Charming, fun to read, and thought provoking.
A group of children and a few adults are introduced individually in poems that highlight a single aspect of each one’s personality, preferences, and foibles.
Meet the new kid, a shy girl, a wannabe class clown, an accident waiting to happen, a few teachers, a hamster, and many more. The poems, seemingly voiced by classmates, differ in length and construction. Some are great fun and some are more serious. Rooney includes a child who uses a wheelchair, a deaf child, a child who may be on the autism spectrum, and one who is possibly abused at home. There is also an absent girl represented by a memory plaque on a bench. Each poem appears on a double-page spread and is accompanied by a thumbnail line drawing of the subject and a larger scale blue, black, and white cartoon that illuminates the content of the text. Race and ethnicity are not named, but the thumbnails depict one teacher and several children as black as well as an Asian boy and one Muslim girl. A bit of subtle stereotyping shows a chubby “joker,” and the “whizz kid,” the “wordsmith,” and the “inscrutable” boy are all depicted wearing glasses. First published in the U.K., the book has not been Americanized, but American kids who puzzle over some of the vocabulary will surely recognize bits of themselves and their friends in the characters.
Charming, fun to read, and thought provoking. (author’s note) (Poetry. 7-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-91095-987-9
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Otter-Barry
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
“He called on me. / My answer’s wrong. / Caught like a squirrel / on an open lawn. / Standing alone, / twiddling my paws, / frozen in place, / working my jaws. / I’d like to bolt, / but where? / I moan. / Could anyone / be more / alone?” Poet, educator and storyteller Holbrook returns with a collection of 41 poems about school worries and classroom problems. Here readers find substitutes and pop quizzes, bullies and homework storms. Nearly half of the poems have appeared in previous collections, but here the white space around each poem is filled with poetry facts, definitions and challenges to get young poets writing. Some entries are more successful than others; a few have odd rhymes, others a jangle in the rhythm. The title, too, is quite misleading: There is only one zombie poem. However, the subjects will resonate, and the hints and tips will excite young writers whether they currently love poetry or not. Sandstrom’s serviceable pen, ink and faded watercolor spot illustrations are as hit-and-miss as the poems. This is good classroom poetry, though, if not verse for the ages. (Poetry. 9-11)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59078-820-2
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2010
Fresh off his engaging Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys (illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, 2010) and inspired by the work of Andrew Russ, Raczka continues to dabble in short lyric forms, here experimenting with images conjured up by breaking down a single word. The smaller components that comprise the subsequent free-verse poem read left to right, cascading down the page while maintaining the same horizontal letter positions as in the original word. For example, “vacation” yields “ac tion / i n / a / va n,” alongside Doniger’s spare three-color drawing of a family and a rabbit traveling through the countryside in a van with a canoe on the roof. For readers who find the spatiality of the lettering a challenge for comprehension, Raczka sets the poem in more standard format, “vacation / action / in / a / van,” on the following page. While these 22 poems are uniformly clever, some, like “earthworms”—“a / short / storm / worms / here / worms / there / wear / shoes”—are more successful than others, such as “flowers”—“we slow / for / free / wows”—both in their playfulness and in evoking the suggestive depths of language. Fun as a prompt for poetic exploration but less fulfilling as a stand-alone volume. (Poetry. 8-12)
Pub Date: March 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-541-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
