One Little Word
This big hairy monster slowly balloons in size, ruining everyone’s fun.
But this isn’t any old monster. This is a hairy argument that just won’t go away. They try calling it names, yelling at it, and even ignoring it. Nothing works.
"The argument came from nowhere.
It sat huge and bloated
in the middle of the playground
between me and my best friend."
Until… the best friends say that one little word that makes everything better. They learn how to shrink the monster until it vanishes completely. And soon, they can't even remember what it looks like!
We all know how an argument can balloon into something we never expected. What starts as a simple tiff has the power to really hurt our feelings. This book describes those intense feelings perfectly and provides a comforting solution in the form of an apology, which serves to cool down and reunite the friends.
The perfect metaphor for difficult discussions that can get in the way of daily life, and a gentle way to introduce your child to the concept of compromise. Coelho's gentle and lyrical verse pairs perfectly with Allison Colpoys' classic illustrations to create a book which will be treasured by young readers. This is an ode to the power of an apology, and to treasuring a special bond that runs deeper than even the friends realized.
Joseph Coelho is an award-winning author and former Waterstones Children’s Laureate. He won the prestigious Carnegie Medal for Writing with The Boy Lost in the Maze and the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award with his début poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules. His picture books include If All the World Were . . ., illustrated by Allison Colpoys, which won the Independent Bookshop Week Picture Book Award and has been translated into over 10 languages, and the critically acclaimed Luna Loves series, illustrated by Fiona Lumbers, which has sold over 450,000 copies. His poetry titles also include All Poems Aloud, created for World Book Day. He is an admired performer and broadcaster – a guest poet on CBeebies and Radio 4, and presenter for the BBC’s Teach Poetry – and has written plays for Soho Theatre, Polka Theatre, the Unicorn Theatre and more. Visit him at his website: www.thepoetryofjosephcoelho.com/
Allison Colpoys grew up in the Northern Territory and now lives on Wurundjeri land in Melbourne. As an illustrator, Allison combines digital and traditional media to tell emotive stories with her expressive use of colour and pattern. Allison originally studied multimedia before succumbing to the pull of illustration and design for commercial publications and children’s books. Her heartwarming illustrations appear in numerous books for young readers, including If All The World Were… by author Joseph Coelho, published by Frances Lincoln in London. Along with numerous Australian Book Design Association awards for illustration and cover design, Allison has won the CBCA Crichton Award for Best New Talent and two Australian Book Industry Awards.