Outside In: Nature Poems

by Daniel Thompson, Julia Murray (Illustrator), Collins Kids

Inspiring poems to connect with natureThis collection of 50 poems will spark a love of nature, bring calm and happiness and let the outside in.

Beautifully illustrated, it is filled with poems for children to read alone or enjoy with the whole family.

With poems about the seasons, senses, wildlife, weather and the joys of mud, it’s the perfect gift book for children to treasure.

From poet, Daniel Thompson, author of Being Poems of Positivity – 2023 City Kids Green Awards Winner and selected for the Reading Agency’s 2023 Summer reading challenge.

Genres: Poetry, Childrens

96 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 11, 2024

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name
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Reviews

[Linn van den Heuvel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated book with lovely poems about nature. At first I thought it were just poems, but when I read more and more I found out that it was also very educational. I learned quite a lot of new things about nature. I think this would be a very interesting book for kids to read and learn more about the world they live in.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Just, wow!
I think this might be Daniel Thompson’s most gorgeous book to date!
These poems are all about nature and they are just so brilliant.
I love being outside, especially when we get some sunshine. I love being by the sea, by a river, by a lake, surrounded by trees, walking through the countryside, sitting on a beach…. I love it all, but even just sitting in my back garden in the morning, or at dusk, listening to the bird’s tweeting away. There is something quite magical about that.
This book will help the youngsters in your life, and yourselves, to appreciate the wonderful world we live in and will certainly inspire you to spend more time outdoors enjoying it.
The hardcover edition of this book is stunning! My photos don’t do it justice. The illustrations throughout the book are just beautiful and compliment the poetry perfectly. I highly recommend you buy the hardcover edition to be able to enjoy it in all its glory. It’s one to re-read again and again.

** Many thanks to Lorraine Keating for sending me my review copy. It will stay in my permanent collection. **

https://chataboutbooks.blog/2024/04/1...

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very appealing book of junior-friendly poetry. In fact it starts with rhymes that are distractingly good – for a book that emphasises the merits and virtues of the natural world it doesn't half make you want to stop in and absorb it. Cake and eating thereof, I thought. Shortly, verses on flowers doing their own thing, and animals having benefits from their own unique adaptations are both nature-minded and of course about something else, something more social sciences, something more woke ("In nature, just being yourself's how it's done"). But whatever their intention, the ease of reading, the strength of the rhymes and the surety of the rhythm are right up there, and the way many of the works have repeated or chorus-like elements will only help them go down with young poetry explorers. The visuals are also of note – classical and yet cartoonish, and very colourful, almost borrowing the same liveliness as the poetry. With a very high hit rate for such a book, and only a couple of naffer efforts, this is definitely a strong four stars.

[Bex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a stunning collection of inspirational poems all related to nature and the world around us.
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The poems are reader friendly, rhyming, interesting for children and adults alike. They convey a positive image and remind us how relaxing and helpful nature is for wellbeing.
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The illustrations are beautiful swipe 👉 to see a few of the gorgeous images.
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This is a book I could see being used in my classroom a lot. It links with so many topics around plants, animals, being outside, and would just be a lovely book to pick up and read whenever we had a few minutes spare to enjoy some mindful reading.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book! I do love poetry and this collection does not disappoint. Such clever words by Daniel Thompson that entertain and also make you think and reflect on the wonder of nature. The title poem is the first poem in the book which made me WOW inside - if you know that feeling, you know and then as I enter further in the book I am overwhelmed by the quality of writing. What knowledge this writer has. I also love the vibrant colours used in the illustrations which also include lettering - almost poster like. It is stunning.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC from NetGalley.com - Thank you to Harper Collins for giving me the opportunity to give this a read.

I read this book with a child I was looking after. She absolutely loved the rhyming and even wanted to go back through to certain poems and read them again. This book made her want to go outside to play and to look at all the plants and insects.

Such a fun and educational read for children!☺️

[I Read, Therefore I Blog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daniel Thompson is a poet, storyteller, filmmaker and musician. This collection of 50 poems for readers aged 7+ (beautifully illustrated by Julia Murray) themed around nature all show Thomson’s enthusiasm for the subject, with several poems working well. However the majority use rhymes that are overly strained and threw out the rhythm and I thought it was a shame that other forms of poetry weren’t used to show young readers the variety of forms.

[Karen Hammond · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great family book. We each have our favourites and enjoy reading them out loud to each other. It has become a family tradition over the Sunday lunch table . Just hope the children don't realise they are so educational, we use them for fun !

[Sarah (blissbubbley) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have throughly enjoyed reading more poetry this year and this was another delight. I love getting in the outdoors and this just typically encompasses all of that. A great book to gift a nature lover!

[Nour Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful poetry book with beautiful illustrations! Children loved the cross curricular links to science and found it funny!

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend Outside in Nature Poems by Daniel Thompson. It is beautifully inspirational and therapeutic, filled with the magic of nature in 50 poems.

[Kitchen Sink Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you could, would you bring the outside in? Sometimes we do, we may not even realize it. After all, by opening doors and windows we are welcoming that outside in and of course plenty of wildlife manages to sneak past us! Then there are the times we may have gone for a wet, muddy, even snowy walk. How many times have you done that and found yourself bringing the outside in ~ the wet, the mud, the leaves. There is nothing but fun in all of this, and writing about it is making me smile. So, imagine how I felt when I found out about Daniel Thompson and Julia Murray’s Outside In Nature Poems. My smile certainly got wider and even more so once I sat down to read some of them. They are an eclectic mix; they are unlike many of the poems I have read and the illustrations boldly go beyond the style we may usually associate with poetry. It is a wonder, a delight.

With 50 poems packed into this compact hardback, and pages allowed for illustrations it doesn’t feel in the least bit crowded, rather it inspires calm and happiness, even a sense of peace ~ that sense which only the outside world, only nature, knows how to deliver. Rather than the usual dedication to people Outside In has words from Daniel Thompson, thanking Hopwas Woods where he has ‘grown’ his ‘wild home.’ We share in the joy and wonder of Beautiful Flowers and learn how we, as well as nature and the natural world, have to Adapt To Succeed. To give you an example of the stand-out illustrations, this poem is accompanied by the neck of a giraffe, the words of the title on either side. With a Flamboyance of Flamingos we discover a form of acrostic poem with the clue letters running through its middle and telling us this is A Collective Noun Poem. With every poem comes a new surprise, a delight, a sense of awe and wonder. Everything about this collection reinforces for every reader how important, amazing and simply ‘there’ nature is. This is a must-read collection of verse and wonder.

I write reviews for Armadillo Children's Books and this one appeared in my weekly newsletter, Postbag Picks, in March 2024.