Take Off Your Brave: The World through the Eyes of a Preschool Poet

See the world through a small child’s eyes in this enchanting collection of poems by a four-year-old, joyfully illustrated by an award-winning artist.

For scared-sugar things, you put on your brave
And you can take it off again, when you realize it’s OK.
And that’s it. Scary and sweet. Scared-sugar.

Four-year-old Nadim puts his words on paper and gives us a glimpse of how he sees the world: one filled with glitter, magical boxes, and cuddles with Mom. A place where school smells like daffodils and honey (and sometimes dirty socks), where Wednesdays are rainbow-colored, where fish in the sea make a shhhh sound, and where everyone has love, even baddies. The poems in this anthology make for joyful reading and are paired with vibrant, child-friendly artwork by Yasmeen Ismail that invites us to full-heartedly enter Nadim’s world. At once funny and sweet, gentle and zany, this anthology may just entice readers young and old to release the poet within.

Nadim wrote these poems as a four-year-old. In addition to poetry, he likes building stuff, learning about history, finding insects, riding his bicycle, playing with friends, and reading to his sister.

Yasmeen Ismail is an award-winning illustrator and animator who has a love of inks, paints, and watercolors. Her debut picture book Time for Bed, Fred! was a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year. She is the author-illustrator of Christmas for Greta and Gracie; the author of Joy, illustrated by Jenni Desmond; and the illustrator of Nuts! by Lou Peacock. Yasmeen Ismail lives in Bristol, England, with her husband, their toddler, and Betty the cat.