The Storybarn Selects… From The Reader Bookshelf

As we continue to explore The Reader Bookshelf we've asked members of our Children & Young People Team to talk about their favourite children's books from the collection.

This week, Samantha Wilson, our Schools Partnership Project Manager, shares one of her favourite poems, The Star by Ann Taylor and Jane Taylor. 

‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.’

I believe time travel is possible because poetries and stories exist. The opening lines of The Star by Ann and Jane Taylor have the power to transport me to back to primary school and the right of passage that was learning to play the recorder, eight year old me thrilled that I was learning to play the nursery rhyme that I had heard and sung for years. It took longer than I care to say to learn that those lines, instantly recognisable and loved by so many, were the beginning of a poem which is rich with messages of hope and the belief in something bigger than ourselves.

So many times, I have gazed up at the night-sky and been awed (and at times slightly terrified) by its vastness, its beauty. It is hard not to feel small, questioning if we will ever understand the mystery and majesty of space, and how we are supposed to find our purpose and place in it all. This poem brings me comfort, reminds me that its ok to not always have the answer, that sometimes the best thing we can do it just to accept not knowing and continue to wonder and hope.

We are all travellers, whether we are taking our first steps, trying to navigate our way in a world of unknowns or choosing the path that we believe will bring us joy. And like a diamond, life is hard so is it not comforting to know that at every stage of the journey the twinkling star will always be there, with its bright and tiny spark, lighting the way for us in the dark?

Words by Samantha Wilson