This is a voice-led poetry collection about disability, change and self-understanding. Cosmo’s observations combine raw feelings with humour, curiosity and hope, allowing difficult experiences and new possibilities to sit alongside one another.
DisabilityThe available evidence does not establish the book's treatment of this theme. See Confidence & Basis for the evidence gap.AdaptationThe available evidence does not establish the book's treatment of this theme. See Confidence & Basis for the evidence gap.IdentityThe available evidence does not establish the book's treatment of this theme. See Confidence & Basis for the evidence gap.
Consider
Other content to considerEmotional intensity
Personalised Fit
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Cosmo becomes a wheelchair user after falling from a tree and considers whether his former life is gone and what new possibilities may exist.MixedMixed: the book presents both supportive and critical signals.Mixed: the book presents both supportive and critical signals.
How the book presents it: Disability is presented through difficulty, pain and uncertainty, but also through curiosity, humour, agency and possible new abilities.
Talk about: How does Cosmo’s understanding of himself change as he considers what may still be possible?
Questions without easy answers
Cosmo wants to speak with the tree and asks why the accident happened.UnresolvedUnresolved: the issue remains unsettled by the end of the book.Unresolved: the issue remains unsettled by the end of the book.
How the book presents it: The book does not clearly resolve its stance on this.
Talk about: If an answer remains unavailable, what other ways might Cosmo make sense of what happened?
Complex representation rather than a single disability narrative
The collection uses Cosmo’s voice to present observations and reflections that are perceptive, raw, hilarious, confronting and enchanting.FavourableFavourable: the book presents this theme approvingly or positively.Favourable: the book presents this theme approvingly or positively.
How the book presents it: Cosmo’s full emotional and imaginative life is foregrounded, while the author’s wider work is described as challenging reduced perceptions of disability.
Talk about: Which parts of Cosmo’s voice resist other people’s assumptions about wheelchair users?
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Why It May Be Worth Reading
It may offer a starting point for discussing how a person can remain complex after a life-changing accident: angry, jealous, funny, curious and hopeful rather than reduced to a single story about disability.
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What Deserves Attention
Some readers may want support around Cosmo’s fall, resulting disability and the emotional upheaval that follows. The writing is described as confronting and painful as well as humorous and hopeful.
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A Conversation Worth Having
How does Cosmo’s way of asking questions shape your view of change? If the tree could reply, what might you want it to explain, and would an answer resolve everything?
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Reading Approach
Read a few poems at a time, pausing to notice shifts between pain, anger, humour and hope. Invite the child to choose what to discuss, rather than treating disability as a lesson to extract.
Confidence & Basis
Theme indicators describe how the book presents a topic; they are not a verdict on the whole book or your family's values. Confidence reflects how much book-specific material was checked. Only part of the book information was available, so some details remain unconfirmed.
What remains unconfirmed
Living with disability after sudden change: Some details of this treatment remain unclear.
Questions without easy answers: The ending and whether the tree replies are unclear.
Complex representation rather than a single disability narrative: Some details of this treatment remain unclear.
Relevant to: Living with disability after sudden change; Questions without easy answers; Complex representation rather than a single disability narrative
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