Rapunzel is a Lettuce
Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Shirley Hottier
Otter-Barry Books

The combination of its quirky title and Michael Rosen’s introduction should be sufficient to persuade readers to dive into Joseph Coelho’s latest poetry collection. I turned straight to the titular poem and in addition to the six metaphors relating to fairy tales is this: ‘It is the plants / that make the stories, / that is how stories grow. / It is the plants that root the fables. / Beware the stories that you sow.’ – thought-provoking for sure.
That is one of the ten poems found in the Plants section of the book. Before that are six other sections which are in order: Food, Families, School, Secret Messages, Special Places, Challenges and sections eight and nine are called Special Places and finally, Other Worlds.

Two book-related poems that I was immediately attracted to are Under the Covers with a Torch in the Special Places section. This reminded me of my own childhood: its final verse goes like this,
‘And then I am within the story / I feel every thrill and enjoy each glory / as the book fills up my heart / I drink comfort beneath the covers.’

I’m sure many avid readers will relate to this from Challenges – Finishing a Book wherein the author describes not wanting a fabulous book to end. ‘There are monsters and magic, / fairies and myths / and lessons I’ve learned / and people I’ve been / and loves I’ve lost / and friendships I’ve gained / and new gasps I’ve made / and I’m so close to the last page // but I don’t want it to end.’ That was exactly how I felt recently as I approached the final pages of a novel I’d been enjoying recently.

Joseph has used a variety of poetic forms including haiku; View from the Balcony is an example:

‘Every shade of green / seen from my concrete tower. / I am with the birds.’

With occasional black and white illustrations by Shirley Hottier, this is full of poems that are great for reading aloud as well as sharing at home and in the classroom. Joseph’s love playing with words is evident in so many of the offerings herein.