Fitt have written numerous books together in Scots, including Blethertoun Braes, King o the Midden, A Wee Book of Fairy Tales and A Moose in the Hoose. Karen Sutherland is an award-winning artist who is also the illustrator of Animal ABC, A Moose in the Hoose and Eck the Bee.Rabbie's Rhymes: Robert Burns for Wee Folk (Katie)