The Kids

by Hannah Lowe

Hannah Lowe taught for a decade in an inner-city London sixth form. At the heart of this book of compassionate and energetic sonnets are ‘The Kids’, her students, the teenagers she nurtured. But the poems go further, meeting her own child self as she comes of age in the riotous 80s and 90s, later bearing witness to her small son learning to negotiate contemporary London. Across these deeply felt poems, Lowe interrogates the acts of teaching and learning with empathy and humour. Social class, gender and race – and their fundamental intersection with education – are investigated with an ever critical and introspective eye. The sonnet is re-energised, becoming a classroom, a memory box and even a mind itself as ‘The Kids’ learn and negotiate their own unknown futures. These boisterous and musical poems explore and explode the universal experience of what it is to be taught, and to teach, ultimately reaching out and speaking to the child in all of us.

Genres: Poetry, London, Nonfiction, Book Club

80 pages, Paperback

Published October 19, 2021

About the author

Hannah Lowe is one of a generation of younger poets whose work celebrates the multicultural life of London and its environs in the eighties and nineties. She writes with a strong sense of place, voice, and emotional subtlety.

Lowe was born to an English mother and a Chinese/Jamaican father. She got her BA in American Literature at the University of Sussex, has a Masters degree in Refugee Studies, and is currently working towards a PhD in creative writing.

Reviews

[Claire Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accessible, yet full of meaning and emotion, I loved these poems. I read the book in a couple of hours, and I will go back and dip into them again. Perhaps I enjoyed the ones that felt universal more than those that were very personal; so those about Lowe's experience in the classroom rather than about her son. But still, highly recommended. And of course winner of the Costa Book of the Year.

[Kiran Bhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kids is a collection of sonnets by British author Hannah Lowe. Lowe delves into the children of importance of her life, from the ones she taught at an inner-city school to her own child coming of age. The poems are about childhood, being a child, growing up in Britain as an Other, and the impacts adults have - both good and bad - on a mind's development. Lowe's poems are colloquial, supple, like a friend whispering childhood stories into your ears. They are utterly accessible, though the most beautiful poems, like "The Sky Is Snowing" are dedicated to Lowe's son.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wouldn’t have been my first choice for the Costa Poetry Award (Eat or We Both Starve all the way!) or the overall Award, but it was an enjoyable enough set of poems about Lowe’s own teenage years and the students she taught over the course of a decade in inner-city London -- and in some ways the latter might serve as a tonic for the whole Kate Clanchy debacle. (Lowe is biracial but passes as white.) The story/theme was worth following through, though the language holds little interest.

A favourite passage:

such bags of hope, these kids of immigrants.
I knew it, teaching them, and being half
of one myself.

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winner of the Costa book of the year award, this collection is masterfully crafted and emotionally rich. Hannah Lowe writes this exclusively in sonnets, so deftly formed that they always feel informal, unfussy, and full of energy. The collections begin with a long sequence exploring Lowe's life as a teacher of English. She celebrates the ordinary moments of teaching - technology, theatre trips, reading aloud, and the students in her classes - rendering the day-to-day into something special. The next two sections explore Lowe's own childhood and experiences as a student, as well as the sudden loss of her parents, and the birth of her own son. Each sonnet is delicately structured and makes a single thought, image or story, shine with potency and possibility. Lowe can do so much with fourteen lines, and this book is full of depth, while also being accessible, a pleasure to read, and -- the thing poetry so rarely is -- funny and fun, as well as earnest. Recommended.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A glorious collection that has re-shaped my thoughts on teaching, remembers those often-forgotten memories and translates these into technicolour images with very few words.

[Katy Wheatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a generous collection to offer us. The poet toggles between her own childhood and those of the children she teaches and creates a world in which we are able to experience our own lives anew, through the lenses she offers. Isolation and connection, child and adult, parent and child, there is so much here to experience and her vulnerability makes these poems all the more powerful and telling. A stunning collection of poems which I felt able to identify with on so many levels.

