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I am delighted to welcome children's author and poet Lorraine Marwood to my blog today. Lorraine's second verse novel for children, Star Jumps has just been released (you can see my review of it here), so I asked Lorraine to drop in and talk about why she chooses to use the verse novel form This is what she had to say:Why use this genre as a way of story telling?Years ago when I finally gave into

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I've never been
to a funeral
until today.

I see
dazzling arrangements of
red, yellow, and purple flowers
with long, green stems.

I see
a stained-glass window with
a white dove,
a yellow sun,
a blue sky.

I see
a gold cross,
standing tall,
shiny,
brilliant.

And I see
black.

Black dresses.
Black pants.
Black shoes.
Black bibles.

Black is my favorite color.
Jackson asked me about it one time.

"Ava, why don't you like pink?
Or yellow?
Or blue?"

"I love black," I said.
"It suits me."

"I suit you," he said.

And then he kissed me.

I'm not so sure
I love black
anymore.

So begins the verse novel I Heart You, You Haunt Me Lisa Schroeder

Ava's boyfriend Jackson is dead and Ava feels responsible, she's haunted by his death. Then, she's haunted by his ghost. It's hard to move on when he's right there, just out of sight, but leaving messages on the bathroom mirror and turning on the radio to your song.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I would have loved it at the age of 13 and mostly, I enjoyed reading it. However, I had issues with Ava and Jackson's relationship. It was very Bella-and-Edward. I mean, Ava finally gets out of the house and hangs out with her friends and Jackson's ghost totally trashes her room. He did the same sort of stuff when he was alive and Ava loves him for it. Ew.

And then there's my whole wishy-washy-ness on verse novels in the first place. There wasn't a lot of actual poetry in this, more terse prose with odd line breaks. That said though, it worked. The terseness, the brevity, the odd line breaks, all worked for Ava's voice as she tries to deal with what's going on.

So, would I give this to an adult friend who reads a lot of YA? No.
Would I give it to a junior high girl who lives romance? In a heartbeat.

Today's Poetry Friday roundup is hosted at Live.Love.Explore. Go enjoy!

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The first review for my verse novel, Pearl Verses the World is online, here. Among other things the reviewer describes the story as "a wonderfully told story with heart".I'm ecstatic.Pearl will be released on May 1 - watch this space for a month of celebrations including a blog tour, guest bloggers, a verse-off and more. In the meantime, Pearl can be ordered online at Fishpond

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This April, the readergirlz invite you to take part in the second annual Operation Teen Book Drop.. Scroll down to Operation TBD for more info!

This month's readergirlz book pick is Impulse, a verse novel by Ellen Hopkins.

Download this month's poster (PDF) to help spread the word about both Operation TBD and Impulse. Put the poster up at your library, your school, or your favorite bookstore. Perhaps you'll start your own readergirlz book club there. If so, tell us all about it!

To discuss the book with other readers and with the author herself, join us at the readergirlz blog, where we'll be discussing the book all month long and have new blog posts almost every day!

Chat live with Ellen Hopkins at the readergirlz blog on Wednesday, April 22nd. The chat will begin at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST and last for about an hour.

Operation TBD

Help rgz raise awareness of Support Teen Literature Day with YALSA by participating in Operation Teen Book Drop (TBD '09). Download a bookplate, paste it in the book of your choice, and drop it somewhere in your community on Thursday, April 16th. This is the same day that rgz, GuysLitWire, and YALSA are dropping 8,000 books to hospitalized teens across the country, thanks to the generosity of various publishers and supporters.

Then, that night, join the Post-Op Party at the readergirlz blog, 6 PM PST/9 PM EST. It will be a live chat with authors and readers from around the world. Anyone may join in!

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It's the last day of March, and so time for another of my monthly updates.Lots has happened in my writing life in March, with things moving along on three of my forthcoming books. I feel more and more like a 'real' author every day.At the start of the month I was featured in Susan Stephenson's column at Muselings, an ezine for writers. Susan is an Australian based reviewer of books and passionate

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It's Friday evening and the rain from Hanna has started. The DC area is under a tropical storm warning tomorrow, which is an unknown entity to me. I can handle tornado warnings and blizzard warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings, but... tropical storms? I'm thinking severe thunderstorm + tornado x 2? Maybe? Luckily, I live with a hurricane expert and he doesn't seem worried (although there is a gallon of water in my car because I have to go to work tomorrow. Hmmmm...)

Dear internets, I'll be fine. I'm just typing out loud here.

Anyway... here is my Poetry Friday entry.

Ringside, 1925: Views from the Scopes Trial Jen Bryant

This is a novel in verse about the Scopes Monkey/Evolution trial. It has 9 narrators--mostly townspeople, plus a few observers. Each character has their own poetic voice and style. Even though, like many poetry novels, I'm wondering if deleting the line breaks would have made such a difference.

