Our Tower

This magical story follows three children living in a tower block, as they embark on a fantastical adventure which helps them see their home in a new light.A deeply personal story written by multi-award winning poet and Waterstones Children's Laureate Joseph Coelho, drawn from his own experience growing up in a tower block and looking for adventure. This story is a celebration of, and a reclaiming of tower blocks as a place where magic and adventure can happen. It’s a modern-day fable that shows the children of a tower block travelling to a strange, magical world inside a tree and meeting an old man with supernatural powers, only to realise that the magic they’d been looking for had been in their tower all along. Beautiful illustrations complement the poetic narrative, creating an enchanting story which children and adults alike will fall in love with. ​ This powerful story is about how society separates ‘urban’ spaces from the countryside, but the reality is that nature is everywhere, and everyone should have access to it. 

"Coelho draws on his own experience growing up in a tower block on the edge of Richmond Park in London in this title.", "Coelho drew upon his own experiences to tell this story about three children who leave their tower block and tumble into a strange world underneath a tree. There, a “tree-grown man” helps them understand the power of nature and, when they resurface, their tower block is transformed into a place of colour and light. Gorgeously illustrated by Johnson, this modern-day fable is a celebration of high-rise living and its ties to the ancient, natural world", Fresh to the post of children’s laureate, Joseph Coelho is releasing Our Tower […] Coelho, who was inspired by his experience growing up in London, has said “I wanted to bring the magic of Narnia to the tower block” — which seems the perfect mission statement […] books can’t fill tummies but they can provide hope and escape., ‘The new children’s laureate has written a poem about living in a tower block and a magical journey into the forest to rediscover our connection to nature. Richard Johnson’s gentle illustrations capture the magic in this picture book for older children.’, “Gorgeously illustrated by Richard Johnson, this picture book is a love letter to high-rise living and its connection to the ancient, natural world.” 

Joseph Coelho is an award winning poet and performer from London, although he now lives by the sea. In 2019 he won the Independent Bookshop Week Picture Book Award for If All the World Were. He has been long-listed for The Carnegie Children's Award with his poetry collection 'Overheard In A Tower Block', which was also shortlisted for the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award and Longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards. He won the 2015 CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award with his debut poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules. His debut Picture Book, Luna Loves Library Day was voted one of the nations favourite picture books by a survey led by World Book Day. His other poetry books include How To Write Poems and A Year Of Nature Poems .He has written plays for companies including: Soho Theatre, Polka Theatre, The Unicorn Theatre, Theatre Royal York, Oily Cart and The Spark Children's Festival to name a few. Joseph has been a guest poet on Cbeebies Rhyme Rocket, Radio 4's Poetry Playtime and Front Row. He is the presenter of BBC's Teach Poetry (Oct 2018) and features in DiscoveryEDUK's Poetry CurriculumRichard Johnson is an illustrator whose picture books are published by Penguin, Faber & Faber, Macmillan, DK and many other publishers. His work is deeply thoughtful and conjures powerful atmospheres with detailed, delicate pencil strokes.