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Moo. Sharon Creech. 2016. 288 pages. [Source: Library book]
First sentence: The truth is, she was ornery and stubborn, wouldn't listen to anybody, and selfish beyond selfish, and filthy, caked with mud and dust, and moody: you'd better watch it or she'd knock you flat.
Premise/plot: When their parents decide to move from the big city to a small town in Maine, Reena and Luke have big adjustments to make. For better or worse, their mom volunteers them to help out a prickly neighbor, Mrs. Falala. At first this means bringing her library books. Then it means taking care of her cow, ZORA. Reena ends up agreeing, somehow, to SHOW the cow at a fair. The book is written--for the most part--in verse.
My thoughts: This book had some potential, in my opinion. But for me, it was "ruined," by the blank verse. I don't mind verse novels if the verse is spectacular and it makes sense for it to be written in verse instead of prose. There are some authors who have mastered this: they have a way with words, with phrases, with building images. What they write is lyrical and deserves the title of poetry. This was just prose masquerading as poetry.
If it had been prose, I think I would have connected more with the characters and the story. I did like the idea of liking this one. Essentially it is the story of two children struggle to connect with an ornery and "mean" neighbor lady, slowly but surely coming to like and respect her. And the two do have to learn a LOT about farm life and taking care of cows. And by working hard and working towards a goal, they do end up growing and stretching as characters.
© 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Saving Red. Sonya Sones. 2016. HarperTeen. 448 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: Why Am I Out Here/ In the middle of the freaking night/ wandering the streets of Santa Monica/ looking for homeless people/ when I could be lying in bed/ watching videos of babies eating lemons/ and soldiers reuniting with their dogs?/ Because I need four more hours/ of community service this semester./ That's why./ And/ I need them/ by tomorrow morning.
Premise/plot: Molly narrates this newest verse novel by Sonya Sones. If you've read Sonya Sones' past books, chances are you'll need no persuading. (Anytime I see she has a new book coming out, I admit I squeal a little.) What is this one about? In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Molly makes it her project to reunite her new friend, her homeless friend, her zany yet troubled friend, Red, with her family by the holidays. In the process, she falls in love (well, at least in LIKE), worries her family a bit (to be fair, she spends equal amounts of time worrying about them), and comes close to losing her best friend in the whole world--her dog Pixel.
My thoughts: In a way, you could classify this as a "problem" novel about mental health or about America's homeless situation. But it's so much more than that! This is one emotional roller coaster that feels genuine and authentic perhaps not from page one but close to it!!! Red is not predictable, and, Molly has her own (secret) internal struggles. I felt this one was realistic, for the most part, and the holiday setting was a nice touch for me!
I would definitely recommend this one!
© 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
The saga of the Donner Party is fascinating to me, perhaps because I am a native Californian. More likely because, as an adult, I read Nathan Hale's excellent graphic novel recounting this story of survival, Donner Dinner Party. Despite the witty title, Hale handles the gruesome events with tact and respect for his young audience. He also shares so many facts that I had not known before, like the fact that George Donner murdered a man in anger during the journey and that one young member of the party actually died from overeating just after being rescued. While Hale's graphic novel is packed with facts, in To Stay Alive, Skila Brown masterfully uses the verse novel format to explore this story from the perspective of Mary Ann Graves, who was nineteen when the novels begins.
The second oldest child in a family of nine, Mary Ann and her family leave Lacon, Illinois with three horses, twenty head of cattle, eighteen oxen and three wagons. There are thirteen in the Graves party, including Jay Fosdick, oldest child Sarah's husband, and John Snyder, a hired hand who is stabbed to death by an irate George Donner before the snows even set in. While Hale, with an omniscient narrator, is able to share all aspects of the Donner Party, their struggles and outcomes, Brown's book gives us only Mary Ann's experience with an author's note at the end recounting the fates of the others. In doing this, Brown is able to have Mary Ann comment on the experience of being a woman in 1846. While expected to work as hard as the men, especially because she is not a child, her opinion means nothing, she has no say. In the poem, "In the Canyon," after the men have made the ill-fated choice to take Hasting's Cutoff, promised to be a well traveled shortcut, but really a forest, Mary Ann thinks,
Each time I push on a rock, I think
that these men in our camp
cannot admit when they're wrong.
Each time I snap off a limb, I think
that those men at the fort
did not know a shortcut, had us make one instead.
Each time I pick up a load of brush that scratches my face, I think
how much easier it will be for those who come
next year, now that we've made a path.
Divided by the four seasons with Winter being the longest section, To Stay Alive is completely gripping, but also hard to read if you are familiar with the history of the Donner Party. However, Mary Ann's strength of character and intelligence, as portrayed by Brown, kept me reading throughout the bleak and startling poems, many of which combine form and words in dynamic ways that allow you to feel the extreme jostling of riding in the wagon or the rush and flow of the Humboldt River or the intense pain of the cold and the blinding white of the snow. Fabric, sewing and specifically quilting was a theme in To Stay Alive that I felt was especially powerful. In fact, the first poem of the novel is, "New Dress" where Mary Ann describes her newly made travel dress,
thick and crisp and green,
white buttons in a line,
a bright stiff collar, perched high.
