Pajama Press

“We rated this book: 

…What is a poem? Does it rhyme or not? Are the verses long or short? There is no simple answer, and this book doesn’t really purport to answer that question. What it does is introduce to children the idea of poetry being everywhere and found in so many gifts of nature—flowers, the sky, birds, the ocean, and more. The entire book is written in a variety of poetic forms, some rhymed, some not, but all quite accessible to children.

Author Gilles Tibo has written a charming picture book that will help youngsters find their way to poetry as both readers and writers of the form. The writing is fun and whimsical and lyrical. The illustrations by Manon Gauthier—a combination of several media including collage, pencil, and gouache—are absolutely charming and match the whimsicality of the text. This book will find its way into a great many classrooms and school libraries, but it deserves to be in lots of children’s homes as well. This is a lovely book.”
—Rosi Hollinbeck

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“A picture book of poetry for the very young takes the reader from butterfly wings to the sea, from grazing sheep to the stars above, and from the silence of the night to sharing with their best friend. Lyrics, some rhyming some not, bring wonder and beauty of nature to each page accompanied by light-hearted, earthen-toned paper collage illustrations. Tibo leaves the reader with the message, ‘If all the world is a poem, then anyone can be a poet!’ This title fits nicely into any poetry unit for early childhood and primary grades. Recommended for ages 5 to 8.”
—Jeanne Martin, M.Ed., Collection Development

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I am totally in love with All the World a Poem, a celebration of the poetry in the world and the world that’s in poetry, written by Gilles Tibo and illustrated by Manon Gauthier, both award-winners in Quebec and internationally. And now their book has been beautifully translated into English by Erin Woods, whose task fascinates me in what it means to translate a poem, poems being is so intrinsically about their language….

Each spread is a different poem celebrating poetry as diverse as the poets who write it, and sometime the poetry is literal (concrete?) and sometimes the poetry is simple (not simple) wonder at the world around one, ephemeral moments and fleeting flyaway things….

…The poems themselves all sophisticated and yet accessible, like the illustrations with their childlike renderings and the richness of texture. Inspiring young readers to see the poetry at work in life and the world, to read it, and maybe even to sit down and write it.

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“…All the World a Poem is a lyrical odyssey examining the richness of poems in shape and content, place and time, purpose and destination. According to Gilles Tibo’s dreamy text, poetry can be anything and everything, filled with grace and love, both reverent and impassioning.

The translation from Gilles Tibo’s French Poésies pour la vie (Isatis, 2015) is beautifully rendered by Pajama Press’ own Erin Woods, who also capably gave English voice to Elliot (Pajama Press, 2016).  The text is sublime, a celebration of sounds and rhythms and expressive verse.  And Manon Gauthier again creates her distinctive illustrations of paper collage art that gives texture and whimsy a totally unique look.  The luxuriance of the words and the art is almost overwhelming in its intimate beauty…”

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All the World a Poem by Gilles Tibo with illustrations by Manon Gauthier has received its first review from Quill & Quire.

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Gilles Tibo was already a well-loved children’s illustrator when he turned his hand to writing, and he has been prolific and successful in both fields. In his engaging new picture book, he celebrates his love of language and particularly the pleasures of writing poetry.

Tibo’s verses and prose poems (translated by Pajama Press managing editor Erin Woods) playfully consider the experience of poetry—how poems may climb under his quilt at night and keep him awake, or how writing poetry can resemble plucking silence like a flower and gently pressing it “into a notebook made of light.” Unexpected similes and metaphors help the reader see poems in many ways, linking them to nature, feelings and the joy in life.

While there is fun in a good—or a whole string of them—the figurative language is more effective than the rhymed verses. Certain concepts—including that poems “are infinite inside”—might be difficult for kids to comprehend, but the emphasis on sensations such as flying and floating, feelings of affection and companionship will bring the poems into relief for the young child hearing them.

The poetically quirky spirit of Tibo’s text is well served by the playful collage illustrations of Manon Gauthier. The text (sometimes running on an angle across the page) and images are placed in interesting and varied relationships, and Gauthier uses earthy colours and strong contrasts between white pages and patterned or dark backgrounds. The illustrations richly reflect the poems’ celebration of nature; of night with its associations of imagination and creativity; of the pleasures of poems that float in from the sea, drop from the sky or sprout from the earth for us to hold in our hearts.

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