If I Could Choose a Best Day

If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility  

By Charles Waters and Irene Latham, Illustrated by Olivia Sua 

Candlewick, 2025 

Hardcover: $19.99 

Genre: Poetry, Children’s Books 

Reviewed by Barbara Barcellona Smith 

Irene Latham and Charles Waters are back with another inspiring anthology of children’s poetry with If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, this imaginative collection of thirty-one galvanizing poems motivates children to “imagine the possibilities the gift of if can hold.” Latham and Waters’ anthology eloquently affirms if’s power, “Because if is where our imagination begins. Where the impossible becomes possible – if only we imagine.” 

Through their passion for poetry, Latham and Waters stay committed to creating meaningful books for young readers. They won the 2023 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction for African Town, Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship earned them the prized Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book title, and they earned the National Council of Teachers of English Notable Poetry Book award for Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z. “’Poetic Forever Friends’ first, and collaborators second,” Latham and Waters triumph yet again in If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility, compiling thirty-one portals of possibility for children to open and explore – each encouraging children to discover the potential in their own gifts, dreams, and aspirations. 

In their introduction, Latham and Waters pen the poem “Welcome.” “If you’re reading this, it’s time to unlock the door to Possibility. Trust Yourself – turn the key.” An inviting and exciting challenge to action. In “Opening Windows,” Teresa Owens Smith lets children breathe in the promise each dream can hold if only you “let moonlight dance inside you.” Children unafraid to “search the dark sea of the night sky” can clear their minds, opening windows within themselves.  

The brilliant, tangible, real-life power in the mighty if comes from Rebekah Lowell’s poem, “Time.” Lowell masterfully puts if in real time, teaching children that, given time, one can make sense of it all. She writes, “If you give a tadpole time, it will change into a frog.” Time teaches all if you patiently await life’s natural transformations. Children pedal back in time on Gabi Snyder’s “Blue Bike”, where familial bonds reconnect through memories of time spent together with her grandmother, chatting on her sun-flowered couch while sipping lemonade – summer’s sweet, delectable, delight. Also, Lisa Rogers encourages youngsters to choose loved ones and human connection in “If I Could Choose a Best Day”: 

staying so still  

dragonflies could rest –  

ever so lightly –  

on our fingertips  

“Anything is possible” for children reading the final chapter of this substantive anthology. Latham and Waters, along with poignant art from Olivia Sua and work from 29 other poets, empower children to believe in the great if. For example, “One Stitch” by Renée M. LaTulippe emboldens children to blanket one another in a quilt of kindness, one good deed at a time, while “The Gift of If” by JaNay Brown-Wood liberates children to achieve all that is possible:  

And if means there is no limit  

If means forget before  

If means all is possible  

Because if means the world is yours! 

There are thirty-one magical reasons If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility will empower, embolden, and encourage children to dream big for themselves. Parents and children alike will fall in love with Latham and Waters’ poems of possibilities one if at a time.  

Barbara Barcellona Smith’s award-winning first book, Let’s Eat Snails!, named a Superpower Book for Identity & Culture by Every-Child-a-Reader, shares cultural culinary traditions and teaches the importance of being open-minded.  Barbara enjoys visiting schools, libraries, and bookstores, and loves writing book reviews! She currently lives in Enterprise, Alabama. Visit her website at www.BarbaraBarcellonaSmith.com.