It's a dress for adventure,
a dress ready for
whatever it will face.
Strongly stitched, unspoiled, new,
well made.
It is meant to endure.
By the end of the novel, this enduring new dress is much like Mary Ann herself, stained from the blood of the Graves' last heads of cattle they slaughtered for food, stained from the blood of a deer she and William Eddy killed while trying to make their way over the mountain pass. Mary Ann notes that fabric of her green dress is, "stiff again - / not from newness, but from / something else, something that won't let it bend," as she tears strips of it off with her teeth, using it to bind and protect her feet, which are bleeding and aching after thirty-two days trying to make it to Sutter's Fort. She recoils "at the stench of her dress." Over the course of their journey, Mary Ann had been sewing a quilt. She leaves the finished quilt behind at Truckee Lake when she joins the party that will leave camp and ultimately find help. It is this same quilt that her youngest brother is wrapped in, buried in the mountains, in their Mother's arms. In Brown's version of Graves's story, Mary Ann spends her four months of recovery at Sutter's Fort sewing a new quilt, one made from the gray remnants of her clothing.
It is a field of gray,
a wall or worn-out worry,
patches and patches
of sewn-together sorrow.
But that is only the background.
on top of there is a rainbow of life,
a tapestry of creatures,
a forest of hope,
for I used brightly colored threads.
To Stay Alive is a powerfully told story of survival, made even more so by Brown's crafting of the poems that make up this novel. I look forward to the next subject that she chooses to turn her poetic sights to.
Source: Review Copy
By:
Becky Laney,
on 10/29/2016
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You Can Fly. Carole Boston Weatherford. 2016. 96 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: No matter that there are only 130/ licensed black pilots in the whole nation. Your goal of being a pilot cannot be grounded/ by top brass claiming blacks are not fit to fly./ Your vision of planes cannot be/ blocked by clouds of doubt./ The engine of your ambition will not brake/ for walls of injustice--no matter how high.
Premise/plot: You Can Fly is a collection of poems--all written in second person, to you--about the Tuskegee Airmen. Readers can potentially learn a lot about flying and airplanes, the second world war, and race relations in the 1940s.
The perspective is unusual. But it oddly works for me.
You are in Class 42-C under all white command./ Your first lesson: to "Yes, sir!"/ and "Sir, no sir!" your officers.
The poems are still able to communicate a lot of details: names, places, dates, statistics, etc. Yet the poems are not dry and boring.
You love Hershey's bars,/ but letters from home are sweeter./ Hearing your name during mail call/ is like being lifted by a prayer.
My thoughts: I really enjoyed this one. I spent several years editing interviews for the Women Airforce Service Pilots. So while there are definite differences--big differences--between the two groups, it did give me an understanding or appreciation for training and flying at that time. My love of World War II is what led me to this one, not specifically the poetry. But the poetry is lovely I have to say!
It is a short, compelling read. It made me wish that MORE history subjects were covered through poetry. (Though not just any poetry would do, I suppose!)
I love the fact that it is just eighty pages. I do. In school, when I was on the younger side, when assigned to read a "nonfiction" book to give a report, I always looked for the SHORTEST book no matter the subject.
© 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
To Stay Alive. Skila Brown. 2016. Candlewick. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: It is finished.
Premise/plot: I've got two sets of 'two words' that will either compel you to pick this one up or to avoid it. For better or worse. First: DONNER PARTY. Second: VERSE NOVEL.
Mary Ann Graves is the narrator of this historical verse novel. She was nineteen at the start of the journey in the spring of 1846. This one is divided into seasons: spring, summer, fall, winter. Almost all of the poems involve the traveling west and surviving aspect of the pioneer spirit. The landscape and environment do feature in quite a bit. Especially the SNOW.
What this book is not is Little House On the Prairie. This isn't even THE LONG WINTER. People do have tendencies to group books together. That is why I think it is important that DONNER PARTY leap out at you first before you hear of wagon trains, prairies, pioneers, homesteaders, or going west.
My thoughts: There is a bareness to the poems that oddly enough works for me. The narrator does not wear her heart on her sleeve. She's not overly dramatic and sensitive. She doesn't speak of her dreams and feelings and there is absolutely no gushing. (She's no Ann-with-an-e Shirley.)
When I say the poems avoid gushing, I don't mean they are void of description and detail.
The men think they're/ following a trail, a road/ well marked by wheels/ and feet, like a street,/ pointing you/ in the direction you need/ to go. But I know./ We follow a trail of broken things/ tossed from wagons--family heirlooms/ so heavy with memories/ the oxen couldn't pull--/ quilts, spinning wheels, dishes (too much/ dust to see the pattern), wooden bits,/ once part of something rich,/ portraits of great-grandmothers/ who'll spend eternity in the desert,/ watching beasts pull treasures/ while dirty people trail behind.
Some poems are long, descriptive. Others are very short and bare.
this land/ has eaten/ my feet/ chewed them/ ripped them/ cut them/ they bleed/ into land/ that drinks/ them up/ but it is never full
I am so glad I did not read anything about the Donner party as a child when I was obsessed with Laura Ingalls!!!
© 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Another Day as Emily. Eileen Spinelli. 2014. Random House. 240 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: Mrs. Harden nearly died today.
Premise/plot: Suzy, the heroine, becomes jealous of her younger brother, Parker, when he saves Mrs. Harden's life by calling 911 and becoming the town's "little hero." The situation continues perhaps because Suzy's mom can't resist supporting, encouraging, enabling the hero-complex--cape and all. Suzy's friend, Alison, is good for her, for the most part. But Alison doesn't love to read, and, doesn't really enjoy going to the library for tween-time. Suzy, likewise, doesn't really want to be an actor and audition for a play--but she does anyway. So--perhaps unrealistically--the library's tween program meets weekly (or even several times a week?) and has a theme of the 1800s. This library program has homework too. And not even reading club type homework--reading and discussing the same book. Suzy's project is Emily Dickinson. And in light of failure--as she sees it, she did not get a part in the play--she decides to become a recluse for the summer. She only wants to be called Emily; she only wants to dress in white; she will no longer do technology. This phase is worrying to her parents and friends. Will Suzy ever want to be Suzy again?
My thoughts: Out of all the elements in this one, I think I like her friendship with Gilbert best. Though that isn't quite fair. I also like Mrs. Harden very much. This verse novel is a quick read. Suzy's emotions are up, down, and all over the place. She just doesn't feel comfortable in her own skin most of the time. That part is certainly easy to relate to, I think, for readers of the right age. I don't necessarily "like" verse novels. But at least verse novels are quick reads.
© 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
I love verse novels and, with every review I write of one I search for the perfect analogy to describe the experience of reading one and continue to fall short, but will try one more time. This summer, my older son and I became obsessed with green tea mochi. These sweet, fragrantly floral little treats can be eaten in two (or even one) bites and pack immense but delicate flavor, leaving you feeling like you have eaten a much bigger desert. Reading a verse novel, I am always amazed at the ability of an author to tell a richly vivid story with deftly drawn characters and an engaging chain of events with less than half the words used in a traditional novel. I can read a verse novel in one or two bites - I mean one or two sittings - and come away feeling like I have eaten, I mean read, a larger, longer, bigger work.
MOO by Sharon Creech is the fourth verse novel I have reviewed by this multiple award winning author and possibly my favorite. In each of her verse novels, which often uses concrete poems to emphasize an emotion or experience of one of the characters, Creech's characters deal with losses and MOO is no different. Twelve-year-old Reena and her seven-year-old brother Luke are uprooted when their parents, in the wake of a job loss, decide to move from New York City to a small town in Maine. When their mother, a reporter who has made a career of talking to strangers, volunteers the two to help out their new neighbor, it seems like she has made a huge mistake. Their elderly neighbor Mrs. Falala is strange. She has a long grey braid, a curious collection of animals (including a snake named Edna) and a curt manner that scares Luke the first time they meet at her house on Twitch Street.
While afternoons with Mrs. Falala are dark, the siblings enjoy the freedom of living in a small town, riding their bikes and watching the cows on the nearby dairy farm where they befriend Beat and Zep, two teens who work on the farm and educate them about the belted Galloway cows there. Soon, Reena is finding her way around Mrs. Falala's menagerie, including Zora, a formerly prize winning belted Galloway with a bad attitude as big as she is. Zep and Beat give Reena tips on how to win over Zora and prepare her to be shown at the fair while Luke seems to be winning over Mrs. Falala by teaching her to draw.
A happy day for Reena and Luke ends with sadness, but a silver lining emerges. The passage at the end of MOO where the children walk through Mrs. Falala's home, discovering a hallway filled with her drawings, showing her progression as an artist, will stay with me always. Once again, Creech has written a novel that is filled with emotions and experiences, ups and downs, that are unexpectedly marvelous. Who would have thought that a novel that beings with an ornery, slobbering, filthy cow named Zora would lead to such a beautiful, memorable story?
Verse Novels by Sharon Creech
Source: Review Copy
By:
Becky Laney,
on 3/17/2016
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Little Cat's Luck. Marion Dane Bauer. Illustrated by Jennifer A. Bell. 2016. Simon & Schuster. 224 pages. [Source: Library]
Did I enjoy reading Marion Dane Bauer's Little Cat's Luck? Yes, I did! What should you know about the book? I'd recommend it to elementary-aged readers who love animals, who love cats especially. It is also a verse novel. One of those verse novels why you're not really quite sure why it's written in verse instead of prose. Personally, prose or verse doesn't really matter in this particular story because I really like cats.
Patches, our heroine, tumbles through a window screen to begin her adventure in the wider world. She's uneasy for the first few chapters, and, readers may be just as puzzled as she is as to why. I guessed a little bit ahead of the big reveal. But it's not something that I guessed from chapter one!
Essentially, Patches is a cat on a mission: find a cozy, just-right place that is out-of-the-way and dark and a bit quiet. She finds her SPECIAL PLACE, but, it isn't without risk. For her special place isn't really *hers* to have. It is a dog house. But this dog house belongs to the so-called meanest dog in town. The super-smelly dog that barks constantly--if he's awake--the one that every person seems to know as *that dog.* His name is Gus. And Gus and Patches will have a lot to say to one another....
I liked this one very much. And for those who are hesitant about animal books because they worry that the animal on the cover will die, don't worry about picking this one up and getting properly attached to the characters.
© 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
American Ace. Marilyn Nelson. 2016. 128 pages. [Source: Library]
American Ace is a verse novel about a "white" (Italian/Italian-American) family learning a secret, unraveling a decades-old mystery, and in the process learning more about history (specifically World War II and the role of the Tuskegee Airmen) and themselves. The secret is revealed by Connor's father on the anniversary of the death of his mother--Connor's grandmother. Connor's grandfather wasn't his biological grandfather.
Connor's grandfather is a mystery to be unraveled. They have a ring (with a year and initials); they have pilot's wings; they have a nickname, "Ace." During this research process--some time spent at the library--they learn two things: he attended a Historically Black College and University, and, that he was a Tuskegee Airmen. In other words, their "white" family has some African-American genes mixed in. The book is about the family processing this information--as individuals, as a whole family.
The book is contemporary. Connor is your "typical" teenager excited about getting his driver's license, interested in girls and dating, having a fair amount of family issues to sort through. The family issues in this book are the family's secret and what it may mean, and, his father's health--physical and emotional.
The last section (or possibly last two sections?) of the book focus almost exclusively on the Tuskagee airmen, and on packing as much information as possible into the poems of this verse novel. You might say it is a bit fact-heavy at the end. But I personally didn't mind these details.
I struggled with this one. I struggled with the narrative voice. I struggled with connecting with the characters. It isn't that I didn't like them or that I actively disliked them. The characterization just didn't work for me personally. The characters didn't feel fleshed-out and living to me. I struggled with the fact that it is a verse novel. Perhaps the form of this one kept me from really connecting with the characters like I feel I should have in theory? There was just too much disconnect for me to really care about the book.
© 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
By:
Becky Laney,
on 10/26/2015
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Enchanted Air. Margarita Engle. Illustrated by Edel Rodriguez. 2015. Simon & Schuster. 208 pages. [Source: Library]
Did I enjoy Margarita Engle's Enchanted Air? A thousand times yes! I don't remember when I first discovered Engle's verse novels, I just remember it was love at first sight from the first book on. Every novel of hers which I've read, I've ended up absolutely loving. I really should treat myself to rereading all of her novels.
Enchanted Air is the author's memoir of her first fourteen years. It is all in verse; wonderful, glorious verse as only she can write. She writes of her travels back and forth from the United States and Cuba. (In addition to writing about other family travels, vacations, if you will.) She writes of various moves within the U.S, all in California, I believe. She writes of summer days and school days. Of belonging, wanting to belong, needing to belong. Of uncertainty, confusion, and on the opposite extreme: JOY. Joy of knowing, of discovering, of loving, of living, of just being. The focus is on herself and on her family. She grew up during the "Cold War." And she shares with readers her experiences; how upsetting and confusing it could be to grow up Cuban American at a time when Cuba was very much THE ENEMY. She also writes about her love of reading, writing, and storytelling.
From "Learning" (p. 134)
At home, I scribble tiny poems
all over the walls of my room.
Inside those miniature verses,
I feel safe, as if I am a turtle,
and the words
are my shell.
"More and More Stories" (p. 82
I find it hard to believe
that I am surviving
a whole summer
without a library
for finding
the familiar
old magic
of books.
But storytelling seems
like magic too--a new form
that is also
ancient
at the same time.
Will I ever be brave enough
to tell old-new tales
in my own way?
From "Refuge" (p. 54)
When I climb a tree, I take a book with me.
When I walk from school, I carry
my own poems, inside my mind,
where no one else
can reach the words
that are entirely
completely
forever
mine.
© 2015 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
By:
Becky Laney,
on 10/11/2015
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The Crossover. Kwame Alexander. 2014. HMH. 240 pages. [Source: Library]
First, I owe this book an apology. I've been purposefully avoiding it, despite it winning a Newbery, simply because it was about basketball. You see, I don't necessarily "like" reading sports books. I wasn't trusting enough, perhaps, that a book could be about basketball and so much more than basketball at the same time.
