Our Tower

Product Information

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 which children and adults alike will fall in love with. Finding the tree they have longed to see reveals a secret world of magic. Tumbling deep inside, they find “a world deeper than anything Our Tower has ever seen.” But the most significant discovery is the tree-grown man living within, who opens their eyes to the true magic. With his words, the children see that magic is everywhere, including in their tower. A tower full of love and community. London based conservation architects Thomas Ford & Partners are led by Clive England, who brings over 30 years’ experience to the project. Clive is Surveyor of the Fabric to Ely Cathedral, and Cathedral Architect to Sheffield Cathedral. It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Our Tower is about togetherness and kindness within the community. Why not get the kids to write a story about when someone has been kind to you or your family? What colour are the kids going to choose for the Tree-Grown man? How many colours are they going to use? Stenning & Co – who are located in Bath – are led by Quantity Surveyor Adrian Stenning. Experts and specialists in building conservation work, Adrian has worked extensively with organisations including the Landmark Trust and the National Trust. The story follows three children who leave their grey dismal tower in search of the marvellous green tree they can see from their windows. As they move through the wood gradually more colour seeps into the images and when they find their tree and discover an entrance to a magical underground world the palette changes entirely to magical purples and blues and the lovely lyrical text becomes joyously rhyming too.

Inspired by memories, folklore and a lifetime of reading and imagining, Coelho’s lyrical text draws us in and evokes a personal response. Rhythms and sounds are explored, but it’s the story that drives this book. Take-away messages are clearly stated (which may be reassuring for readers who are less familiar with poetry) but plenty of room is left throughout for curiosity and dreaming. Illustrated in an atmospheric monochrome that gives way to a jewel-bright palette later in the book, Our Tower tells the story of three children who discover a secret world inside a tree, where they meet an ancient entity wielding a power capable of changing everything. Securing the Design team is just the start of this project, with urgent fundraising now needed to ensure vital conservation work to the building and landscape takes place, to ensure today’s visitors and future generations can continue to explore and enjoy this iconic Bath landmark.Richard Johnson has created moments of real magic and wonder with his atmospheric illustrations in blue, green, brown, and grey hues highlighting the transitions between the urban, fantastic and natural environments. The imagery has been cleverly displayed as full spreads alongside vignettes with scenes intertwined with the text giving this book a unique contemporary feel. Note must also be paid to the incredible behind the scenes research work carried out to make the illustrations as authentic as possible, Richard ensured that architectural details were as accurate as possible as were references to specific architectural details, and public statues mentioned in Joseph’s story making this an unforgettable cinematic reading experience. Working closely at all stages of the book, when he saw Richard's roughs Joseph said... Mae tri phlentyn sy'n byw mewn tŵr llwyd uchel yn clywed cân coeden yn galw arnyn nhw. Maen nhw'n cropian allan o'r tŵr, heibio i'r ceir a'r polion lampau, i'r goedwig sy'n ffinio â'r stad. Yno, mewn coeden, maen nhw'n cyfarfod â dyn wedi tyfu mewn coeden sy'n rhoi carreg hud iddyn nhw. Trwy'r twll yn y garreg maen nhw'n gweld eu tŵr mewn gwedd newydd. Yn lle ffenestri, mae llygaid cariadus, ceg ydy'r lifft ac eiliau ydy'r balconïau. 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.

What creatures can the kids find lurking in their garden or on a walk with their family? Print out the sheet above, and get them to take it on a bug hunt with them. How many of them can they spot? When they go out next time, can they spot more, or less? But their real discovery is the gift of the old man of the tree which enables them to see that magic exists in the real world too, when we do not forget our connections to nature and can see and appreciate the beauty of community. Whilst we have achieved our fundraising target, ongoing donations will increase the amount of work we can do, support a programme of activity beyond the project and ensure the resilience of our organisation.Wedi'i ysgrifennu mewn sigl odledig telynegol, mae hwn yn ddathliad o bawb sy'n byw mewn blociau o fflatiau ac ar stadau. 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. This is a three-week Writing Root for Our Towerby Joseph Coelho and Richard Johnson. The sequence of learning begins with a walk to the local park. Children will be sound collectors and record all the interesting sounds they hear on their way to and in the park. They will go on to analyse the language and word choices used in the text as well as discussing the illustrations. To create their own descriptions and poems, children will use Joseph Coelho’s word choices and phrases to inspire their own writing. They will go on to practise key narrative skills such as creating dialogue, using conjunctions, prepositions and adverbs to build cohesion in their writing. Finally, children use the narrative structure of this poem to create their own fantasy narrative, using a circular planning format. Synopsis of Text: