The poetry in This is Us is cleverly organised into chapters: Connect!, Look!, Sing!, Laugh!, Dream!, Journey!, Echo!, Celebrate!, and Overall, Enjoy!
Beginning with Connect!, we find poems that connect us to each other and the world around us. Jihad Yassine’s special poem ‘To Love in Arabic’ is a standout:

You know
When I love someone in English
They’re like the stars in the sky helping me chart due north
But when I love them in Arabic
They are like the stars bestowing brilliance and direction
Through words so beautifully sweet
That if your ears could taste,
They would find the stars honeycombed.

Look! features thoughtful, beautiful poems such as Judith Beveridge’s ode to watching an orb spider. Laugh! brings smiles with humorous pieces like ‘The Cheese Poem’, which begins and ends with the playful refrain ‘CheeseCheeseCheese’, complete with obligatory holes in the text. Reading Simon Mellor’s ‘I Got Nitz’ aloud is a total hoot!
The collection spans classic voices like Banjo Paterson, C J Dennis, and Judith Wright, as well as contemporary poets such as Hasib Hourani, Evelyn Araluen, and Libby Hathorn.

This beautifully presented book features a poem on every page, enriched by Tull Suwannakit’s vibrant watercolour illustrations that bring each piece to life.
Perfect for dipping into at any moment, this is a collection to treasure – ideal for classrooms, libraries, or the hands of any child – and sure to inspire a new generation of poetry lovers.

Reviewed by Emily Ross
Age Guide 7+

ABOUT THE AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATOR

Libby Hathorn is an Australian award-winning author and poet of more than eighty books for children and young people. Her recent picture book No! Never! written with her daughter Lisa Hathorn-Jarman, won the CBCA Children’s Picture Book of the Year Award, Younger Readers in 2021.

Jude Fell is a lifelong educator and emerging poet. She writes lyrical rhyming poems about memory, history and nature. Her poem ‘In Albert’ was published in When Anzac Comes Around: A Hundred Years From Gallipoli Poetry Project in 2015.

Tull Suwannakit is an Australian book illustrator and author for children with background in animation and fine art. His books have been published in Australia, US, UK and Thailand, as well as being translated into numerous languages all throughout the world. He works predominantly with watercolour and graphite, and his books have been featured in Sydney Morning Herald, ABC Mornings Radio, Play School on ABC4Kids HELLO! Magazine (Thailand edition) and The New York Times.