Overheard in a Tower Block by Joseph Coehlo & Kate Milner - reviewed by Emma Perry

Readers of my last post for Awfully Big Reviews, will know that I'm stepping back into poetry with both feet. (Thanks so much, by the way, for the recommendations I received on Twitter - am working my way through them at the moment!) No surprise that Overheard in a Tower Block, full of poetry from Joseph Coelho and illustrations from Kate Milner, was on the top of my birthday wish list earlier this year.

There's nothing like great poetry to highlight the power of just a few words, carefully placed in just the right order to elicit a range of emotions. Deceptively simple, and oh so intriguing for being just that.

Coelho's collection is centered around growing up in a city, family, relationships... and family, accompanied by Kate Milner's great black and white pencil work capturing the mood. The result is a cohesive selection, aimed at a slighter older age group than his previous collection, (Werewolf Club Rules!). Coelho takes us on a journey - living in a tower apartment block, mean kids at school, arguing parents which escalates until Dad leaves home... and then disappears.

A trio of consecutive poems, beginning with 'The Argument' highlight the fractious relationship between Mum and Dad culminating with 'The Duelling Duo' -

'The same thought in each head
that neither could still.
Both were right,
could not be wrong.'

Whilst 'Tables Red, Green and Blue' highlights the petty yet hurtful actions of children, the prized red trainers flash through a number of the poems and in to the comfort of Richmond Park.

Some poems are short and sharp, packing an emotional punch like the powerful 'This is Your Um...', There is a lovely splattering of poems celebrating the power of reading, and the role books have had in the life of the poet...

'When I thumb through a book
their pages whisper to me
that I'll be alright.'

As the collection reaches its conclusion the tone continues to feel more uplifting,  culminating with 'There Are Things That Lurk In Your Library' (see the video clip below to enjoy Joseph Coelho reading it).

Like any great poetry collection, Coelho's Overheard in a Tower Block takes the reader on multiple journeys through multiple emotions. Some are playful, whilst many others are thoughtful, powerful and demand that you pause. Stop. And think. I like that very much.




There are things that lurk in the library - poem by Joseph Coelho from Joseph Coelho on Vimeo.

Emma Perry is a picture book writer represented by Bell Lomax Moreton. 
She is the founder of the childrens book review site MyBookCorner and organiser of International Book Giving Day. 

Twitter: @_EmmaPerry

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lita Judge, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

“Picture books by Lita Judge” was the theme chosen by my friend for one of our book club meetings. This was a great idea as Judge is an accomplished picture book author and illustrator. As I perused my local library catalogue, I stumbled upon another book for older children (aged 13-17) that immediately caught my eye: Mary’s Monster, Love Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein. Mary Shelley was a runaway pregnant teenager and rejected by society, the Introduction informed me. My interest was immediately piqued. And rightly so. I had only to read the initial few pages to know this was something special. 

As the first modern science fiction book, birthing the ‘mad scientist’ archetype and also the legendary Creature that still haunts us 200 years later, Frankenstein was a novel that defied convention. Judge’s book is also deliberately hard to categorise. It is part biography, written in first person free verse, and also veers into fantasy as the narrative delves into Mary Shelley’s inner world. Judge has made over three hundred full-bleed black-and-white watercolour illustrations which create, in her words, ‘a dance between words and art’. The overall effect is an all-consuming immersion into the life of Mary Shelley, her work, her imaginings. 

The beginnings of Frankenstein are often ascribed to a famous ghost-story challenge set by Lord Byron, the Romantic poet, to Shelley and her circle one rainy evening. However the seeds of this story lie much deeper. Judge uses concise, evocative poems to communicate the threads leading to the creation of Mary's story, embedded in well-researched historical and societal context.  

Mary was born into a world of extremes on the night Herschel’s Comet lit up the London sky. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was an advocate of women's rights, later considered the founder of the feminist movement. She died ten days after giving birth. Her father, an anarchist who fought for the poor and the oppressed, encouraged Mary to be independent and imaginative. Yet her practical application of these teachings was too much for both her father and society.  Mary fell in love with a married man, Percy Byshhe Shelley, and ran away with him together with her sister. Soon she fell pregnant and was publicly shunned. Modern readers might be interested in considering some of these themes in light of the recent #MeToo campaign.

Judge does not shy away from the harsh life Mary faced, including the loss of her baby and her lover sharing her sister, Claire. 

Although scandalous, Mary’s social circle gave her access to cutting edge scientific thinking of the time. For instance galvanism, a process by which a corpse could be ‘animated’ using electric shocks, was a popular topic of conversation. How far could these scientists go? How far should they go? 

As dark events circle ever closer around Mary, she takes refuge in the story that is growing within her. The illustrations show that the Creature is often near her now. Significantly, Mary’s Monster is divided into nine parts, and Mary took nine months to write and give birth to the first full draft of her own creation: Frankenstein. 

Tellingly, it is her Creature — Frankenstein’s monster — who opens and closes her story in the Prologue and Epilogue.  

“Most people didn't believe Mary Shelley,
a teenage girl, unleashed me,
a creature powerful and murdrous
enough to haunt their dreams.”

For those interested in delving deeper, there is a useful Teacher's Guide and also a short video about The Making of Mary's Monster. The back matter is also rich with detail, including thumbnail explanations about what happened to the rest of the characters. 

www.sarahhammond.org 

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE