Joseph Coelho’s top 10 new poetry books every child must read

The performance poet and winner of this year’s CLPE children’s poetry award picks the poetry collections that every child should grow up with

Here are my top 10 new poetry books that every child must read. These are books that will both delight and challenge the very young child and the older (cooler) kid. I’ve split the list into two sets of five. The first five are poetry books suitable for the very young. These are books to be pored over at bedtime, read and re-read, or indeed performed and performed again.

The second group of five are contemporary poetry books for older children - books that get children thinking, questioning, laughing and speaking poems out loud. These are the books I wish were around when I was young, these are books every child should grow up with.

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