The quiet joy of just being: an interview with poet Zaro Weil

In a fast-paced world dominated by screens, instant information, and amidst a reading for pleasure crisis, Zaro Weil’s nature poetry offers something precious and needed: space to breathe. Her latest poetry collection, I Hear The Trees, the third in an unplanned but unmistakable trilogy, gently invites children to step away from distraction and into a deeper awareness of the natural world, their emotions, and the quiet joy of just being. Charlotte Hacking interviews its author, Zaro Weil, for Books for Keeps.

Though never intended as a trilogy, her three collections – beginning with Cherry Moon, followed by When Poems Fall From the Sky, and now concluding with I Hear the Trees  – emerged organically. ‘It was never planned,’ she admits. ‘But once I started, it was like peeling an onion. There was always another layer, another voice to listen to in nature. This third book feels like the last layer; for now!’

Her relationship with nature isn’t born of science, but of living. The ‘Little Story’ at the back of I Hear The Trees shares her recollection of growing up in a town by the sea – her first encounter with the wonders and magic of the natural world. ‘I didn’t study biology. I didn’t come to this as an expert. I came to it through being. Through standing still and watching. Through joy.’ That simple joy is imbued in every line of her poetry. Her work doesn’t lecture or overwhelm; it gently beckons, encouraging young readers to look, to listen, to imagine.

Rather than presenting the climate crisis with a weight of responsibility on her child readers, she opts for something more enduring: empathy. In this book, she moves from looking at nature from afar to becoming the nature itself in many of the poems. They encourage children to think from the perspective of a ladybug trying to make friends with a small child, or winter, writing a letter to spring. ‘It’s not about ‘saving the planet’ with a burden on your shoulders,’ she says. ‘It’s about understanding that you’re part of something greater. That the worm matters. The wind matters. That you matter, not because of how many likes you get, but because you can feel and think and connect.’

At a time when poetry is often underrepresented on the bookshelf – and children’s poetry even more so – her work has found powerful resonance. Her language is rich and musical, her imagery vivid, yet always playful and accessible. “Some poems come quickly, but most take a long time,” she tells me. ‘Every word must work hard. Every image must be clear. If you lose a child’s attention, that’s it, they’re gone. So the line breaks, the rhythm, even the spacing… It all matters.’

‘The poems are playful, yes, but they’re also honest. They hold joy and sorrow in the same breath.’

After working with children for many years as a teacher and performer, she writes with an innate understanding of her child audience and their emotional intelligence. ‘Children are capable of handling complexity. They feel sadness. They understand nuance. The poems are playful, yes, but they’re also honest. They hold joy and sorrow in the same breath.’ This honesty is one reason these books have found such deep connection with educators and why Cherry Moon was a well-deserved winner of the CLPE Poetry Award, the CLiPPA, in 2020.

Much of the magic of the books also lies in the way the poems have been interpreted in the illustrations, thanks to Junli Song. The collaboration has evolved with each book, with Junli bringing her own interpretation to Weil’s words. ‘Junli takes my ideas and flips them, completely transforms them, in ways I never imagined,’ she reflects. ‘She brings a level of agency and artistic brilliance that adds a whole other layer.” From the mossy greens to the warm earth tones, the artwork isn’t loud or cartoonish. It’s textured, thoughtful, and resonant. ‘Her use of space is genius,’ Weil remarks, with a deep reverence and respect for the artwork, ‘She lets the illustrations breathe, just like the poems.’

This collaboration was something Zaro knew she needed to invest in to make sure the book was the most inviting it could be for its readers. The richness in the publication of Cherry Moon was initially made possible because she funded its publication. ‘I was determined to give Junli the space and scale she needed. I had been a publisher myself for years, and I knew how important it was for the visual side to match the depth of the writing.’ That decision gave the series its visual richness and authenticity, which later found support in the books that followed from Welbeck and, eventually, Hachette. It was integral for her that the partnership continued in all three books.

‘That’s what I want. For a child to hold their breath for a second. To feel something stir.’

Beneath it all – the whimsy, the wordplay, the letters from vegetables to each other – is a serious and heartfelt purpose. Zaro hopes her poems offer children something screens rarely do: a moment to stop. To breathe. To feel the cold wind on their cheeks. To look, really look, at a leaf, a shell, a puddle. ‘That’s what I want. For a child to hold their breath for a second. To feel something stir.’

As society worries about both a climate crisis and a growing children’s mental health crisis, she believes poetry and nature together offer a path toward healing. ‘The screen asks children to always put themselves first: ‘What do they think of me?’, but nature asks us to put something else first. It invites selflessness, quietness, empathy.’

As we come to the end of our time together, she’s hesitant to reveal much about future projects, but whatever comes next, her work already offers a powerful legacy. These books are more than collections of poetry, they are invitations. Invitations to children to think, to wonder, to connect. And in doing so, they offer something else, too: hope. Because in every word, every line, and every illustration, there is joy. And as Zaro reminds us, joy is not a luxury. It is a necessity.

Charlotte Hacking is a teacher, Literacy Consultant and Educational Speaker. She co-authored the book The Balancing Act: An Evidence Based Approach to Teaching Phonics, Reading and Writing, which is currently shortlisted for the UKLA Academic Book Award 2025, alongside Professor Dominic Wyse.

Books mentioned, all by Zaro Weil, illustrated by Junli Song:

I Hear The Trees, Welbeck Children’s Books, 978-1803381541, £12.99 pbk

When Poems Fall From The Sky, Welbeck Children’s Books, ‎ 978-1803380605, £9.99 pbk

Cherry Moon, Welbeck Children’s Books, 978-1803380841, £11.99 pbk