The Crossover is an award-winning verse novel starring Josh Bell (aka, Filthy McNasty) and his family. Josh and his brother Jordan (aka, JB) both play basketball. Their father, at one time, played professional basketball. But an injury ended all that, and now his focus, his full-time focus, is on his boys, his family. Their mother's almost full-time focus is on the health of her husband who absolutely refuses to go to the doctor. Though, of course, she loves watching her sons play basketball too.
The novel has its ups and downs...especially for Josh. Things are changing, always changing, and he doesn't like it. His brother is distancing himself from the family, from him, and even from the game itself at times, because he's head over heels in love with 'the new girl.' The more besotted his brother becomes, the more disgruntled Josh becomes. And Josh's choices, well, they aren't perfectly good and right. (Whose are?) Still, the two brothers will be tested as never before when their mother's fears prove correct...
I wasn't expecting such an emotional journey. But that's exactly what I got. This one has depth and substance to it. The characterization was very well done. And the narrative verse worked really well.
© 2015 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
I read Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton almost from cover to cover and I still have a lump in my throat as I write this review. In the character of Mimi Yoshiko Oliver, not only has Hilton has created a twelve-year-old girl with an authentic voice, but, by making her a multicultural (Japanese and African American) girl with dreams of being an astronaut in a small, patriarchal Vermont town
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on 5/25/2015
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Meet Kathryn Apel, author of On Track (UQP) Thanks for talking to Boomerang Books, Kathryn. Where are you based? I’m based in Queensland – most often in the Gladstone/Bundaberg Region. What’s your background in books? I haven’t always been a writer – but I’ve always been a reader! As a teacher, books have always been an […]
By: Tanya,
on 4/22/2015
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Winner of the National Book Award, the Newbery Honor Medal (her third) and the Coretta Scott King Award for Authors, brown girl dreaming is worth every medal and more. Like the Newbery Medal winner this year, Kwame Alexander's Crossover, Woodson's book is a verse novel - two verse novels wining ALA awards in the same year! While Jacqueline Woodson's memoir in verse, brown girl dreaming, is
I am embarrassed to admit that I had The Crossover by Kwame Alexander sitting on my bookshelf for almost a year before it won the Newbery Award this year. I read the blurb about basketball phenom Josh Bell and his twin brother Jordan and couldn't get excited, even though I LOVE verse novels and am continually amazed by them. It's just that I have zero interest in sports and sports stories.
Audacity. Melanie Crowder. 2015. Penguin. 400 pages. [Source: Review copy]
I loved Melanie Crowder's Audacity. It was a fascinating read focusing on the life and work of Clara Lemlich. It would pair well with Margaret Peterson Haddix's
Uprising and Katherine Paterson's
Bread and Roses, Too. Also Margarita Engle's
The Lightning Dreamer and Andrea Davis Pinkney's
The Red Pencil.
What did I love most about Audacity? I loved, loved, loved Clara herself. I loved her strength, her determination, her ambition, her loyalty, her persistence. Whether in Russia or America, Clara dreamed of one thing above all others: getting an education and making something of herself. She wanted to be able to read and write. She wanted to be able to think and form her own opinions and express them. She was raised in an environment, a community, where education was ONLY for men, the message that was reinforced over and over again (not specifically by her parents, but by the community) was that equated a woman going to school and learning with a prostitute. An educated woman brought shame to her family. It wasn't just that it was pushed aside or made a low priority. It was discouraged and forbidden. Clara wanted a voice of her own, and she wanted to be heard. There were many intense places in Audacity. Some within the Russia setting. Some within America. Some within her own home. Some outside the home. Audacity isn't a light-hearted read.
The novel opens with Clara and her family in Russia at the turn of the twentieth century. After facing persecution--the Jewish community within Russia facing brutal persecution--her family emigrated to America. The focus remains on Clara: her dreams and her reality. For example, while her father and brothers stay home to be scholars, she works seven days a week in a mill. The conditions under which she works, under which all the women work, were horrible. She gives her paycheck to her family faithfully, dutifully. But not without some regret. Why must she be the one working so hard while others take it easy?! Much of the book focuses on her struggle: her struggle to hold onto her dreams, her struggle to hold onto dignity, her fight for right, to see justice done.
Audacity is a novel written in verse. It was powerful and compelling. The verse worked for me. It just wowed me in places! This fascinating book is easy to recommend. It's an emotional read, but oh so worth it!
© 2015 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
By:
Becky Laney,
on 8/22/2014
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Out of the Dust. Karen Hesse. 1997. Scholastic. 240 pages. [Source: Bought]
I first reviewed Out of the Dust in
March 2008. Out of the Dust is a historical verse novel that I likely would have avoided at all costs as a kid. It is set in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and Depression.
Billie Jo is our piano-playing heroine. Life was hard enough for Billie Jo and her family BEFORE the tragic accident. Multiple crop failures in a row. Worry and doubt weighing down whole communities, and, not without cause. But after the accident, things are even worse.
