A SUITCASE OF SEAWEED

by Janet S. Wong ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1996

Neat, well-turned poems, monologues, and aphorisms, shaped into free verse by the author of Good Luck Gold and Other Poems (1994, not reviewed). Wong--born in America of Korean and Chinese descent--divides her work into three parts that reflect this heritage. In the majority of the pieces, she looks at ethnic themes through the infallible metaphor of food (Korean and Chinese; the American section is a bit weaker than the other two, perhaps because it mostly departs from that metaphor). Only a couple of the poems are rhymed; Wong uses line breaks for rhetorical effect, but many of them would have worked just as well in the form of prose vignettes. The imagery is choice, the thoughts pointed and careful, the vocabulary attractive: In many of the pieces comedy and delicacy mingle in a single line.

Pub Date: May 1, 1996

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 42

Publisher: McElderry

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1996

Categories: CHILDREN'S