Today’s poetry picture book comes from the UK.

When I was on my trip to the UK last summer, I made a point of going to a bookstore and popping into the children’s section to see what treasures I might find in the poetry section.  I was delighted to find a few that I had sent back home, but there was a name that jumped out over and over again on the shelf: Joseph Coelho.  At the time, I had no idea who that was.  Flash forward to February of this year and lo-and-behold who was a keynote speaker at the SCBWI Winter Conference?  Joseph Coelho!  And color me surprised to discover that not only was he a fascinating and entertaining presenter of spoken poetry, but he was also the Waterstones Children’s Laureate for 2022-2024!  Well didn’t I feel like a dolt then?  Regardless, I’m happy to share a couple of his picture books this month (and delighted to dig into many more in the future).

SIMLE OUT LOUD is a collection of poetry for children that can be read out loud, acted out and/or performed.  Knowing now that Joseph is a spoken poet and a playwright who loves performance, I now understand that angle.  However, it’s not all about theater.  This is about performing poetry even by oneself for the sheer enjoyment of it.  This particular book is a collection of poems that are meant to spread happiness.  There is imagination and absurdity utilized in numerous ways to engage every young reader.  It’s obvious that Joseph loves poetry and he wants young readers to love it too.  After hearing him speak in February, I was thoroughly convinced of his passion for books, libraries, poetry, and kids being able to have access to those very things.  It’s hard to showcase the variety found within this book, both in poetry forms and style.  It’s hard to choose just one poem as an example to showcase them all too.  That being said, I picked just one that I enjoyed that came with some “performance suggestions” to give you an idea of what this book looks like.

And if you’re looking for more poetry fun this month, be sure to check out the Kidlitosphere Event Roundup!  Thank you for stopping by!