The Sunshine Kid

by Harry Baker

Harry Baker combines the nerdiness of being a mathematician with the hopefulness of being a human. His first collection follows the narrative of his 5-star Edinburgh Fringe shows, 'Harry Baker's Super-Amazing Mega-Awesome Gap Year Adventures: Birth of a Champion' and 'Proper Pop-Up Purple Paper People'. It details the journey from performing Jay-Z maths parodies in school competitions to representing his country in Paris and becoming the youngest ever World Poetry Slam Champion. 'The Sunshine Kid' contains the raw honesty, tongue-in-cheek humour and blistering wordplay that have characterised his live performances and won the hearts and minds of audiences across the globe.

Genres: Poetry

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

I have loved words from a young age and been a full-time poet since I graduated from Bristol with a maths degree in 2015. Most commonly this takes the form on standing on stages and sharing my words with others, but I am always looking to collaborate with new people and find new places to take it.

I become the youngest ever Poetry World Slam Champion in 2012, and my first collection of poems The Sunshine Kid was published with Burning Eye in December 2014 - I am currently working on my second collection, as well as regularly giving workshops and performances and having fun touring around the UK as part of Harry And Chris.

Reviews

[Miss Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My introduction to Harry Baker was via his reading of '59' on Ted Talks and when I found out he had a book of his poems, I had to get my hands on it. I was curious to see how he had structured his poems on paper, given such interesting deliveries.
I will continue to use his performances to encourage students to delve into poetry slam as an alternative to a traditional speech assessment.
Now I have a stock of puns to boot!
Several poignant lines in amongst his humour.

[almas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harry - yer a wizard.

[Ian Tymms · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are poems that need to be heard rather than read, but I still get echoes of Harry's voice as I read them. Lovely word-play and a gentle compassion in poems that breath humanity.

[Aimee Dyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of Harry Baker’s poetry and loved this poetry collection. It definitely helps to have seen some of Harry’s poems performed to know how to read them but the word play really comes across on the page. So many brilliant and clever poems in this book, and some stunning lines that I will always remember.

[Sanjana Idnani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poems to read aloud and have fun with, uplifting, digestible and extremely inspiring to read during these uncertain times ! I may have finished the collection but these are poems I’ll keep by my bedside and read again and again and again. :)

[Maaike · Rating 4 out of 5]

went to chinatown
there were too many bright lights
asked them to dim sum

[Natasha Tasrib · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harry Baker combined the nerdiness of being a mathematician with the intelligence of wordplay to capture the glory, shame and silliness of human before turning them into uplifting, poignant and amusing poetry.

I first saw Harry Baker on YouTube, performing his world-champion poem "Paper People" on Ted talk. It doesn't take long for the wordplay as intelligent as his to astound the audience. Not to mention his sense of humour that made me laugh all along as I read his poems.

People often relate poetry with melancholy, loneliness and broken- hearts but this one has definitely done a good job proving the opposite.

If positivity, humour and intelligence are what you're seeking from poetry, then this is definitely the one you should try.

Just tell me how many people can make beautiful, mind blowing poem about prime numbers?
How many people can make stunning, self-empowering poems that are full of humour?
How many people can include scientific terms in their poem without making it sounds absurd?
This guy here is among the small number of people who can.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harry Baker is an incredible slam poet, and I freely confess that I purchased this book on the strength of several of his performances I've seen in videos online. His writing does not disappoint in that respect - this volume contains a number of pieces I had not seen or read before that impress with their wit, wordplay, and and depth. It is a bit of a slap in the face, however, to move from those pieces of profundity to some of the shorter bits that read as basic jokes and puns. Some are admittedly hilarious, some are merely inscrutable to a foreigner unfamiliar with a particular pun or reference, but others are in poor taste like a bad joke at a sexist office party from the '80s. I suppose it should not be surprising that a poet who became a world champion as a sophomore has some material that is sophomoric. I suspect Harry Baker will produce some incredible work in the future. Overall this is an excellent collection of poetry. This is just a five star 120-page book with a few extra pages of mediocre fluff.

[zilver · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't often write reviews, but I felt this book deserved one, and I shall write it in the form of a short poem inspired but the book itself.

This book is fantastic
I'm ecstatic
I didn't shove it straight in the attic
And kept at it
Read through the whole package
Didn't keep static
With this amazing book of poetry.

I hope you buy it and all see
This guy writes so fluently
Beautifully
Unquestionably
In-dubiously
Relevant to life and folks like you and me.

I suggest you give it a read
Instantaneously...
Please.

(Or I'll call the police)

[Stuart Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poems written to be read out loud, which are wonderful and incredibly clever and ridiculous at times but also forever making me laugh i.e:

"I think I'm in love with some wet concrete.
It's cement to be."

