Cover design of my children's chapbook, out tomorrow
This one even surprised me! I wanted to have a cheaper book for schools readings as well as my beautiful Salt children’s book The New Generation, as not everyone can afford that and I can’t always afford to sell it at a discount. I still hope to have a second Salt collection for children one day, but in the meantime, this little 36 page chapbook, which has a cover price of £4.50, will prove a nice addition to what I can tote around schools. I was bowled over when Erbacce, a Liverpool-based publishers who produced The Lightfoot Letters, wanted to take this on as well. and it has been done in record quick time, so I can take it to my poets-in-schools March placements.
It is all different poems to my Salt book, and I still have plenty for further collections. Here’s one that is included:
My Thumb
My thumb
tastes
of chocolate
warm milk
salt
My thumb
feels like
hugs
birthday parties
warm baths
I think better
with my thumb
plugged into
my mouth
So why do
some people
shout and say
Take that thumb out?
I have always been fond of this poem, though I was never a thumbsucker and neither were my daughters. But I think children’s comfort habits should be respected. If left alone, they will grown out of them. Except dummies – I hate them.
I did the cover design myself. That’s the very first time I have dabbled. I took the photo at Whitby Folk Week last year. I have always loved carousels. Most fairground rides scare me.
Angela Topping 
Gosh, Angela, is there no limit to your creativity? Congratulations on your chapbook out today. Not only a new crop of children’s’ poems, but your own first cover design too! And what a potent image it is, the carousel…an old fashioned carousel without kids on board…spooky! I can almost hear the seductive pipe music of the calliope in Ray Bradbury’s weird classic ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’! I wouldn’t be at all surprised to encounter the weird and wonderful in ‘Kids’ Stuff’ either. Nothing too heavy, of course, but fun stuff and thoughtful stuff to delight, dazzle and inspire. I like the thumbsucking poem; have you done one for nailbiters yet?
I much applaud your poet-in-schools activities, by the way. Great for kids to see that poets are not all crusty, dusty or dead! Great for poetry, to engage the lively interest of young people. There’ll be future writers and poets amongst them for sure.
Regards, Paul
Seriously, Angela, the cover is beautiful and most inviting – I love it, as I’m sure I will the poems when I acquire my copy. Regards, Paul
Thanks Paul. I can’t tell you how much your approbation is appreciated! I was out most of yesterday picking up the books from the publisher so I would have them in time for my poets in schools on Friday in Hampshire. The poet in schools work is an utter joy. Many of the children are already writing, ablt guided by their teachers. My visit, and the visits from other writers, give them a boost, especially on the Able Writers, where we try to let them in on some skills and techniques and push their writing to a higher level.