Woods in the Books Blog

Sundays are for Reading - Poems from a Green & Blue Planet edited by Sabrina Mahfouz Featuring over 200 poems, this illustrated hardcover collection shines a light on poetry from around the world. Poetry explores the human capacity for emotion and feeling in a way more immediate than prose, and Poems from a Green & Blue Planet celebrates a range of poets who take joy in writing about the Earth. Sabrina Mahfouz’s choice of poems in this comprehensive collection run a diverse gamut from all over the globe. In addition to better known nature poets such as William Wordsworth and Matsuo...

Sundays are for Reading - If You Come to Earth by Sophie Blackall In a sensitive and lavishly illustrated picture book, young Quinn pens an introduction to the planet Earth for any passing intergalactic visitors who might wish to stop by. A love letter to our little planet and the people who live there, If You Come to Earth is a gentle, heartwarming read that will resonate with readers who enjoy the idea of communicating with alien life. Framed in the form of a letter, Quinn writes in the hopes of attracting new visitors to Earth. By turns quirky, sage, and...

Sundays are for Reading - The Great Realisation by Tomos Roberts and Nomoco The Great Realisation began as a spoken word poem, performed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than a mere picture book, this adaptation of Tomos Roberts’ original poem uses the pandemic as a way to look at where we stood before, and how we can use the time we’ve been given to change our future. Told as a bedtime story in a far-flung imagined future, the narrator’s dialogue sets the year 2020 as a distant memory. In layered but clear language, the narrative delves into how people...

#BuySingLit, Read Our Stories - Tiger Tales by Joyceline See Tully and Chloe Chang Wander through the jungle of Singapore’s history with these (nearly true) folktale and historical animal stories. This lavishly illustrated storybook collection is a joy, whether for read-aloud story time or for independent readers to explore on their own. Ranging from Sang Nila Utama’s discovery of Singapore to the zoo that used to exist in the Botanical Gardens, Tiger Tales' seven short stories each pack a punch. Written in flowing prose, each story speaks directly to the reader, filled with animated dialogue and researched historical detail. The characters,...