Be very afraid... Joshua Seigal & Neal Zetter team up for new poetry collection 'Scared?'

The longer nights are drawing in and Hallowe’en is on the horizon - the perfect time to cosy up with a good book, one that’s not afraid to explore the darker side of growing up.

Published this month, Scared? brings together 48 inventive and insightful poems that span a raft of tricky topics, from bullies to black holes, cats to clowns, dentists to Dads, and catastrophes to climate change.

Much-loved poets Joshua Seigal and Neal Zetter have teamed up for a second time to co-create this collaborative collection, aimed at children aged 7 - 11 years / Key Stage 2.

These original and thought-provoking poems are a roller-coaster ride through all kinds of fears and foibles - some silly, some serious - worries we all encounter in day-to-day life and will recognise only too well.

Speaking about the decision to work together again, Joshua and Neal said, “After the success and popularity of our previous collaboration, Yuck & Yum, and as great friends, we simply had to produce another joint poetry book! The topic of fear and being scared (or not - hence the ‘?’ in the book’s title) seemed a good choice as it’s an emotion we all - child, teen, adult - have to deal with on some level.”

Yuck and Yum: A Feast of Funny Food Poems, also published by Troika, has been widely praised for its vibrant verse and cited as the perfect book for using in the classroom to engage children.

Similarly, Scared? is created for both home reading and school settings, and can help to pave the way for important conversations with young people about feeling and facing our fears. Both Joshua and Neal are consummate performers and these poems are perfect for reading and sharing aloud.

Illustrated by Zoe Williams, this is a collection that’s sure to entertain as much as it educates.

To whet your appetite, here are Josh and Neal: reading poems on sharing (or not) what’s on our mind in ‘Circle Time’ (Josh), and on the perils of our ‘Carbon Footprint’ (Neal).

Shauna Robertson