I had heard great things about Steven Camden's novels and poetry so when I saw an opportunity to review Everything All At Once I jumped at the chance so I could be introduced to his work so I can see what I truly thought myself. I was therefore really happy that I enjoyed this novel and hope to read more from Steve Camden in the future.

The book is set over a week centred around different pupils in the school. With this Steve Camden is able to introduce us to a wide cast of characters who all show this expansive shot of the school. It is with that as the reader I was able to immerse myself into the story and feel like I am in the characters shoes which Steve Camden does so well.

I also got the sense that I can see the different groups in school and how they all fit with each other, showing, obviously, what it is like at a real school. It is also fast-paced and fast-moving which I really enjoy in verse novels and I loved this one.

The Verdict:

Everything All At Once is a good book that captures the school in a verse novel. It is a quick read that many will enjoy.

Such an amazing format in which to tell a story. I truly fell in love with the approach and devoured it rather quickly for poetry.

This is a fun and varied collections of poems about one week in a school and really takes you back to your childhood and what it was like when the school bell was the guide of your schedule.

There is a mythical dream tied to writing poetry aimed at young adults, and that is to make poetry cool. Such is the raison d’etre of acclaimed spoken word poet Steven Camden’s second book for young people of the year, Everything All At Once. It’s splashed all over the book: in the shouty cover, in the slang, in the Stormzy references. There must be a powerful pull to the promise of glory that would follow if you were the one who solved, once and for all, that strange equation, defined the inscrutable, ever-shifting property that is cool poetry. If you were to convince a whole target audience, who often only encounter poetry when it seems blunted into some kind of torture device – modern but laid out for dissection in revision materials and examination papers, important but deliberately pulled from the dustiest book on the shelf – that actually, poetry can be relevant and enjoyable.

Set at a busy, mutable comprehensive – the message clearly that it could be any school, anyone’s school – the book presents a cross-section of quickly-sketched characters, from year sevens to school-leavers (“Funny to think / I was ever / that small”). Some names recur. Some figures aren’t named. Many appear, at least identifiably, for only one poem, as in the case of Yusuf, who pretends not to speak French well in order to better fit in, despite his mother being from Toulouse. The work flits from one poem to the next, one perspective to the next, usually in first person.

From the ordinary (“Shauna said that / Leia said that / Jordan said it’s over / He changed his status yesterday / before he even told her”) to the startling (“a gaggle of mad daggering laminate features”), the poems are energetic, rapid-fire, staccato. As it strives to capture the bizarre microcosm that is secondary school society, the language is often mundane and the imagery sometimes vague, but I imagine it sounds great out loud. Hurtling along at a breakneck 128 pages, some of my favourite pieces included “Vending Machine”, “New Guy”, and “Parting Thought”.

The full version of this review appeared on my blog closer to publication

I love stories told through poetry and this collection of poems that make up a week in a secondary school is just wonderful spanning the whole gamut of emotions over the student body. All of the poems are thoughtful and empathetic but I think my favourite is 'Something Starts' as it describes the beginning of reading enjoyment:
'He didn't seem to mind when I told him I didn't read.
He said he never read himself until he found the need.
He handed me a book he said he thought that I should try.
He told me to take my time and read it by July.
He smiled and said 'I'd love to talk to you about it when you're done'
I think I'm going to try and read it later when I'm home.'
The book is deceptively easy to read, several times I didn't feel the emotional punch until a few pages later and I will definitely reread and enjoy again.

A collection of poems sharing the highs and lows of secondary school life. An interesting and engaging read, transporting me back to my school days.

An interesting collection of poems from various different perspectives of a day at school. A fast read that is very enjoyable and I couldn't put it down and think I will read again.

A series of poem's set during a week in a school we meet an array of characters.



It perfectly captures all school situations you go to through from lessons and wishing you weren't there, school toilet states with graffiti, finding a crush to fights and friendship groups tight knit like family. Each poem captures a characters voice perfectly as a teenager experiencing things at school, some for the first time and others again and again. Anyone can relate to these poems!



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

I did not really know what to expect when I requested this. I had not realised it would be a number of separate poems - the format it downloaded in did not make this clear.

So I only enjoyed it to a point. I need to read it again in paperback when it comes out.

A qualified success.

Everything All At Once is a whole book of poems about secondary school life. Each and every poem was pretty much, as expected, relatable. And a lot of it really blew me away.
The poems were vivid and vibrant, accurately encompassing the highs and lows of secondary school. Most of the time, I found myself nodding and thinking, that's exactly what it's like.
This was beautiful. A wonderful approach to a life we can all recognise.

Everything All At Once is a book of poems about life at a secondary school. From the Year 7s to the teachers, different characters and details are focused in on and different perspectives told in the form of short, catchy poems. The pace and vibrancy of the poetry really captures the jostling immediacy of being in secondary school. Gossip is spread, people fall in and out, and life goes on throughout these poems. The style and rhymes make the poems engaging and approachable, but also you could imagine them being compared with older poetry to prove that it isn't necessarily all that different. The book shows that writing and poetry don't have to depict an archaic version of school, but something that feels more recognisable and modern.

Everything All at Once is a collection of poems about all the individual minds in one secondary school and everything that can happen there in a short space of time. Set over just one week, it presents a wide cast of characters and their experiences, from spreading gossip and feeling stupid in class, to hiding in the graffitied toilets and desperately searching for someone to sit with at lunch when your best friend’s off school.

It shows the highs and lows of school experiences and it took me right back to the school corridors. I read a lot of YA, but nothing has transported me back to my school days like this. It conjures up a real sense of place – from the science block toilets, to the lunch line.

I particularly loved the portrayal of the way news travels and how gossip spread throughout the collection:
“Shauna said that
Leia said that
Jordan said it’s over
He changed his status yesterday
before he even told her.”

My only quibble is that some of the social media references felt dated to me – changing your status and writing on someone’s ‘wall’ – but it might just be my interpretation of them.

Steven Camden is a spoken-word poet, who performs as Polarbear. You can get a taste of his work here.

[Review will be posted at the link provided on or around publication date]