If I Could Eat the Stars and Other Poems, chosen by Rebecca M. Newman and Sally Murphy, illustrated by Briony Stewart
If I Could Eat the Stars and Other Poems has just been released by Fremantle Press (in association with our publishing arm, Alphabet Soup Books). It’s perfect for young readers in mid to upper primary school.
With stellar illustrations by Briony Stewart and featuring shape poems, haiku, cinquain and free verse … these are poems to tickle your funny bone, make your belly rumble and keep you up at night!
Defend a goal with Sally Murphy, rocket through space with Amber Moffat or get radioactive with Cristy Burne. Walk the dog with Deb Fitzpatrick and play with your food with James Foley. Then … Barlay! (Watch out!) with Cheryl Kickett-Tucker.
“Humorous poems, evocative poems of the ocean, shape poems, rhyming poems, free verse, haiku, tiny poems and long poems – this has it all, and I gobbled it up like a bag of lollies.” Sue Warren, Just So Stories
“From the lyrical to the laugh out loud, If I Could Eat the Stars and other poems is ideal to dip in and out of. Teachers could even select poems to read as lesson-break rewards. If I Could Eat the Stars showcases a fabulous depth of talent.” Joy Lawn,Paperbark Words
“With its variety and accessibility, this is a text that warrants multiple readings. As a teaching resource, If I Could Eat the Stars lends itself perfectly to modelling, comparison activities and creative writing tasks across the primary years. Illustrations by Briony Stewart add another visual dimension to the text.” Kathryn Beilby, ReadPlus
“If I Could Eat the Stars is a captivating collection of poems for younger readers.” Good Reading Magazine
Ask for If I Could Eat the Stars at your favourite bookshop or library.
Deborah Abela is an award-winning author and trained as a teacher before becoming writer/producer of a national children’s TV show. She has since written 30 internationally published and awarded books, including the Max Remy series, her climate change trilogy – Grimsdon, New City and Final Storm – and The Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee. The Book of Wondrous Possibilities is about the power of books to save us when we feel lost. Today we’re thrilled to host Deborah to talk about her latest book: The Kindness Project.
Her teacher, Ms Skye, thinks kids can change the world with a Kindness Project. Nicolette wants to but how can she when Layla treats her like she’s invisible and DJ picks on everything she says? Leaf thinks Nicolette can be a superhero. So maybe if they work together they just might do it …
You’ve written 25 novels – what led you to write this one as a verse novel?
I’ve LOVED verse novels for so long. They’re like a regular novel, but instead of chapters there are verses. This means they have to get to the point very quickly, so they’re often real page-turners. I also LOVED playing with the look of the words on the page, so if something is
BIG
I wanted the word to look big. Same if a character felt scared or lonely. That was fun.
Did you need to learn any new skills before you started writing a novel in verse?
The big skill was learning how to tell a big story with not so many words. That meant I had to concentrate really hard on finding the exact word for everything that happened.
How did you feel about group projects when you were at school?
That depended on who was in my group. If I was with my friends, it was fun, but sometimes I had to be in a group with people I didn’t know, and that was hard, but if we were excited about the project, it worked out really well! So when Ms Skye puts Nicolette into a group with kids who don’t like her, I totally understand why she’s nervous.
Do you have a writing tip for kids who would like to try their hand at writing a verse novel?
Think about a something that has happened to you that made you feel happy or nervous or excited. eg auditioning for a play, getting your first pet, the soccer grand final. Tell that story, including how you felt, but only writing a few words per line. Include only the really important parts of that story. When you’re happy, look at the verse and see which words you can make look like their meaning. Here’s an example from pages 16 and 17. in The Kindness Project.
[Pages 16 & 17 from The Kindness Project]
What’s next for Deborah Abela?
I am working on two junior fiction ideas and a middle grade novel, but I have a new picture book coming out in February 2025 called No More Room in the Bed. It’s about a dark and stormy night and a bed that becomes full of frightened creatures who all want to squeeze in beside Dad. Until it all becomes too much!
The Kindness Project is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or your local library.
Sally Murphy is an author, poet, speaker and educator based in the South West of Western Australia. Sally has published more than 40 books, and we’re thrilled to be chatting to Sally about her verse novel: Queen Narelle, with illustrations by Simon O’Carrigan.
From the publisher:
Narelle is the queen of her household, ruler of the family and, most importantly, Maddie’s wisest and best friend. So when things are not going right for Maddie, and school feels like a lonely and sad place, it is Queen Narelle who regally watches, waits and listens to her favourite human in her time of need.
You have a dog (hi George!) … how did you come to write a book about a regal cat?
When I wrote the book I had not owned a cat for a very long time, but when I was a kid my only pets were cats, and I adore them. Narelle came to me as a cat-character and insisted I write her story. George is very much not amused. And, since the book came out, I once again have a cat – a gorgeous tortoiseshell kitten who I have had to name Narelle. The good news is that George and Narelle get along very well – except when they are busily play fighting.
Queen Narelle is your fifth verse novel and you’re also a multi-published poet. Do you find there’s a difference when writing a standalone poem compared to a poem that’s part of a verse novel?
Yes. Verse novels are poetry, but while they use many of the same techniques as standalone poems, they must also work as narratives. So it is important to include narrative elements such as plot, characterisation and dialogue in ways that aren’t always needed in standalone poems. So, when writing a verse novel I am trying to keep the narrative moving with each poem, while also drawing on the poet’s toolbox – things like line length, white space, imagery, repetition and more.
When you sat down to write Queen Narelle did you know it would be a verse novel (rather than a prose novel)?
Yes, this was always going to be a verse novel. I had written others before I wrote this one, and had decided that this cat needed a story. I started by writing from the cat’s perspective and, as I wrote, a story started to emerge. Later I realised that Narelle’s human, Maddie, would also need to tell her story, and so alternated their voices.
Do you have a tip for young writers who would like to write from the point of view of an animal?
I think its important to write about animals that you are able to closely observe or have had close contact with. Not every cat will be the same, and nor will each dog, or rat, or elephant. It’s only by observation that you can see the habits and mannerisms of an animal, and use those to develop a personality which will in turn lead to the way the animal speaks or thinks. Using first person helps to take you inside those thoughts of the animal so that you are not describing, but showing.
What’s next for Sally Murphy?
I have another verse novel, The Riding Gallery (with illustrations by Martina Heiduczek) on its way. It’s quite different from Queen Narelle, because it is based on some real events that happened in St Kilda during World War I. A man named Anton Weniger, who was born in Germany, opened a new merry-go-round on the St Kilda foreshore but, unfortunately, because he was German, some people did not want him there. I took this real event and added some fictional characters, two children who befriend him. I have also had some fun playing with poetic form – including some poems written using words from newspaper articles from 1915, and other poems that are designed to be read by two people at the same time (Poems for Two Voices), so that we get both characters’ viewpoint at the same time. The Riding Gallery will be released in July this year.
Queen Narelle was released in 2023. Ask for it at your favourite bookstore or local library.
For grown-ups: Come to the launch of Sally’s next verse novel (July 18th 2024). Hear about the book, get teaching ideas, and network with fellow educators and children’s book enthusiasts.
Western Australian family-friendly event: Bring a picnic blanket and enjoy a morning of poetry and outdoor activities to celebrate the release of Right Way Down, a brand new children’s poetry collection from WA authors.
Poetry readings; games; activities; light snacks; and book sales from Dymocks Subiaco. Some of the contributing authors will be there on the day for signings.
WHEN: Saturday April 6th, 10:30am WHERE: Rankin Gardens, cnr Hamersley Rd and Rokeby Rd, Subiaco, WA BOOKINGS: FREE but required, via eventbrite.
Amber Moffat is a writer and visual artist from New Zealand but currently based in Western Australia. She is a maker of work for both adults and children. Amber’s first picture book, I Would Dangle the Moon, was published in 2019. Her poetry has been published in The School Magazine, and in a 2022 poetry anthology Roar, Squeak, Purr. Today we’re chatting to Amber about writing poetry for this fabulous anthology.
From the publisher:
This exuberant treasury brings together over 200 animal poems by New Zealand’s best writers, and includes poems written by children. The poems were selected and edited by champion poet Paula Green, winner of the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry [New Zealand] and creator of the popular Poetry Box blog, and teamed with Jenny Cooper’s cheeky, whimsical and adorable illustrations. Roar Squeak Purr is destined to be a family treasure – and to inspire a new generation of poets.
You have five poems in Roar, Squeak, Purr – how did you go about writing poems for this anthology? (Did you already have these poems sitting in a drawer?)
I had one poem already and wrote the other four poems specifically for this anthology. The editor of the collection (the amazing poet Paula Green), asked me if I’d like to submit some animal poems as she knew my writing from my picture book, I Would Dangle the Moon. The poem I had already written was a poem about being cuddled up to a cat. I don’t have a cat anymore as I have two big dogs that are not cat-friendly, but when I was a kid I had several beautiful cats. That cat poem was written about that feeling when you are lazing about with a cat on your lap.
I had a couple of months to write the poems, and I wasn’t sure how many I’d write. I ended up writing one about black swans, one about a sheep-dog, one about two lions that escaped from a circus, and a riddle poem about a creature I won’t reveal here in case people want to try to work that one out themselves.
The swan and sheep-dog poems were based on memories of growing up in New Zealand. I loved to watch how both swans and sheep-dogs moved and both those poems are about trying to capture the unique ways those animals move. The poem about the lions was based on a true story that has fascinated me since I was a child. The lions were unfortunately shot after they escaped, and they are now in the Otago Museum in my hometown of Dunedin. I used to visit the lions at the museum and always imagined what they would be like running free instead of stuffed and still within a glass case. So that poem is very much about movement too actually. I really enjoyed writing from the lions’ point of view in that one, and that’s something I’d like to try again.
For me, all writing springs from something I am interested in and can’t let go of. If an idea keeps coming back to my mind then I know I have to write about it.
Do you prefer to write rhyming poems or free verse?
I definitely prefer to write in free verse and it feels more natural to me. All my poems in Roar, Squeak, Purr are in free verse. Writing in rhyme limits your options for word choice and you have to express your idea within a tight structure. I feel kind of like the lions in the circus when I’m writing in that way, and I end up wanting to escape!
If you’re writing a poem (or editing it) how do you know when your poem is finished?
It can be very hard to know when a poem is finished. Sometimes I think something is finished but if I put it aside for a few weeks and come back to it, I realise it still needs work. I’m very lucky to have some great writing friends and sometimes I show them my poems to them and get their feedback. That is a very helpful process and has made me better at editing my work. My poems usually go through about three edits to get them right. A lot of that is “tightening up” the writing, making sure every word that remains is working hard to convey the meaning of the poem.
Do you have a tip for kids who would like to write poetry?
Be bold and risk-taking when you are writing your first draft! All ideas are good ideas in the first draft. I try to write without thinking when I first jot down words for a poem. This helps me to avoid getting into a critical mode and lets the ideas flow freely. Then you need to be brave and ruthless when you are editing. You will probably need to change lots of things and that’s normal.
If you don’t like the feeling of cutting out parts of your poems then it might help you to have a system for saving all your different drafts, then you know you can always come back to earlier versions of the poem.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
I’m writing a novel for teenagers at the moment. It will be about 70,000 words when it’s finished so it’s a very different writing process to writing poetry! I’m still using the technique of writing without judgement to get the ideas down though. I hope to finish the first draft in a couple of months and then I will start the first round of editing.
