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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Inspiring poems to connect with nature
This collection of 50 poems will spark a love of nature, bring calm and happiness and let the outside in.
Daniel Thompson is a poet, storyteller, filmmaker and musician. This collection of 50 poems for readers aged 7+ (beautifully illustrated by Julia Murray) themed around nature all show Thomson’s enthusiasm for the subject, with several poems working well. However the majority use rhymes that are overly strained and threw out the rhythm and I thought it was a shame that other forms of poetry weren’t used to show young readers the variety of forms.
All of the poems in the collection focus on nature, the outside and the natural world and I cannot fault Thompson’s enthusiasm for the subjects, which does come through very strongly. My main issue though is that almost all the poems adopt a rhyming structure and too often those rhymes really strain against the subject matter and the rhythm of the overall poem. This is a shame because I think this was an opportunity to show the many different forms of poetry and some of the poems would have been better had they been narrative, or haikus or limericks just to expose young readers to the different styles out there rather than constant rhymes.
That said, I did enjoy some of the poems - Two Sides of Nature works particularly well and does have that use of a different form as the poem has two meanings depending on whether you read top to bottom or bottom to top and Shed Your Skin is a poem that works in two ways as Thompson encourages readers to renew themselves.
I did love Julia Murray’s illustrations, which are vibrant, evocative and have a great use of diversity (although I wished there’d been more disability representation beyond a wheelchair user).
All in all, I don’t think this is a bad collection, I just think it works too hard and is a bit of a missed opportunity to show different types of poetry forms as it risks making young readers think that all poetry has to rhyme. I would be interested in seeing more of Thompson’s work going forward because he is clearly enthusiastic about the subject and has thought about what he wants to put in his poems and who his audience is.
The Verdict:
Daniel Thompson is a poet, storyteller, filmmaker and musician. This collection of 50 poems for readers aged 7+ (beautifully illustrated by Julia Murray) themed around nature all show Thomson’s enthusiasm for the subject, with several poems working well. However the majority use rhymes that are overly strained and threw out the rhythm and I thought it was a shame that other forms of poetry weren’t used to show young readers the variety of forms.
OUTSIDE IN: NATURE POEMS was released in the United Kingdom on 11th April 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
This collection of 50 poems will spark a love of nature, bring calm and happiness and let the outside in.
Daniel Thompson is a poet, storyteller, filmmaker and musician. This collection of 50 poems for readers aged 7+ (beautifully illustrated by Julia Murray) themed around nature all show Thomson’s enthusiasm for the subject, with several poems working well. However the majority use rhymes that are overly strained and threw out the rhythm and I thought it was a shame that other forms of poetry weren’t used to show young readers the variety of forms.
All of the poems in the collection focus on nature, the outside and the natural world and I cannot fault Thompson’s enthusiasm for the subjects, which does come through very strongly. My main issue though is that almost all the poems adopt a rhyming structure and too often those rhymes really strain against the subject matter and the rhythm of the overall poem. This is a shame because I think this was an opportunity to show the many different forms of poetry and some of the poems would have been better had they been narrative, or haikus or limericks just to expose young readers to the different styles out there rather than constant rhymes.
That said, I did enjoy some of the poems - Two Sides of Nature works particularly well and does have that use of a different form as the poem has two meanings depending on whether you read top to bottom or bottom to top and Shed Your Skin is a poem that works in two ways as Thompson encourages readers to renew themselves.
I did love Julia Murray’s illustrations, which are vibrant, evocative and have a great use of diversity (although I wished there’d been more disability representation beyond a wheelchair user).
All in all, I don’t think this is a bad collection, I just think it works too hard and is a bit of a missed opportunity to show different types of poetry forms as it risks making young readers think that all poetry has to rhyme. I would be interested in seeing more of Thompson’s work going forward because he is clearly enthusiastic about the subject and has thought about what he wants to put in his poems and who his audience is.
The Verdict:
Daniel Thompson is a poet, storyteller, filmmaker and musician. This collection of 50 poems for readers aged 7+ (beautifully illustrated by Julia Murray) themed around nature all show Thomson’s enthusiasm for the subject, with several poems working well. However the majority use rhymes that are overly strained and threw out the rhythm and I thought it was a shame that other forms of poetry weren’t used to show young readers the variety of forms.
OUTSIDE IN: NATURE POEMS was released in the United Kingdom on 11th April 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
