Our Building
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*SHORTLISTED FOR THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDS 2023*
From award-winning children's poet Joseph Coelho comes this enchanting story of three kids looking for adventure in their building.
Drawn from Coelho's own experience growing up in a high-rise, this is a celebration and reclaiming of them as places full of power and magic.
A power that resides
in the smiles of our neighbors.
A magic that seeps out
when we swap our home-baked flavors.
A deeply personal story written by the award-winning poet Joseph Coelho, drawn from his own experience growing up in a high-rise and looking for adventure.
Three children living in the building travel to a strange, magical world inside a tree and meet an old man with supernatural powers... only to realize that the magic they'd been looking for had been in the building all that time, in the form of community and connection.
Beautiful illustrations complement the poetic narrative, creating an enchanting story that children and adults alike will fall in love with. This powerful story shows us the true beauty of home and community. It's a modern-day fable about how society separates 'urban' spaces from the suburbs, when the reality is that nature is everywhere, and everyone should have access to it.
About this Author
JOSEPH COELHO is the Waterstones Children's Laureate 2022-2024. In 2019 he won the Independent Bookshop Week Picture Book Award for If All the World Were which has been translated into over 10 languages. He has been long-listed for The Carnegie Children's Award with his poetry collection 'Overheard In A Tower Block', which was also shortlisted for the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award and Longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards. He won the 2015 CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award with his debut poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules. His debut Picture Book, Luna Loves Library Day was voted one of the nations favourite picture books by a survey led by World Book Day. His other poetry books include How To Write Poems and A Year Of Nature Poems .
He has written plays for companies including: Soho Theatre, Polka Theatre, The Unicorn Theatre, Theatre Royal York, Oily Cart and The Spark Children's Festival to name a few.
Joseph has been a guest poet on Cbeebies Rhyme Rocket, Radio 4's Poetry Playtime and Front Row. He is the presenter of BBC's Teach Poetry (Oct 2018) and features in DiscoveryEDUK's Poetry Curriculum.
Richard Johnson is an illustrator whose picture books have been published by Penguin, Faber & Faber, Macmillan, DK, and many others. His work is deeply thoughtful and conjures up powerful atmospheres with detailed, delicate pencil strokes.
Reviews
"Coelho draws on his own experience growing up in a tower block on the edge of Richmond Park in London in this title."--The Bookseller
"Coelho drew upon his own experiences to tell this story about three children who leave their tower block and tumble into a strange world underneath a tree. There, a "tree-grown man" helps them understand the power of nature and, when they resurface, their tower block is transformed into a place of colour and light. Gorgeously illustrated by Johnson, this modern-day fable is a celebration of high-rise living and its ties to the ancient, natural world"--The Bookseller
Fresh to the post of children's laureate, Joseph Coelho is releasing Our Tower [...] Coelho, who was inspired by his experience growing up in London, has said "I wanted to bring the magic of Narnia to the tower block" -- which seems the perfect mission statement [...] books can't fill tummies but they can provide hope and escape.--The Guardian
'The new children's laureate has written a poem about living in a tower block and a magical journey into the forest to rediscover our connection to nature. Richard Johnson's gentle illustrations capture the magic in this picture book for older children.'--The Sunday Times
"Gorgeously illustrated by Richard Johnson, this picture book is a love letter to high-rise living and its connection to the ancient, natural world." --The Sunday Post
"The new Children's Laureate draws on his own experiences for this fantastical nature-based fable which encourages three children to see their tower block home in a new light."--i-newspaper
'Fresh to the post of children's laureate, Joseph Coelho is releasing Our Tower [...] Coelho, who was inspired by his experience growing up in London, has said "I wanted to bring the magic of Narnia to the tower block" -- which seems the perfect mission statement [...] books can't fill tummies but they can provide hope and escape' --The Observer
"This glowing, poetic picture book from the new children's laureate celebrates the joys of community in urban spaces while quietly affirming that the natural world belongs to everyone."--The Guardian
"Our Tower celebrates the joys of community in urban spaces while quietly affirming that the natural world belongs to everyone". --The Guardian
"A surprising metropolitan fantasy...Coelho writes with evocative language."
--Publishers Weekly
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