Roar, Squeak, Purr is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or your local library.
We can see the sky
where birds go to fly.
We can see the starry night
and the moon shining bright!
When the sky is blue
all looks so new.
When the sky is dark,
Rain! cries the lark!
When the sun goes down
the sky wears a black gown,
and clouds have nowhere to go
when sleep covers the rainbow!
This is Ahil’s first publication at Alphabet Soup. To send us YOUR story, poem, artwork or book review, check out our submission guidelines.
Kathryn Apel lives among the gum trees, cattle and kangaroos on a Queensland grazing property, where she writes poetry, picture books and verse novels. Her previous books include Bully on the Bus, Too Many Friends, and The Bird in the Herd. Kathryn’s latest book is What Snail Knows, illustrated by Mandy Foot, and we’re thrilled to chat to her about the book today.
Lucy’s glad she has Snail, the perfect pet for a lonely girl. If only she had her own shell to hide in every time she started at a new school. But this place is different. She likes her teacher, Miss Darling. She likes her classmates, especially Tahnee. She even likes Mei-hui’s van park, where she lives with Dad and Snail. This place feels like home. Can she convince her dad to stay?
You’re well-known for your verse novels, did you know you’d write this as a verse novel when the story idea first came to you?
I did not! I was talking with a friend about the ‘How Can I Help?’ unit I’d team-taught a number of years earlier, and my friend commented that it would make a great book. I was in the middle of prepping two picture books for print at the time (Up and Down on a Rainy Day and The Bird in the Herd) and I couldn’t imagine how to squeeze ‘How Can I Help?’ into a picture book. But 6 weeks later I realised it could be a verse novel. And I was very quickly excited about that idea!
How did you go about writing What Snail Knows? Did you write a plan before you begin working on the story?
My story plan unfolds as I’m writing. When I get some words on the page, I stop and think about the character more. Is the voice distinctive? What does s/he want? What could cause the problem?
And that’s how this started … ‘It’s just you and me. We don’t need nobody else.’ I was thinking about my character and wondering how s/he could link in with ‘How Can I Help?’ when I realised I already knew her. And I didn’t need to create a whole class of characters for this story. I already had them! They were in my verse novel, Too Many Friends. The voice I had found was Lucy’s – the quiet girl who was always alone. I did wonder how I was going to fill a book when Lucy doesn’t say much … But she thinks. A lot. And she shares her thoughts with Snail.
I can tell you that there is alot of stress when you’re 3/4 of the way through your first draft and you still don’t know what happened to your main character’s mum … or why they have to move a lot. Usually I know how a story will end … just not how it will get there. But this time I didn’t even know the ending. Would Lucy and her Dad have to move again? Why? How did things change and resolve? I had no idea, and I was very worried that I wouldn’t be able to finish this book! So – I wouldn’t say I recommend not planning …
Did you talk with Mandy Foot about the illustrations? Do you consider illustrations at all when you’re writing?
I didn’t know there were going to be illustrations – so I didn’t consider them when I wrote. And I didn’t talk to Mandy about them. But I loved them. That tangle of hair, the dirty smudges, and that sweet little face. Finding the right place for them in the story was a bit like a jigsaw – but when the puzzle was complete, those little line drawings surprised me with the emotions they squeezed from the poetry. They captured the aloneness … And the moments of connection between Lucy and Snail, Lucy and Dad and finally Lucy and Tahnee.
Do you have a tip for young writers who would like to write a verse novel or a verse short story?
Say less, best. There are lots of small words we need in sentences that we don’t need in poetry. Cut them out.
Play with your words and where they sit on the page.
Try line breaks instead of punctuation.
Read your writing aloud. Or better still – get someone to read it aloud to you.
Focus on individual poems. Write one poem. Then the next. Forget you’re writing a book and just write lots of small poems that fit together to tell a story.
