Everything All at Once

by Steven Camden

An achingly beautiful collection of poems about one week in a secondary school where everything happens all at once. Zooming in across our cast of characters, we share moments that span everything from hoping to make it to the end of the week, facing it, fitting in, finding friends and falling out, to loving lessons, losing it, and worrying, wearing it well and worshipping from afar.

In Everything All At Once, Steven Camden's poems speak to the kaleidoscope of teen experience and life at secondary school.

'All together. Same place.
Same walls. Same space.
Every emotion
under the sun
Faith lost. Victories won.
It doesn't stop. Until the bell.
Now it's heaven
Now it's hell.
Who knows?
Not me
I just wrote what I can see
So what's it about? Here's my response
It's about everything
All at once.'

Genres: Poetry, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Contemporary

128 pages, Paperback

Published July 12, 2018

About the author

Steven Camden is one of the most acclaimed spoken-word artists in the country. As Polarbear, he has performed extensively around the UK and internationally. He also writes plays, teaches storytelling in schools, and was a lead artist for Ministry of Stories and The Roundhouse poetry collective.

Reviews

[just_agirlwholikestoread · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love how poetry can so perfectly tell a story in so few words.
Very well put together.

[Pauline · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I really do love free verse novels that make poetry and stories so accessible to a variety of readers. This book is such an interesting collection of perspectives. Told from the point of view of year 7s, teachers, the popular kids, the nerdy kids, the sporty kids, the “let’s not put a label on me” kids, in 42 different chapters and fonts, it is fast paced and engaging. The poems cover the hectic confusion of life in a secondary school over the period of a week. Steven Camden is a leading spoken-word poet, performing as Polarbear and his love of language and poetry is very evident. What is especially appealing about this collection, which has quite a variety of poems of form and structure, is that it is just a snapshot of different lives - it does leave the audience wanting more.

Suitable for 11+ - first day at school, bullying, fitting in, fear, anxiety, gossip, kindness, high school life.

[Sarah :) 🕺🏻 · Rating 3 out of 5]

{audiobook}
Interesting book
I’ve never listened to poetry before so this was new but the main reason I read this is because is was about secondary school and now that I’m finished( sad kinda) I wanted to just read something about it I guess

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Personally, I don't really like poetry like this. I'm not an expert or anything, I don't even know what to call this genre, but i'm more of a fan of traditional poetry, I guess. I don't read much poetry outside of my literature classes at school (except for the subject of my eternal love, edgar allen poe), but I know what I like by now and this kind of poetry can be good, but for me personally it doesn't really work unless the subject matter really resides with me and the messages are conveyed excellently. I found fault with what I saw as awkward slang that dropped words in order for the line to fit with the flow of the poem and have the right number of syllables, but I felt this made it slightly awkward and distracted me, meaning my internal reading was jerky. Apart from that, it was an alright read. It was sort of a nothing book in terms of plot but despite the length we manage to understand and know the characters quite well, which I found impressive of the author.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love stories told through poetry and this collection of poems that make up a week in a secondary school is just wonderful spanning the whole gamut of emotions over the student body. All of the poems are thoughtful and empathetic but I think my favourite is 'Something Starts' as it describes the beginning of reading enjoyment:
'He didn't seem to mind when I told him I didn't read.
He said he never read himself until he found the need.
He handed me a book he said he thought that I should try.
He told me to take my time and read it by July.
He smiled and said 'I'd love to talk to you about it when you're done'
I think I'm going to try and read it later when I'm home.'
The book is deceptively easy to read, several times I didn't feel the emotional punch until a few pages later and I will definitely reread and enjoy again.

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything All At Once is a book of poems about life at a secondary school. From the Year 7s to the teachers, different characters and details are focused in on and different perspectives told in the form of short, catchy poems. The pace and vibrancy of the poetry really captures the jostling immediacy of being in secondary school. Gossip is spread, people fall in and out, and life goes on throughout these poems. The style and rhymes make the poems engaging and approachable, but also you could imagine them being compared with older poetry to prove that it isn't necessarily all that different. The book shows that writing and poetry don't have to depict an archaic version of school, but something that feels more recognisable and modern.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always been one of those people who say 'they do not like poetry' but this book has changed that! I found my self understanding and enjoying poetry for the first time.

Not only are these poems funny, charming and highly relatable but they had me reminiscing about my school days (in particular the last poem 'Parting thoughts').

My favourite poems would have to be 'Good Girl', 'Staffroom' and 'Snow' but I particularly loved the school gossip that threaded through out the book, linking it all together.

Many of the poems had me laughing out loud and I would highly recommend to secondary school age children and any adults who fancy reminiscing.

[Received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]

[jvickery88 · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were one or two poems which really displayed the author’s abilities in relation to rhyme schemes and word play but beyond that they were very basic, bland poems in my opinion. I also went in blind as in I wasn’t aware this was written for school children and was suspicious when I picked it up at the library and saw the “children’s poetry” sticker on it. That aside, there is no way of telling this is set “over one week at a secondary school” - and it’s not a novella as some claim because poems about starting the school are at the end of the book. There also aren’t many layers to decipher and contemplate on as it’s very low level, as a teacher and a student I’d have much preferred something more classic and metaphorical to engage more discussions.

[Emily Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very short read only about 100 pages long, Everything All At Once features a collection of poems following a day in secondary school.

When I read work like this from Steven Camden a rapping style beat starts up immediately in my brain and the poetry is more song like to me. This set of poems about different students from the same school rhyme and flow yet still tell the stories vividly much like a novel would.

