Edited by Joan Haig, Illustrated by Darren Gate and Published by Cranachan 

This utterly brilliant anthology is being released today and I was over the moon to have the opportunity to have a wee early sneak preview!

40 well-known writers from across Scotland have contributed poems and stories all with a lockdown theme.   It is a collection dedicated to all the children who have shown amazing resilience and understanding over this challenging period, children whose lives have changed beyond recognition but who have demonstrated the determination and ability to adapt.

Each and every contribution is unique, each sharing a wee slice of the lockdown experience.  These are snippets of lockdown life that children will be able to relate to. Together with the gorgeous illustrations by Darren Gate, these are the tales that bring us together.

I am  sure lots of children will have gone through the same ordeal as the central character in Barbara Henderson’s ‘The Lockdown Haircut’.  I know mine have!

How many children have had lockdown birthdays like Ivy in Maisie Chan’s ‘The Worst Birthday Ever’?  And how many are using technology to keep in touch to continue to make special days special?   A lot of the contributions reflect on how things have to be different right now but also on how we have been able to adapt and keep in touch. Families across the country have been finding innovative ways to keep in touch like the family celebrating Eid in Roisah Ahmed’s ‘Can You See the Moon?’.

I’m sure there are many children out there who can identify with Billy Baxter  in Alan McClure’s absolutely fantastic Scots poem – children who have spent lockdown in the local ‘hub’, passing the time by checking Teams while their friends are at home.

There is everything you could want in this collection.  There is funny, there is sad, there is fear, there is hope.  It is a testament to our children who have demonstrated imagination, creativity, perseverance and optimism through this period. This is a stunning anthology, a work of absolute perfection that is an important, beautiful and powerful record of this moment in history.

Stay at Home! Poems and Prose for Children in Lockdown is available to read, for free, here:  https://www.cranachanpublishing.co.uk/stay-at-home-2/