The Last Words of Albion is an absolutely gorgeous little book giving a whistle-stop tour of Britain throughout the centuries.

It truly is whistle stop as it flies through the eras with practically no depth or detail, but ultimately that is the point. This book isn't to provide an education on the history of the UK, it is to delight and entertain a younger reader and that I believe it does.

The imagery is beautiful, truly stunning. I give massive credit to the illustrator as I found them lovely and have no doubt that they are colourful, vibrant, and rich enough to hold the attention of a younger reader and begin a conversation and pique an interest about the history of the UK and the various periods that have helped shape the country as it is now.

What a beautiful book this is.
It's a book without many words, but it manages to give a very brief yet thorough overview of what humans, in our quest for more, more, more, have done to the planet.
Despite the depictions and descriptions of our impact on our world, it's still a hopeful book and gives a sense that there might be a better, brighter future available to us.
Told in Haiku, and with illustrations that draw (pun intended) the reader in, it's more than a one-time read.
(Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC)

Thank you to Austin Macauley Publishers, the author and NetGalley for a DRC in return for an honest review

I'm not afraid to say when I don't like a book because it is too highbrow for me and I just don't get it or it goes 'over my head'. This is not the case here. Plain and simple I just don't like it. It's not a very good book. I don't know whether it's because it's a review copy and it's not the finished product but the text and pictures were literally just all over the place or the words were practically invisible to the naked eye. I read it on various devices to note the differences, which were stark to say the least! It appeared differently on each one, with no improvement on any. You couldn't even see the front cover.

The blurb for this sounded really good...actually a helluva lot better than the actual book. The Haiku's were not very good either. I just had no idea what was going on or what the author's intentions were.

Sorry but not for me. Pretentious nonsense.

#poetry #NetGalley

This would be a really good classroom book during a Haiku unit or a unit about the UK. The haiku themselves were really well done both individually and as a narrative, and the illustrations' softness matched the vibe of the book really well. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read

The illustrations tie in with the story really well and bring life to the words. This could be a really fun way to introduce children to how poetry can be about anything, including history. I personally don’t enjoy haiku, but this book presented it in an enjoyable way! I would have loved a bit more details or facts about what was being referenced to help put the story in context to the history/world, but even so, this was really delightful.
This book covers human impacts on the environment and the way that innovation needs to follow invention to help counter that harm. Getting to see and hear the changes that happen to one specific spot over the course of time really helps show how human actions can damage the land in the name of progress, but at the same time, how human actions can work towards fixing those problems.

I am not sure about this one. The theme is interesting, but it seems to be too ambitious a them to cover in such a short picture book. Also, as it seems to be written in very simple English, I would imagine this book to be written for maybe KS1 students? If so, I think it will need a lot of preparatory teaching before a KS1 child can understand what this book is about.

I am sorry to only give it 2 stars. The illustration is amazing, but I think the them might just be too big for a short picture book to cover.

Thank you NetGalley and Austin Macauley Publishers for the chance to read and review this.

I requested this book because I thought it might be a cute thing to give to my little cousin or nephew. While the art is lovely and truly a treat for the eyes, the rest of the book is incredibly disjointed and not very good.

A very cute and educational poem. The illustrations are beautiful and so very intricate. A nice read with the kids.

This book takes the reader on a vague journey through time in the UK. Each double-spread has a haiku and full illustrations of the period of time it covers. I'm afraid that I found the whole thing a bit depressing. Everything was viewed negatively and in terms of what damage has been done to the planet. While I wholeheartedly agree that this issue is pressing and cannot be ignored, we are where we are and we need to be looking at what can be done now to reduce the impact of this damage. I also don't think we should ignore the vast progression that this damage is a byproduct of.

Recently I 'read' Stanley Donwood's wordless picture book "Bad Island" (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7199440880) which showed us how humanity can make anything go to hell in a handcart, but showed us in a way that will make absolutely zero change to anything anywhen or anywhere. This book does – and does not do – the very same. It starts with the sylvan hills of fair Albion, then shows how humanity is kind of paving over the whole world and poisoning its air with war and industrial activity, and once again this is not going to create any affect. No, not even being in very traditional and very well-written haikus will help, nor will the competency of the watercoloured illustrations. As clever as either of these fleeting publications can get, their positive benefits will be minuscule. This might make me a liar with its teachers' questions at the end, but all the same.