Added to despair and doubt is anger and bitterness and regret. Billie Jo doesn't know how to talk to her father anymore. She doesn't know how to be in the same house with him. Things are just off between them. Both are suffering souls. Both have needs that aren't being met. Both need time to heal at the very least.
The novel spans two years, 1934 and 1935. These two years are very hard emotionally for almost all the characters. Out of the Dust is a great coming-of-age novel. I think I liked it even more the second time.
© 2014 Becky Laney of
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By:
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on 7/27/2014
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I promised myself I wouldn’t cry. Well, maybe a few tears towards the end might be acceptable, but of course, I was dealing with another verse novel by Sally Murphy, so dry eyes were definitely no guarantee.
It’s not just the subject matter of Roses are Blue that tugs at ones heartstrings. Murphy is simply master at massaging sensitive issues into refined, understated yet terrifically moving poetic verse. Her words whisper across the pages with the soft intensity of a mountain breeze. They are beautiful and arresting; a joy to read.
There are no chapters in this novel. The story ebbs and flows organically in a pleasing natural rhythm. Gabriel Evans’ tender ink and painted illustrations cushion the gravity of the story even more allowing the reader to connect with Amber and her world visually as well as emotionally. Youngsters cultivating their reading confidence will appreciate this generous visual reinforcement on nearly every page.
Amber Rose’s world is turned upside down when tragedy strikes her family leaving her mother devastatingly ‘different’. Overnight, everything is altered: there’s a new school, new friends, new home, new secrets and perhaps hardest of all, a new mum to get used to. Amber vacillates between wanting to fit in and appear normal, aching for how things ‘used to be’ and trying to reconnect with her damaged mum.
As Amber’s mother struggles to free herself from her new entrapment, so too does Amber fight to hang onto to their special shared love until, like springtime roses, hope eventually blooms. Roses are Blue addresses the complex issues of normality, family ties, friendships and maternal bonds with gentle emphasis on how all these relationships can span any ethnicity or physical situation.
To celebrate Amber’s story, Sally Murphy joins me at the draft table with a box of tissues and a few more fascinating insights on Roses are Blue. Welcome Sally!
Q. Who is Sally Murphy? Please describe your writerly self.
My writely self? I try hard to think of myself as writerly – but often fail miserably because I think of other writers as amazingly productive, clever , creative people, and myself as someone slightly manic who manages to snatch time to write and is always surprised when it’s good enough to get published.
But seriously, I suppose what I am is someone who writes because it’s my passion and I can’t not do it. I’ve been writing all my life, pretty much always for children, and my first book was published about 18 years ago. Since then I’ve written picture books, chapter books, reading books, educational resource books and, of course, poetry and verse novels.
Q. I find verse novels profoundly powerful. How different are they to write compared to writing in prose? Do you find them more or less difficult to develop?
I think they’re very powerful too. It was the power of the first ones I read (by Margaret Wild) that made me fall in love with the form. But it’s this very power that can make them hard to get right – you have to tap into core emotions and get them on the page whilst still developing a story arc, characters, setting, dialogue and so on.
Are they more or less difficult? I’m not sure. For me I’ve been more successful with verse novels than with prose novels, so maybe they’re easier for me. But it is difficult to write a verse novel that a publisher will publish – because they can be difficult to sell.
Q. How do you think verse novels enhance the appeal and impact of a story for younger readers?
I think they work wonderfully with young readers for a few reasons, which makes them a wonderful classroom tool. The fact that they are poetry gives them white space and also, room for illustration and even sometimes text adornments.
What this means is that for a struggling reader or even a reluctant reader, the verse novel can draw them in because it looks easier, and gives them cues as to where to pause when reading, where the emphasis might be and so on. They will also feel that a verse novel is less challenging because it is shorter – there are less words on the same number of pages because of that white space.
But the verse novel can also attract more advanced readers who recognise it as poetry and thus expect to be challenged, and who can also see the layers of meaning, the poetic techniques and so on. Of course, once they’ve started reading it, the reluctant and struggling reader will also see those things, meaning there is a wonderful opportunity for all the class to feel involved and connected when it’s a class novel, or for peers of different abilities to appreciate a book they share.
Q. Judging by some of your previous verse titles, Pearl Verses the World and Toppling, you are not afraid to tackle the heftier and occasionally heartbreaking issues children encounter. What compels you to write about these topics and why do so in verse? Do you think a verse novel can convey emotion more convincingly than prose alone?
Afraid? Hah – I laugh in the face of danger! (Sorry, couldn’t help myself). But seriously no, I’m not afraid, because I think these are issues kids want to read about. All kids experience tough times – sometimes it’s the loss of a loved one, or illness, or a tragedy like Mum being sick/injured/absent. Other times it’s a beloved pet dying, or a best friend who suddenly doesn’t want to be friends. Either way, these tough times can feel like the end of the world. I think when children read about tough topics they connect with empathy or sympathy, and thus have the opportunity to experience vicariously something which they may not have. And if they have been through those really tragic tough times, or they do in the future, I hope they’re getting the message that life can be tough but you can get through it. Terrible things happen in the world – but good things do too. It’s really important to me that my stories have happy times too, and even laughs.