[Caspar "moved to storygraph" Bryant]

a chunk of teachers find themselves amateur poets or some arrangement of those words. I've read a lot of poems by teachers - none I know, but in other spaces. Teacher poems are a difficult genre this certainly isn't the most traumatic collection of teacher-poems I've read I tend to find the real horror stories are coming from those just beginning to write but Hannah is delivering a sonnet-fluency here that is exceptionally rare it's a storytelling alacrity that places her near the top of those looking to fuse narrative and form without seams today. First section of The Kids seems the best to me, and following this we have the poet's own childhood and the obligatory poet-has-child section. All valid but not especially unique. Still glad I read her one to come back for as a sonnet education

[Monika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across this book by accident, I thought this was a Costa-awarded novel, it was short, it was available on Borrowbox - so why not? It turned out to be poetry. I'm not so big on poetry in general and frankly speaking, I shouldn't really read poetry in English as, fluent or not, it just doesn't speak to me the same way as in my mother tongue.
Nevertheless this was a pleasant enough read, not what I expected at all - I'm definitely not up to speed with modern poetry. To me, this was just a bunch of thoughts and reflections separated into lines, but maybe that's what makes it poetry.

[Laura Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know much about poetry, but I loved every single one in this collection. They were accessible and readable, so that I understood what each was about, yet also were deep and full of meaning (for me anyway). I’m sure a lot of teachers could relate to the experiences she shares. She also gives away enough of her own childhood/life experiences to make me curious about her upbringing and how that has moulded her as a teacher and person.
I will definitely be on the hunt for more of her work.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulous collection of sonnets with a thread running through them. Moving, funny and brilliantly written. I read it all in one sitting and went back and started again! Contemporary poetry at its best.

[Helen Macklon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t praise this collection of poems enough. It totally transported me back to teaching.
I’m so glad I own it and can go back to it. What a way with words Hannah Lowe has, I enjoyed experiencing her life with her through these poems.

[Jose Ovalle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite book of poetry I’ve read since Langston Hughe’s “the weary blues.” Will try to read all of Hannah Lowe’s stuff.

[Richard Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best modern poetry that I've read for a long time. The poetry is easy to read but beautifully balanced.

[Frederike · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a teacher I particularly liked the first part of the collection, in which recognizable school scenes are painted in accessible sonnets, more spoken word than Shakespearean in nature

[Simon Pressinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing collection by Hannah Lowe, she leans heavily into the sonnet form to talk about her life as a teacher, a student, and as a mother. Wonderful poems, intimate, accessible, universal, humane.

[Faye Bichener · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book of poetry that really resonated with me. I read it in one sitting.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s some brilliant poetry in here - I read the whole thing in two sittings (it’s not massively long) and found it fascinating. The sonnets on the experiences of teaching resonate all too well in places and the third part which is largely focused around her own son also hits home for me. Very enjoyable - I really enjoyed the lack of pretentiousness. Rightly or wrongly I have always associated the sonnet form with a certain lofty air of highbrow snootiness. That Lowe takes the form and manages to make all sorts of contemporary references and make the form feel so fresh and modern is testament to her ability as a poet!

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection from Hannah Lowe.

It's split into three sections. Each of which deals with a different kid or kids. The first section is based on Hannah Lowe's experience of inner city school teaching. The second is mainly about her own childhood and growing up. The third is mainly about her own child, Rory. Although there are links between each. For example two poems in the third section deal with her encounters with two of her former pupils grown-up. But within that over-arching theme Lowe talks about responsibility, about growing-up; about loss and grief; about sex, love and loneliness; about class and race and other things.

These are poems anchored in the real world. Their language is simple, but right. There's no pontificating. I found myself underlining several lines that I will try - and fail - to memorise. I will definitely try to memorise "The Size of Him" because of how Hannah Lowe uses Doctor Who watching as part of a poem about her son.

So, yes. I enjoyed this a lot. I'll definitely re-read this.