If you don't think that's great then probably don't bother. It's now my wi-fi password. Impossible not to smile while reading.

[that girl who reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of Harry's performance poetry it was so great to see the beginnings of his work and how far he's come since! I especially love the context about his life and how the poetry fits into the various chapters of this. It took me back to my school and university days. I love the youthful whimsy and quirkiness of this collection. It really is sunshine kid personified.

[Truong Tang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Save this book for a sunny and lovely day, when you go out with your loved ones. Sit and take turn to read to each other, and thank me later.

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

My name is Harry Baker,
Harry Baker is my name,
If your name is Harry baker,
Then our names would be the same.

Harry is a genius, kind and funny, sunshine kid.

[Ruben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iets minder indrukwekkend dan wondery, maar nog steeds genieten.

[Nikhil · Rating 5 out of 5]

His name is Harry Baker, Harry Baker is his name.
If your name is Harry Baker, your names would be the...same.

Harry is a world poetry grand slam champion, as per 3 french strangers. You can see why. He blends the world of poetry with rap, and talks about maths, video games and dinosaurs. Also, he's quite funny to boot with.

There's a bunch of tongue twisters for poems, and some funny haikus sprinkled throughout. Some poems are heartfelt, while others put his elite craftsmanship on display. There's a wide range of things he speaks about and I thoroughly enjoyed it.


These are some of my favourites -
prime time lovin'
fifa
weston super nightmare
the sunshine kid
paper people


Most of the pieces was really good.
The rest of it ranged from decent to good.

This is one of those books that you read for fun once, and then read a second time to analyse the meter and rhyme schemes. And then maybe even a third time to go along with the spoken rendition. So I'm looking forward to doing that in 2021.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harry Baker is fantastic. He has a wonderful, quirky, nerdy, honest way of capturing the glory and shame and silliness of being human. His first book contains his very early as well as his world championship-winning poems, which gave the book a homemade biographical (rather than a polished poetry book) feel. That made me want to give it four stars, but his strong poems are just so good that I can't...

I really hope this is only the beginning of a prolific poetry career.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly entertaining. Baker's poetry is witty and quirky.

I stumbled across his poetry on a blog I follow that had posted one of his TED talks. From there I discovered multiple YouTube videos of him performing his poetry, and when I found out he had a book, I knew I had to get it.

The Sunshine Kid did not disappoint. It had me laughing the whole way through and I could clearly hear his voice through the words. A wonderfully fun book of poetry to read.

[Kiran Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this signed from Harry himself after a gig. He got me into poetry and writing in a serious way so it’s amazing to have some of my favourite poems on the page and fully focus on the small details. I would absolutely recommend though, searching performances out as some of them are more hilarious on stage/video

[Michael Mortenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fellow math person and poet, I loved this book. More than other forms of writing, I find that I create poetry for myself first and others second. The Sunshine Kid felt like it was written to me (or maybe Harry Baker & I live in the same overlapping Venn diagram zone.) Laughed. Felt inspired. Felt seen. 5/5 for puns.

[Vilhelmiina · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite poetry books in the world.

Update 23/8/16
This book never fails to make me smile. I've made a habit of sitting in the garden and just reading a couple of these absolutely fantastic poems. Always improves my mood by 100% :^)

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saw his TEDTalk spoken word performing 59 and really wanted to read more.

Clearly a great spoken word performer, many of the poems lack energy.

Favorites were 59, a beautiful love poem; I am a Man, a wonderful ode to men; the sunshine kid, a great visual poem full of optimism and strength.

[Mas Intan Putri · Rating 4 out of 5]

His poetry is funny, and awesomely written with his eccentric idea, where he talks about things not many folks are familiar with, and correlating the topic with relatable issues, from internal struggles to the annoying external structure and system.

[Bethany Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded
Definitely some of Harry’s earlier things & likely my least favorite book so far, but there are still a few really good poems that made it worthwhile.
(Also a lot less tears compared to reading wonder)

[Susan Dominikovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Harry Baker and this fantastic little book of his poems. "The Sunshine Kid" on its own is poignant and beautiful, packed with metaphor and meaning, making this volume well worth owning.

[Mark Dimaisip · Rating 5 out of 5]

endearing. entertaining. enlightening.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE Harry Baker's poetry. It is always creative, insightful, entertaining, and uplifting. Plus, I got my book signed.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE. A talented poet who has an amazing way with words. His insightful look in to every day life brings his poems to life in a humorous and clever way.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever and catchy.

[Trang Xu · Rating 5 out of 5]

My anthem. I couldn't describe how much I love it.