It's broken into several sections, each one starting with quotations from people involved in the trial. There is a epilogue explaining what happened with the historical personages, as well as the current issues with teaching evolution in our science classes. There is also a short author's note explaining why she did certain things (such as reporting styles and the use of the words colored and Negro). The book has a definite pro-evolution slant to it. The anti-evolution characters are shown as a little crazy and, often hypocritical. Or taking the stance for a reason that has nothing to do with the issues at hand.

Bryant's account of the trial is one where Scopes was really just arrested because the town elders wanted the media circus that would inevitably surround such a trial in an effort to increase tourism to Dayton. The best voices are those of the children--3 high school students and one African-American boy and how the trial changes them. Often, it's not so much about evolution, but just the contact with the so many new faces and ideas gets them thinking in new ways about their futures.

Full disclosure: Book provided by author.

Round up is at Wild Rose Reader. Check it out!

Hanna update: Dan just tied a flashlight to my belt, in case we lose power. He's placing other ones through out the house in strategic locations. We are nothing if not prepared.

Also, Storm Naming People? Hanna should have an H on it. I know this because in 2nd grade, I had to read a story called "Hannah is a Palindrome" in which the teacher wrote that on the board, and then got called down to the office, and so all the other kids started making fun of Hannah. The mean kids were led by a boy named Otto. Then Hannah looked up palindrome in the dictionary and wrote "Otto is a palindrome" on the board which shut him up right quick. And then the teacher came back and was really proud of her because it turns out she was about to write that before getting called away. And, in order for Hannah to be a palindrome? It needs 2 H's.

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The readergirlz book selection for April 2008 is Shark Girl, a verse novel by Kelly Bingham about a young woman whose life changes after she loses an arm. Little Willow, Miss Erin, and Lorie Ann Grover gathered around a virtual roundtable to discuss the book.

Little Willow: I'm fond of saying that Shark Girl is 95% verse novel but 100% heart.

Miss Erin: When I finished reading it, I felt that the story wouldn't have been as good if it'd been told using prose. For certain "tough subjects," verse novels seem to make the story feel starker, more real, more close somehow. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Lorie Ann Grover: Verse is the perfect format to carry intense emotion about hard subjects. Shark Girl definitely deals with these. Verse allows readers to jump in and out of the poems. We have a chance to consider and recover and move forward. It's not as daunting as, say, an entire prose chapter on amputation.

LW: Lorie Ann, you've written multiple verse novels. For you, what's the most difficult part of the writing process? The easiest?

Lorie Ann: I'm actually writing in both prose and verse now, and I don't find either is easier or harder to write. What I do find is each has its own
benefits. Prose carries far more details; verse provides the punch because of its visual impact and structure. I love them both! The work in verse is to pare down to the essentials. The work in prose is to tell enough to create a real sense of place. I guess those are my goals.

LW: I write poetry from time to time, but more often, they are lyrics. I write songs, and they tend to appear complete with lyrics, melodies, and harmonies, all at once.

Erin: I write poems - free verse, mostly. I'd love to write a novel in verse one day.

LW: Write it, Erin!

Lorie Ann: Jumping in here. I don't write much stand alone poetry anymore. I just have so many novels I'm rewriting! Although standalone poems will eek out of me into board books. I love the format so much.

Erin: I adore verse novels. My favorites are Make Lemonade by Virginia Wolff and Loose Threads and On Pointe by Lorie Ann Grover. My favorite poet is Emily Dickinson. I have a book of her complete poetry collection.

LW: Emily is my favorite poet as well.

Erin: What's your favorite poem by Emily?

LW: I have always favored one of her most famous pieces, #288 - I'm Nobody! Who are you? I discovered #953 - A Door just opened on a street just a few years ago and like that quite a lot as well.

Erin: It changes all the time for me, but at the moment I really love poem #704.

LW: My favorite poem/passage from Shark Girl is this:

Their heads lean toward each other.
Their whispers reach my ears.
The two girls over there
fingering their notebooks,
staring.

If they would lift their tinted eyelashes
they would notice I'm staring back.
But they don't.
So I turn in my chair,
placing my shoulder out of their sight.

Erin: Here's one of my favorite passages:

You know the part in Cinderella
when everyone goes to the ball
and she sits at home, crying?
It wasn't because her gown was ripped.
It was because she knew
she was an idiot
for thinking
she could grab a prince.

Lorie Ann: I love Ghost, printed in light gray before the book begins. Here's the last portion:

Sometimes
a prickle crawls across my cheek,
and that right hand tries to
rise from the grave,
moved to scratch.
The fingers, palm.
wrist, and arm
that I remember,
don't know enough
to know
peace.

Erin: Oh yes, that one gives me chills!

LW: After Jane loses her arm, she has to learn how to write and draw with her other hand.

Erin: I was rooting so hard for her! I knew that she could get back to it. Her determination and bravery was inspiring.

Lorie Ann: It was a huge undertaking but so important for her soul and felt purpose. I loved the support she received from family and friends to just try.

LW: Does this book make you reluctant to swim in the ocean?