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review
"As if you could catch and wrap a poem, what you thought and felt about it, under plastic--flattened, silenced, trapped."

That line I think best sums up this entire book.
Lesson
"And the task is unchanging, like spending years chasing a monster you yourself created"
Recommend?
Sure? Yes? No? Maybe.

[readerleah☆ﾐ · Rating 2 out of 5]

this feels mean but i only really liked a couple tbh, plus there was only a few about teaching really (which were my fave bits)

[Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is described as follows:-

"Hannah Lowe taught for a decade in an inner-city London sixth form. At the heart of this book of compassionate and energetic sonnets are fictionalised portraits of 'The Kids', the students she nurtured. But the poems go further, meeting her own child self as she comes of age in the riotous 80s and 90s, later bearing witness to her small son learning to negotiate contemporary London. Across these deeply felt poems, Lowe interrogates the acts of teaching and learning with empathy and humour. Social class, gender and race - and their fundamental intersection with education - are investigated with an ever critical and introspective eye. These boisterous and musical poems explore the universal experience of what it is to be taught, to learn and to teach."

I have to admit I'm not the greatest fan of poetry but heard this book discussed on a Backlisted podcast and on hearing one of the poems read out instantly wanted to find out more so was pleased to receive it as a birthday present. I can't describe it any better than this review on Amazon "Memorable, vivid pictures created by the author in short, powerful sonnets. A great read!"
This book is worth getting for the poems Notes on a Scandal, The Sixth-form Theatre Trip and Pepys if nothing else and a worthy Costa Book Winner for 2021.

Can

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of poems that are for the most part autobiographical and to some extent attempt to tell a story. The first set works best. The poems are drawn from the author’s experiences as a sixth form teacher in an immigrant working class neighborhood. They bring to mind Bel Kaufman’s book “Up the Down Staircase” about the experiences of an idealistic young high school teacher. There are also echos of the movie “To Sir, With Love.” However, the poems are serious in tone rather than comic like “Up the Down Staircase.” The demographics of the students are also quite different from “To Sir, With Love” although both involve students from lower class backgrounds and concern the issue of how to reach the students and encourage them to learn and aspire to something better.

The second part contains poems describing the author’s family and her experiences growing up. They depict the author’s regrets as well as her aspirations.

The final section is directed towards her son. The poems with a few exceptions describe him and his upbringing while alluding to her failed relationship with his father. Two are more personal in nature, and seem to be out-of-place in this section as they have no relationship to the author’s bonds with her son.

[Vidya Tiru · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am glad I found this book as a result of this alphabetical reading journey I challenged myself to do, since otherwise I would never even have heard of it. Like I mentioned at the start of this post, Hannah Lowe’s The Kids feels like an ode to poetry and to teaching, as well as to so much more.

Lowe’s contemporary take on the sonnets breathes fresh life into the traditional that makes for fascinating reading. She moves from talking about her life as an inner-city teacher and about her students to her own personal life (from her childhood to her current role as a mom to her own child, Rory). The sonnets thus vary from showing snippets of teaching moments (the good, bad, and ugly), glimpses into her students, her relationship with her parents and others in her life, as well as her role as a parent herself.

Lowe’s words flow across the pages with warmth, joy, grace and beauty, lending honesty, humor, and power to the sonnets. And she effortlessly covers a variety of topics, including, of course teaching and learning, but also love, loss, and the beauty and pain in relationships, as well as the issues of class, race, gender, color, and more.

In Summary
A stunning and accessible collection of poems that will delight and move you.

Source: e-review copy from Edelweiss

[Kath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Costa Book of the Year winner did not disappoint. Its a book of poems split into three sections exploring growing up. The first section is about the kids the poet taught in an inner city secondary school, the second explores the poet's own childhood and the third follows her experiences as a mother.

