This intelligent anthology will accomplish two amazing feats: It will please teen readers and simultaneously satisfy their teachers. Poet, children’s author and anthologizer Rosenberg, with former student, November, collect verse that sensitively addresses those readers who are susceptible to emotional downdrafts and uptakes. The poems range from the classics (Wordsworth, Blake) to the contemporary (James Wright, Gerald Stern, Stephen Dobyns) to the just composed (Das Lanzilloti, Deena November)—which guarantees the teen authenticity. Moreover, the poems, organized in five sections, “speak” to one another across time and through generations, addressing theme and subject and giving young readers a sense of immediate connection and belonging. They also lay a foundation for young readers to begin to see for themselves how one work of literature may spark another. For example, included here is Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Sympathy,” which features the line “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Unforgettable characters such as J. Alfred Prufrock and Richard Cory make their appearances here as well. Handy backmatter includes poet’s biographies and an index of first lines. A must have for teachers who need the just-right book for their eighth-graders. (Poetry. 14+)
Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-56452-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Graphia
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2005
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Historical fiction examines the famous case of Emmett Till, whose murder was one of the triggers of the civil-rights movement. Hiram Hillburn knows R.C. Rydell is evil. He watches R.C. mutilate a catfish, but does nothing to stop him. “I didn’t want to end up like that fish,” he says. He watches R.C. throw stones at a neighbor’s house and humiliate 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African-American visitor from Chicago, and still he does nothing. Hiram says, “When things are scary or dangerous, it’s hard to see clear what to do.” When Till is brutally murdered, Hiram is sure R.C. is involved. Hiram, a white teenager who has come back to the Mississippi town where his father grew up, is the narrator and the perspective of the white outsider and the layers of his moral reflection make this an excellent examination of a difficult topic. When the case comes to trial, Hiram knows he must face his own trial: can he stand up to evil and do the right thing? He knows Mr. Paul, the local storeowner, is right: “Figure out what’s right and what’s wrong, and make yourself do the right thing. Do that and no matter what happens, no matter what people say, you’ll have no regrets.” This is a complicated thing to do, as Hiram must summon inner strength and come to terms with who he is—the son of an English professor who hates everything about the South and the grandson of a farmer who loves everything about it. Teen readers will find themselves caught up in Hiram’s very real struggle to do the right thing. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8037-2745-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2002
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