Could you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
I’m rather excited to have a picture book that has also just gone to print. Miss Understood, illustrated by Beau Wylie, will be released in May 2022 with Scholastic. It’s a romp of a rhyming picture book, as told by the wolf, Miss Understood. She is such a sweetie, and if you have never heard her side of things, you really must read this book, because truly, she has been … misunderstood.
I have a couple of other picture books and verse novels in various stages. And I’m a wee-bit excited about the possibility of another companion title to Too Many Friends and What Snail Knows. I’m still mulling it over in my head – and then I need to do some research. And that may involve me stepping waaaay out of my comfort zone.😬 So it may be a while, yet …
What Snail Knows is out now! Look for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
It floated in my backyard yesterday,
It was red and shiny with a white string,
I held it tight
But it tugged with all its might.
So, I have a sigh and let it go.
While it floated away I whispered
Go to the sky.
This is Charles’s first publication at Alphabet Soup. To send us YOUR story, poem, artwork or book review, check out our submission guidelines. (We’re particularly keen to consider book reviews in November and December.)
Sherryl Clark is an award-winning writer, editor and writing teacher. Sherryl has been writing poems and stories for children for over twenty years. We’re pleased to be chatting to her today about her latest verse novel – Mina and the Whole Wide World, illustrated by Briony Stewart.
From the publisher:
A powerful story about a young girl, Mina, and how she copes when her family take in a refugee boy and give away what was meant to be her first very-own bedroom.
What brought you to write Mina and the Whole Wide World?
I have been thinking about it for several years. I wanted to write something about refugees and also about what kids learn from their parents, and about how hearing someone’s story can change us and change how we perceive the world. But I was very conscious of appropriating stories – that stopped me in my tracks and the book just stalled after about five poems. Finally I went on a writing residency to Finland, and I realised one day that it was Mina’s story, and I could tell it from her point of view. Then the book just burst out – I wrote it in about five sittings of two to three hours at a time.
You write for a variety of ages and the style across your writings and books is also varied. Canyou tell us about how you approached the writing? Did you set out to write it as a verse novel?
Yes, it was always going to be a verse novel. I think simple poems with lots of imagery and ideas allow the reader into the spaces and gaps, and they can then imagine and feel the story for themselves. Not all stories work in verse (and not all verse works). I’ve actually tried to write a fantasy novel in poems and I just got bogged down by the world-building and the plot details! On the other hand, Motormouth started as a prose novel and was really flat and stuck until I turned it into a verse novel.
How long did it take you to write the book from the first germ of the idea, to the final draft?
I think I wrote the first five poems about four years ago. They just sat in my notebook and I couldn’t keep going. I didn’t know how to tell the story. When I got to Finland, the silence in my writing room and the fact I was there to write and do nothing else seemed to allow my brain to expand and “see” better. It’s hard to explain. I went there to write a crime novel! And I did, but Mina and the Whole Wide World kept pushing in and the poems just kept coming. As soon as I had Mina’s voice, I started writing madly. So it was finished in less than three weeks (and the original five poems were back in Australia so I had to start from the beginning). I did another draft when I came home but it was mostly refining and changing a few things.
Do you have a tip for young writers who would like to try writing a verse novel of their own?
Think imagery and story, and put them together if you can. Having a clear story idea or a plot is really helpful. It acts like a beacon to keep you on track. I’d also think a lot about voice – who is telling the story? Who do you imagine is speaking through the poems? And keep the poems tight – don’t over-explain. It’s a balancing act!
Could you tell us a bit about your next project?
I’m writing another adult crime novel at the moment. I was a bit stuck because I had to do some important research about private investigators to help me sort out some plot problems. I finally found someone I could interview so now I have to do some rewriting before I can work on the rest of it. Sometimes it’s like that. You stop because you know something is missing or wrong, and you have to go away and solve it before you can keep writing.
Mina and the Whole Wide World is out now! Ask for it at your favourite book store or local library.
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