For me the verse novel form enables me to convey that emotion, but I don’t think it’s the only way it can be done. If you look at the Kingdom of Silk books by Glenda Millard, for example, you’ll see how brilliantly prose can be used to explore emotional situations.
Q. Many verse novels I have read are in first person. Is this a crucial element of ensuring stories in verse work well or is it something that you fall into naturally?
Off the top of my head I can’t think of any verse novels written solely in third person. There’s no rule that they have to be in first, but I do feel they work best that way for me, although I’m looking forward to experimenting with point of view in a verse novel I’m planning. I think first works so well because it creates an intimacy which the poetic form enhances.
Q. I particularly loved your reference to the Bobby Vinton 1962 hit, Roses are Red. What inspired you to use these lines in Amber’s story?
It’s actually a bit of a nod to Pearl, from Pearl Verses the World, who writes a roses are red poem about her nemesis Prue – but surprisingly no one has asked me about the connection before. I was looking for something for Mum to sing, and there it was. Of course the fact that Mum loves to garden, and their surname is rose means it all ties together nicely.
Q. Gabriel Evans’ illustrations are very endearing. How important do you think it is for illustrations to accompany verse stories?
For younger readers, some visual element is essential, and I am delighted with the way Gabriel has interpreted the story. Who couldn’t love his work? Again, the illustrations can help struggling readers connect with the story, but they are also important for all levels of reading ability. Some people are much more visual learners and thinkers than others, and seeing the story really enhances the experience. And gosh, they’re so gorgeous!
Q. What’s on the draft table for Sally Murphy?
A few things. I’m working on a historical novel (prose), several picture books and lots of poetry. I’m also in the early stages of a PhD project in Creative Writing and, as part of this, plan to produce three new works, all poetry of some form, as well as writing about why/how poetry is important.
Just for fun Question, (there is always one!): If you were named after a gem or colour like Amber and her friends, which would you choose and why?
I can choose a name for myself? That IS fun. I was nearly called Imelda when I was born, and (with apologies to the Imeldas of the world) have been forever grateful that my parents changed their minds. Sorry, that doesn’t answer your question. I think if I could name myself after a colour I’d be silly about it and say Aquamarine, because surely then no one else would ever have the same name as me. It’s also a lovely colour, so maybe some of that loveliness would rub off on me and make me lovely too.
Thanks so much for having me visit, Dimity. It’s been fun, and you’ve kept me on my toes!
An absolute pleasure Sally (aka Aquamarine!)
Be sure to discover the magic behind Roses are Blue, available here now.
Walker Books Australia July 2014
Stick around for the rest of Sally’s beautiful blog tour. Here are some places you can visit.
Tuesday, July 22nd Karen Tyrrell
Wednesday, July 23 Alphabet Soup
Thursday, July 24 Kids’ Book Review
Friday, July 25 Write and read with Dale
Saturday, July 26 Diva Booknerd
Sunday, July 27 Children’s Books Daily
Monday, July 28 Boomerang Books Blog
Tuesday, July 29 Australian Children’s Poetry
Wednesday, July 30 Sally Murphy
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Burleigh Mutén, children's book author, member of the Emily Dickinson International Society and volunteer at the Dickinson Homestead, seems perfectly poised to bring
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With Like Carrot Juice on a Cupcake, Julie Sternberg once again demonstrates her gifts in capturing (expertly and succinctly) the emotional lives
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There is something about verse novels that seems to make them an ideal medium for telling difficult, tragic, horrible stories. The abuse that the military government in Guatemala imposed on its
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Thanhha Lai's semi-autobiographical verse novel, Inside Out & Back Again won the National Book Award and the Newbery Honor in 2011. I feel like I say
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So, besides the fact that Gone Fishing : A Novel in Verse by Tamera Will Wissinger, with illustrations by the fantastic Matthew Cordell, is a
Click through to sign up for the National Poetry Month giveaway!
Our culture at large has rather limited ideas about what poetry is. The average person on the street typically thinks of rhymed ditties about pretty panoramas, lovesick longings, or rainbow-laced dreams. Or perhaps broken-line ruminations on big topics like death, war, human nature, or tiny ones like butterfly wings, a twirling maple seed or tea leaves in the bottom of a cup. This sort of poetry, which focuses on description and feeling, is called lyric poetry.
But there's another whole branch that shares characteristics with fiction, like a plot, characters and sometimes even dialogue: narrative poetry. Narrative poetry comes out of oral tradition, when stories were shared around the fire. Rhythm, repetition, rhymes made the stories easier to remember and thus pass on from one hearer to another. Ancient, epic stories of adventure and valor, like The Odyssey and Beowulf are some of the earliest examples written down.