Erin: Not really. I guess I don't want fear of something that may never happen to keep me from enjoying something as amazing and wonderful as the ocean. What is meant to be will be.

Lorie Ann: Yes! But JAWS did that back in the seventies, I guess. Growing up in Miami, sharks were always on our mind. Sections of beaches get closed because of shark sightings in shallow water. (Lorie Ann shivers) It's a reality. I always think about it when I go in. And then the gators are in the fresh water. We used to swim in a sulphur pond with the gators. We got out whenever they came to our side of the pond. Water equals predators (sharks, gators, water mocassins, man o'war jellyfish, eels. Maybe that's why I love the Pacific Northwest beaches. You hardly ever go in.

LW: Don't tell Maureen Johnson about the jellyfish! My favorite sea creatures are otters. When I was a kid, I had a friend who loved sharks almost as much as she loved cats. What are your general feelings about sharks?

Erin: As long as I'm seeing them behind glass, I'm okay with them!

Lorie Ann: Scary, scary beasties that freak me out! Was I happy when my daughter fed the sharks by walking on a plank with no rails above the middle of their huge tank? She dropped chunks of fish to them? (She was job shadowing Marine Biologists.) Yikes! Although, most of my nightmares have orcas in them...

LW: Sadly, there are people who judge others based on their appearance. Have you ever felt as if you were judged on your looks, or on your abilities or disabilities?

Erin: Well, as an actor, I am constantly being judged by my abilities. It's tough, when I don't get a role, not to take it personally sometimes.

Lorie Ann: I'm usually quickly judged on my height. I'm perceived as haughty rather than shy.

LW: Any closing thoughts?

Lorie Ann: Thanks, Kelly, for writing a book to encourage readers to redefine themselves after life changing events. Thanks for inspiring us!

"Big picture, Jane," he says.
"You could have died.
Instead, you are here. You have time to find out why.
You have your whole life to discover
and rebuild."

Drop by the readergirlz forum to talk about this book with the author throughout the month of April. There will be a live chat with Kelly Bingham on Thursday, April 24th at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST at the forum.

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When poppies first
push themselves
out of the ground
they look like a weed --
hairy, grayish, saw-toothed foliage --
easily a member of the ugly family.

When I push
sounds from my mouth
it's not elegant either.
I wrestle to wrap
my lips
around syllables,
struggle with my tongue
to press the right ponts.

When poppies bloom
the same red
as a Chinese wedding dress --
satiny cups with ruffled edges,
purplish black eyes --
they're a prize for patience,
and if I take all that trouble
to say something,
I promise
to try
to make it worth
the wait too.

~from Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

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Last night, I read Lisa's new YA novel, I Heart You, You Haunt Me.

Because it is a verse novel, it goes extremely quickly, which is bound to make this book a success with today's busy teens. (S, who grabbed it from me as soon as I was done, is taking honors classes in history and English, which means a whole crapload of reading all the time, so her recreational reading is way down. As in, she hasn't started Libba Bray's new book, even though she love-love-loves the first two, owing to time constraints. But a verse novel with all of its welcoming white space is something she feels "up to" right now.)

Before I say anything review-wise, I should point out that I've met Lisa in real life, not just on the interweb, and that I really, truly like her and consider her a friend. So, really, I was predisposed to want to like this book. But I can honestly say that I'd have liked it anyhow, even if I'd never heard of Lisa Schroeder, because the voice was great and the story was good. My knowing and liking Lisa already probably makes me like this book even more, but I'd have liked it anyway, if you see what I mean.

The main character, Ava, begins the book at the funeral of her boyfriend, Jackson. It takes a while until we figure out how Jackson died, but it's clear from the beginning that Ava blames herself for his death. Anything to do with what Jackson was like or how their relationship was is well-handled through flashbacks. And just as we sort out a bit about who he was and who they were together, we meet Jackson's spirit, who is keeping Ava company. Whether his company remains welcome is a separate issue, as is Jackson's reason for being there.

This book will make you think about first love and first loss and interconnectedness and grief and redemption without ever telling you what to think about any of it. And Ava's parents are the lovely, helpful sort of parents that all of us hope our children will see, although sometimes our kids don't see it the same way. As an adult reader, I really enjoyed that about it. As a teen reader, I can imagine being swoonily in love with this book and it's romantic story. For serious.

My favorite part? I'm not saying what it is, 'cause that would be all spoiler-ish and I'm not going there. And if you have the book but haven't yet read it, do not skip ahead. Seriously. But if you've read the book already, or after you read the book, tell me whether page 203 gave you goosebumps and made you cry, all at the same time. Because I sure did. Which isn't to say that the rest of the chapter-poems aren't good; just that page 203 is killer.

Brava, Lisa! I heart you and your book. Folks who don't yet own it may want to order a signed copy from Powell's. It's only $7.99 (plus shipping). And if you've got a teen girl around, this book will make a spectacular Valentine's Day present.

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