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Benjamin Zephaniah Books

leave the trees please

Leave the Trees Please

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Picturebook

Follow a little boy’s friendship and journey with one tree, in this powerful and beautiful love letter to nature.

From master wordsmith, Benjamin Zephaniah, comes a breathtaking new poem and story showing how trees offer us the perspective and connection to nature we crave in our daily lives. The final scene is an honest representation of the devastating effects of deforestation and urban development, encouraging all of us, everywhere, to ‘leave the trees, please’.

With resplendent illustrations from bestselling Melissa Castrillon, this book is both magnificent and timely.

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refugee boy

Refugee Boy

Chapter book

Benjamin Zephaniah’s Refugee Boy is poignant and memorable. Lower secondary school readers looking for the next step on after Windrush Child or The Boy at the Back of the Class will feel drawn to this moving account of one boy’s refugee experience.

The story follows a boy called Alem. With war raging in his parents’ homelands of Ethiopia and Eritrea, Alem’s father takes him to London to seek asylum. Suddenly alone in a strange land, Alem faces the daunting task of building a new life. Zephaniah’s narrative vividly captures Alem’s challenges and the difficult realities faced by child refugees, as well as warmly capturing the grit and courage of the central character’s personality as he adapts to a new culture while seeking safety.

Though it doesn’t shy away from the harsh truths, Refugee Boy is ultimately a story of resilience and human kindness. In places the narrative is witty and wry – in others emotional and raw – and many readers will enjoy this balance.

This powerful book offers a moving insight into the refugee experience, drawing readers’ attention to the courage needed to navigate life’s losses and forge a new future.

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talking turkeys

Talking Turkeys

Poetry

Talking Turkeys is an unconventional collection of straight-talking poems about heroes, revolutions, racism, love and animal rights, among other subjects, that will entice many new readers to poetry.

It was beloved poet Benjamin Zephaniah’s very first ground-breaking poetry collection for young people. Playful, clever and provocative – this is performance poetry on the page at its very best.

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nature trail

Nature Trail

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Picturebook, Poetry
resources-available

Benjamin Zephaniah had a huge talent for noticing and appreciating his surroundings and using his writing to make them special.

This illustrated poem is a call to appreciate the humble marvels of nature that surround us all – the woodlice, the baby daddy-longlegs, the creepy-crawlies. How easy it is to ignore or look down on what is familiar. Many children want to create settings from rainforests rather than the view from their doorstep; they prefer to describe tigers rather than the squirrels they see every day. However, I love the way this book validates the local and the ordinary and encourages children to observe proudly the small wonders of wherever they live. Even those who don’t have the luxury of a garden will recognise most of the things Zephaniah zooms in on.

I also enjoyed the deceptively simple rhymes that subtly emphasise the humming, the buzzing and the flowering that is all around us all the time. The accompanying illustrations have plenty of details for young children to have fun spotting, and the style does seem to define it as aimed at Nursery, Reception and Year 1 rather than older children.

It would accompany any work on minibeasts beautifully and could lead to both practical investigation of the outdoors and interesting creative work on observational writing, rhyme work, drawing and painting.

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we sang across the sea the empire windrush and me

We Sang Across the Sea: The Empire Windrush and Me

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Picturebook

A powerfully moving and beautiful picture book about the voyage of HMT Empire Windrush from national treasure, Benjamin Zephaniah. The hopes, dreams and bravery of the Windrush generation are expressed in this vivid story through the real-life experiences of Trinidadian musician, Mona Baptiste.

Written as a brand-new poem by Benjamin Zephaniah, the book is beautifully illustrated by the extraordinary artist, Onyinye Iwu.

The arrival of the Windrush in 1948 is celebrated each year on Windrush Day, 22 June

Benjamin recently won a BAFTA for his Sky Arts show, Life & Rhymes, a showcase of some of Britain’s finest poets

This book is perfect for teaching young children about inclusivity and diversity.

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people need people

People Need People

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Picturebook, Poetry

From the creators of Nature Trail comes an uplifting picture book about the power of people, and the importance of connecting with others. This timely poem reminds us all to be kind to one another.

Written by legendary poet, Benjamin Zephaniah and beautifully illustrated by Nila Aye.

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Funky Chickens

Poetry

This poetry collection for older children from late rap poet and wordsmith Benjamin Zephaniah is a must-have for Year 6. Benjamin Zephaniah‘s role in making poetry accessible to a wider audience of young people is nothing short of outstanding.

The rap style of the poems sings through the rhymical lines, which are brilliant for reading aloud, and the poems are often funny, colloquial in language and sometimes irreverent. There’s a real energy and playfulness to the poems, and hot topics like environmentalism, racism, veganism and politics weave in between bursts of clever wordplay and delightfully silly imagery that will thrill older primary readers.

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We Are Britain!

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Poetry

This is a collection of poetry from the performance poet Benjamin Zephaniah. The poems celebrate the diversity of British society by portraying different British children in their home environments. The children featured in We Are Britain! are from a range of backgrounds and cultures and it shows that despite their differences, the children have many similar preoccupations whatever their cultural background.

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Windrush Child

Chapter book

This masterpiece is written by Benjamin Zephaniah, and it delivers a powerful story about what it was like to be part of the Windrush Generation.

Based on real events of the time, this fictional story features Leonard, a boy who was born in Jamaica and grew up in England. The women in Leonard’s life have instilled a deep sense of his Caribbean heritage and history, teaching him the stories that have been handed down through generations… not the history and songs that have been taught in his school.

Looking for a brighter future for them all, his family respond to the post-war plea from Great Britain for workers from the Empire to relocate to rebuild a broken country. In 1958, on a cold April morning, they arrive in Southampton – the reception they receive is frosty, in more ways than one. And so begins Leonard’s life in England, and we see how he is treated at school, at work, socially and in his later years too.

At times, this is a difficult read. How can society continually undervalue people who have given it so much? But it is also an important and powerful read, endorsed by Amnesty International, and would be well-placed in the hands of readers aged 10-14.

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Stone Girl Bone Girl

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