When reading this short book there’s no other way of putting it other than, I was there. In that school. Part of it. From start to finish.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a secondary school as a student, although I do sometimes visit them as part of my work. This poetry collection brought all the feelings of being an adolescent/teenager back to me. It spans a week in a secondary school, allowing us glimpses of first crushes, detention, favourite lessons etc. We get to overhear conversations but also overhear the arguments that they have with themselves in their own head. It’s a stunning collection that made me both smile and cry.

[Rhiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Right now, in a bunker somewhere in the world, there are man-made nuclear weapons with enough destructive power to decimate the entire planet several times over, primed and ready to be launched at the touch of a button by self-serving government idiots in unfair positions of power that give them the ability to wipe us all out in the blink of an eye and you want me to concentrate on Shakespeare's use of alliteration in Act Two?"

This makes me superbly grateful that I never went to public school.

[Lisa Bentley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love stories told in verse. Everything All at Once is one such novella.

Steve Camden shows the experiences of being in high school. We see teenagers falling out and falling in love. We see the insecurities of students and inspirational teachers. It covers most aspects of high school and from various perspectives.

Everything All at Once really is a quick and enjoyable read. Pick it up and give it a try.

Everything All at Once by Steven Camden is available now.

[Ms Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read for anyone in schools.
It is a poetry book with lots of poems based on school life. It shows jigsaw pieces of school life, snatches of conversations, internal thoughts, gossip, chatter and fly-on-the-wall viewpoints.
I really enjoyed it and feel it would be great for reading aloud.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this poetic exploration of school. I was enjoying it, then decided to read it a little faster and the rhymes converted to raps and I loved it even more.
Only thing that bothered me was the confusion or perspective- was it a Y8, a Y11? Boy girl? But maybe thats the point? It was enjoyable though and I hope to stick some of these poems around the school

[Wendy Bamber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant picture of high school from the transition as a new year 7 to the loneliness, the scandal, the typecasting, the hidden cleverness all the way to remembering what is was like to be that newbie year 7. Told in verse and from multiple perspectives this can be read as a whole cover to cover read or you can select poems appropriate for sharing. Love it.

[Heather Howarth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not really know what to expect when I requested this. I had not realised it would be a number of separate poems - the format it downloaded in did not make this clear.

So I only enjoyed it to a point. I need to read it again in paperback when it comes out.

A qualified success.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily accessible poetry. Great poetic style and flare. Language and voice is very authentic to the school experience.
What Steven Camden lacks in being a novelist, he makes up in being a fine talented poet.

[Andrew Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this. I’ve read loads of verse novels this year and I thought Camden’s book was one. It’s not. It’s a collection. Really good fun to read poems aimed at young people about their day at school. Please Miss Butler for 21st centuryhigh schools.

[Lydia Timpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful poetic book. zooms in and out on different characters and lays out feeling in few words but lovingly spoken

[BrookesEducationLibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It's all about fitting in, finding friends and falling out, loving lessons, losing it, worrying, wearing it well and worshiping from afar."

[Buddy Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Rebecca Farren · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/10

[Emily Cundall]

DNF

[Mike Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it for work (I'm doing a KS3 scheme of work on poetry). I'll definitely refer to this collection.

It's great fun and looks at school from a number of different perspectives.

[Arianne]

There is a mythical dream tied to writing poetry aimed at young adults, and that is to make poetry cool. Such is the raison d’etre of acclaimed spoken word poet Steven Camden’s second book for young people of the year, Everything All At Once.

Set at a busy, mutable comprehensive – the message clearly that it could be any school, anyone’s school – the book presents a cross-section of quickly-sketched characters, from year sevens to school-leavers (“Funny to think / I was ever / that small”). Some names recur. Some figures aren’t named. Many appear, at least identifiably, for only one poem, as in the case of Yusuf, who pretends not to speak French well in order to better fit in, despite his mother being from Toulouse. The work flits from one poem to the next, one perspective to the next, usually in first person. As if to further say: look, you could write this. A football match can be worthy of a poem. Even if you’re no good at exams or like to make things with your hands. You could read poetry, too.

Read the rest of this review at The Paper Alchemist: https://thepaperalchemist.wordpress.c...

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had heard great things about Steven Camden's novels and poetry so when I saw an opportunity to review Everything All At Once I jumped at the chance so I could be introduced to his work so I can see what I truly thought myself. I was therefore really happy that I enjoyed this novel and hope to read more from Steve Camden in the future.

The book is set over a week centred around different pupils in the school. With this Steve Camden is able to introduce us to a wide cast of characters who all show this expansive shot of the school. It is with that as the reader I was able to immerse myself into the story and feel like I am in the characters shoes which Steve Camden does so well.

I also got the sense that I can see the different groups in school and how they all fit with each other, showing, obviously, what it is like at a real school. It is also fast-paced and fast-moving which I really enjoy in verse novels and I loved this one.

The Verdict:


Everything All At Once is a good book that captures the school in a verse novel. It is a quick read that many will enjoy.

[Eve beinguniquebeingme · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of poem's set during a week in a school we meet an array of characters.



It perfectly captures all school situations you go to through from lessons and wishing you weren't there, school toilet states with graffiti, finding a crush to fights and friendship groups tight knit like family. Each poem captures a characters voice perfectly as a teenager experiencing things at school, some for the first time and others again and again. Anyone can relate to these poems!



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of poems from various different perspectives of a day at school. A fast read that is very enjoyable and I couldn't put it down and think I will read again.

[Laura Duffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun and varied collections of poems about one week in a school and really takes you back to your childhood and what it was like when the school bell was the guide of your schedule.