This warm, comforting poetry collection is just what the doctor ordered.
A diverse compilation of poems to uplift and comfort the soul, selected by Alma, the founder of the British bookshop Poetry Pharmacy.
This volume includes poems sorted into five sections, with titles such as “grace,” “time and light are kinds of love,” and “everything to look forward to,” that provide metaphorical bandages, tonics, stimulants, or whatever best treats readers’ emotional wounds. The entries include widely recognized older classics, such as John Donne’s “No Man Is an Island” and William Wordsworth’s “Daffodils,” alongside accessible modern works, like Ellen Bass’ “The Thing Is,” which invites readers “to love life, to love it even / when you have no stomach for it.” The volume takes readers on an emotional journey: John O’Donohue’s “This Is the Time To Be Slow” (“This is the time to be slow, / Lie low to the wall / Until the bitter weather passes”) contrasts with Naomi Shihab Nye’s “So Much Happiness” (“…happiness floats. / It doesn’t need you to hold it down. / It doesn’t need anything”). Many entries explore complex or darker moments. The poems appear without biographical information, original publication dates, or other context. Each section opens with a brief explanatory statement from the editor: “I prescribe these poems to act as inducements to action and change, with confidence and optimism.” Together these poems create an emotional reading experience, like receiving a healing hug.
This warm, comforting poetry collection is just what the doctor ordered. (Poetry anthology. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781035061457
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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