Our Building

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDS 2023*
From award-winning children's poet Joseph Coelho comes this enchanting story of three kids looking for adventure in their building.
Drawn from Coelho's own experience growing up in a high-rise, this is a celebration and reclaiming of them as places full of power and magic.
A power that resides
in the smiles of our neighbors.
A magic that seeps out
when we swap our home-baked flavors.
A deeply personal story written by the award-winning poet Joseph Coelho, drawn from his own experience growing up in a high-rise and looking for adventure.
Three children living in the building travel to a strange, magical world inside a tree and meet an old man with supernatural powers... only to realize that the magic they'd been looking for had been in the building all that time, in the form of community and connection.
Beautiful illustrations complement the poetic narrative, creating an enchanting story that children and adults alike will fall in love with. This powerful story shows us the true beauty of home and community. It's a modern-day fable about how society separates 'urban' spaces from the suburbs, when the reality is that nature is everywhere, and everyone should have access to it.