One Little Word
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This beautiful and moving picture book from Waterstones Children's Laureate, Joseph Coelho, tells the story of how a big, hairy argument gets in between two best friends.
"The argument came from nowhere.
It sat huge and bloated
in the middle of the playground
between me and my best friend."
This big hairy monster appears out of the blue one day, splitting up the best friends and growing bigger and bigger, until it starts to ruin all the children in the playground's fun.
Together, they learn how to shrink the monster until it vanishes completely, to the point where they can't even remember what it looks like!
Coelho's gentle and lyrical verse pair perfectly with Allison Colpoys' beautiful illustrations to create a book which will be treasured by young readers.
This is an ode to the power of an apology and the importance of saying sorry, and to treasuring a special bond that runs deeper than even the friends realized.
Joseph Coelho
Multi award-winning author Joseph Coelho is one of the UK's most prestigious writers for children: he won the internationally renowned Carnegie Medal for Writing with The Boy Lost in the Maze and was selected to be the Waterstones Children's Laureate 2022–2024. As part of that laureateship he completed a library marathon, joining over 213 libraries. He writes for children of all ages: his collection Ten-Word Tiny Tales won acclaim from the Wall Street Journal, The Horn Book, the Bulletin Center for Children's Books, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist; the companion title, Ten-Word Tiny Tales of Love, includes artwork from Jon Klassen, Sydney Smith, and many other award-winning and bestselling artists. His picture books include If All the World Were . . ., illustrated by Allison Colpoys, which has been translated into over 10 languages, and the critically acclaimed Luna Loves series, illustrated by Fiona Lumbers, which has sold over 450,000 copies. He is also an admired performer, broadcaster, and playwright.
More by Joseph Coelho
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