I loved the first section about the kids she taught. The verse brings these young adults alive and captures some of the joy, despair and drama of teaching teenagers, an experience I've had myself. The second section lacked something for me, as if the poet was hiding some of her most traumatic experiences away from our prying eyes. And the third section again was a little vague, and it didn't have the ring of truth about parenthood that a collection such as McNish's 'Nobody Told Me' does for example. This is why I've given a 4 star review, the book is worth reading for the first section of poems alone.

[Bobbie Darbyshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of 66 sonnets about the schoolchildren to whom the author taught English, about herself as a child, and about her small son.
I wouldn’t normally pick up a book of poems, but this was chosen by my book group and, among the prizes it won, were not only the Costa Poetry Award but also the Costa Book of the Year, which is impressive for poetry.
I read it on a train journey in one sitting and plan to re-read it before the book group discussion. It completely absorbed this reader of novels, which again is impressive. I know next to nothing about poetry craft or technique, can only say these seemed assured. What kept me reading and often pausing to re-read were the spare, direct language, the emotional honesty and self-exposure about some difficult feelings, and the sense of a developing story, a memoir of sorts, that made it actually a page-turner first time through. I look forward to savouring and getting more from it on the re-read.

[John Oswald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry Book Society choice for 2021, this. Which is how I found out about it, and what a gem it is. If you've ever taught, been trained to teach, are thinking about teaching, or actually if you've ever simply been taught and sometimes get nostalgic (or even angry?) about it (so, everyone, basically...) there's something here which will speak to you. It's a collection of 66 sonnets. They sparkle and shock, sometimes. They're beautifully crafted, yet conversational and relatable. Lowe taught in an inner-city London sixth form college and here you meet her students, you meet her own self doubt and questioning, and you also meet her going right back to her roots and remembering so much of her own time learning and questioning. It's a real gem of understanding your path, understanding how and where you fit in, how to negotiate all sorts of aspects of ourselves as we grow up in our surroundings. Loved it.

[Callum McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

With her strikingly contemporary voice, Lowe breathes new life into the sonnet, an otherwise archaic form of poetry. Switching seamlessly between poignancy and humour, the collection is primarily concerned with youth; exploring experiences from Lowe’s own childhood, that of her son, and of the students she mentored throughout her decade long teaching career. She dives into the intersection of class, race, and gender that exemplifies inner-city London; her identity as a white passing half English, half Chinese/Jamaican woman offering a unique perspective.

The style, though punchy and accessible, is very on-the-nose, leaving little room for complex wordplay or striking imagery. The majority of the pieces won’t stay with me, but a few gems made it a worthwhile read.

Thank you to the publisher for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first third is an enormously grittier version of Stanley Cook's Form Photograph (if anyone remembers that collection now), and is probably the most wonderful sequence in the book. I'm being half facetious in the comparison, but on reflection she does have the same directness as a Stanley Cook , Charles Causley , or even dare-I-say Philip Larkin . One of the best collections I have read in a goodly while.

[David Cutler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed The Kids. It is highly accessible and the strength of the emotion and story telling meant that I often missed the artistry of the poetry, but perhaps that's a compliment It starts out a little Pam Ayres in the school teacher section but strengthens. At my book club meeting felt that Lowe had too low expectations of her pupils. I think that I agree with that point. I certainly thought it was very honest - I guess that's the word - to indicate her attraction to pupils in several poems. Her experience of being dual heritage as a teacher is interesting When the focus moves to her family and childhood the writing gathers force, but not an especially memorable collection for a prize winner.

[João Félix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannah Lowe’s “The Kids” shows that form still has meaning and conversely, meaning can be given to form.

A confessional and superb collection of sonnets reflecting contemporary life, with a candid and engaged view of the world, Hannah describes in a striking and thoughtful way the pitfalls, challenges and joys of living- growing up, complex family relations, love, heartbreak and lust. 

More than anything, she describes the joys and lows of teaching, its rewards and failures. And how, although you might leave it, it does not leave you.

This book is a deserved contemporary classic and it does what poetry should- awe,inspire, shock (at times), connect and make you think more deeply about the world.

Amazing!