Over time, poets realized any kind of story could be made more memorable and even singable if set in verse. The troubadours of the Middle Ages told tales of tragic love, and talents like Geoffrey Chaucer wittily satirized the culture of the day through rollicking, bawdy tales in verse. Later, narrative poems became more like versified flash fiction, such as this striking piece by Robert Frost, "Out, out—".
Novels-in-verse are of course a type of narrative poetry. But like the epic poem form they derive from, each section tends to lose something when removed from the overall story. The sections or pieces are meant to be read as a unit. That aspect makes them trickier to write than one might initially expect.
If novels-in-verse interest but intimidate you, or you’re primarily a fiction writer wanting to try out poetry, short, free-verse narrative fiction is a great place to start. In fact, you might find benefit taking material you’ve already written and recreating it in verse format.
One of the poems in my collection Muddy-Fingered Midnights,
“Storm Shelter” began as an experiment like this. I took a scene from my novel in progress, in which the protagonist’s boyfriend invites her to see his childhood secret hiding spot, and their relationship deepens because of it.
I summarized and trimmed the prose versions, worked in evocative vocabulary and sound patterns, and even experimented with portmanteau (blending two distinct words). There’s not a huge event at the center of this piece, but there is a plot arc, moving from entering the story world, to conflict, resolution and denouement.
What makes it poetry is the condensed emotion, sparse words, sound patterns, and layers of meaning. (A more strongly plotted piece that wasn’t derived from prose is “
North and South,” also reprinted in my collection.
Writing poetry a great way to develop not only your writing skills, but also your publishing credits. There are thousands upon thousands of literary journals seeking poetry submissions. If you’ve done any writing at all, you have raw material. (For ideas on how to turn delected scenes into poems, see my post
Giving Life to Peripheral Stories.)
Read, learn from, and emulate published poets, and you too can write stories that sing.
Laurel Garver is a magazine editor and author of the poetry collection Muddy-Fingered Midnights and the novel Never Gone. Her poems have appeared in Ancient Paths, Every Day Poets, Poetry Pact volume 1, Rubber Lemon, Daily Love and Drown in My Own Fears. An indie film enthusiast and incurable Anglophole, she lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter.
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 4/6/2013
Blog:
Caroline by line
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Click through to sign up for the National Poetry Month giveaway!
My junior year in college I took my favorite course of all time, adolescent literature. It was the year I discovered books from my adolescence I hadn't known existed before, books like HATCHET and JACOB HAVE I LOVED. It was the year I fell in love with newer titles, like THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE DOYLE and LONG NIGHT DANCE. It was the year Sharon Creech won the Newbery for her gorgeous WALK TWO MOONS.
I continued to read Sharon's books over the years, the impossible-to-put down ABSOLUTELY NORMAL CHAOS, the feels-like-home-to-this-gal-who-attended-international-school BLOOMABILITY, the simple and stunning verse novel, HEARTBEAT, and this gem, LOVE THAT DOG.
The poem below
I started a few years ago after first reading DOG. Last year, after a second reading, I pulled it out and worked on it again.
With the #SharpSchu book club scheduled to discuss LOVE THAT DOG and MAY B. on April 24, this felt like the perfect time to share.
Thank you, Sharon, for writing words that pushed me to respond. The kindness of the children's literature community never ceases to touch me. Still pinching myself that the author I discovered in college knows who I am!
Words count.
All words,
and giving voice to those children
who don’t yet know their power
is to open the world.
Mrs. Stretchberry
knows how to woo her student Jack,
understands how to draw from him
phrases that play with shapes and sounds,
stanzas that speak to the pain
of loss
and love
and memory.
During a school year
where poetry is a regular part of things,
words work deep,
settle,
unfold,
grow
as Jack does
from a boy who thinks
writing poetry is to
“make
short
lines”
to one who finds the courage --
through the structure, voice,
and style of others --
to speak his own.
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This was a kindle kids deal of the day a couple of months ago. I am so glad Amazon introduced me to this! Bought for my daughter but devoured myself. In fact, my daughter will have to be a little bit older to understand the heft of emotion that this swift gem imparts. I never knew how effective (and efficient) a verse-novel could be!
This book blew my mind, and I cried like a baby more than once.
T: You have perfectly and succinctly described the beauty of this genre! And,as a working parent, I really love a book I can read in a sitting or two. Agreed, though - this is the kind of book you want to make sure your child reads at the right time, or reads a second time. So many subtleties. If you can, read KARMA by Otslere. It's for teens but another example of a stunning verse novel.
Jeremy - Agreed! Check out Karen Hesse's ALEUTIAN SPARROW. I reviewed it a couple of years ago. An aspect of US history I never knew about. It's interesting to me how (painful, difficult) historical events seems to lend themselves to the verse novel format.