Poetry Month

Interested in poetry, but not sure what's good? April is National Poetry Month, and fortunately, there are many wonderful books to introduce a newbie to the very old world of poetry.

The Making of a Poem: A Northon Anthology of Poetic Forms

by Mark Strand & Eavan Boland

(821.008 MAKING)

Ever wondered if anyone still writes sonnets, or why sonnets were so popular with Shakespeare? This book focuses on different poetic forms such as the sonnet, the villanelle, the ballad, and blank verse to name a few.

What makes this book so cool is how it breaks down the explanation of each form. Each form is described at a glance: basic traits, meters, and rules. Then a history of the form's use and how it came to be is given, and finally, the contemporary context, or how poets today use the form, is given along with plenty of poetry examples.

Going over the forms like this made them so much more assessible for me. For example, the villanelle has been really popular in the twentieth century. Villanelles, because of the repetitive structure, are known to be ideal for expressing grief and pain. For a century that began with not one, but two World Wars and moved on to the Cold War and other acts of personal and global violence, the villanelle makes sense as a popular poetic form.

Poet's Choice

by Edward Hirsch

(808.81 HIRSCH)

Poet's choice is a collection of essays from Hirsch's weekly Washington Post column about poetry. Hirsch deals with a variety of topics and poets, including Reading, W. B. Yeats, Christmas Poems, Pablo Neruda, Protest Poetry, William Carlos Williams, and prose poetry. The book is divided into two sections: international poetry and American poetry. Each chapter is only two-three pages long, so these are just quick introductions to each topic and poet. This is a book to dip into, flip some pages and dip again. It's a great way to learn about new poets and poetry at the same time.

The White Darkness: a novel, by Geraldine McCaughrean

Symone, Sym for short, is a thirteen year old girl from England, who has such a hard time at school with her peers that she has created a fantasy life. It started when she watched an old television series called “The Last Place on Earth” that dramatizes Robert Scott’s ill-fated 1912 expedition to the South Pole. She already knew about Antarctica because her Uncle Victor had loaded her with books on the subject since she was small. Something about the series mesmerizes her, and especially the actor playing Titus Oates, one of Scott's party. He has become her constant companion, her soul mate, who encourages her when she’s afraid, keeps her going when all looks dark.

And she needs someone like that after Sym and her crazy uncle go down into Antarctica, first on a deluxe adventure tour that turns into a more personal and much more dangerous quest than she or you could ever imagine. Although the book is very engaging and you can’t help but be enthralled by each crazy plot development, I could not believe in her “mind” person/friend. I just don’t buy an available “alternate universe”, at least not one that materializes so conveniently exactly when you need it. But the book is worth reading, despite this quibble.

Keeping Score

Keeping Score

by Linda Sue Park

(J Fic Park)

Maggie is a huge fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The year is 1953, and she like everyone else in her neighborhood follows the games religiously. Jim, a new recruit at the local fire station, proves to be a good friend despite his being a Giants fan. He teaches her how to keep score of all of the plays during a baseball game. Soon Maggie is developing extra notations to keep track of the plays that interest her. When Jim is drafted to fight in the Korean War, Maggie applies her new skills as a Baseball statistician to help herself understand the conflict. Maggie sends Jim letters every month, but then Jim's answering letters stop coming. No one will tell Maggie what is happening. Is there a way for Maggie to help Jim?

Maggie is a great character. Despite her brother's frequently condescending attitude about her interest in baseball, she doesn't get discouraged. Instead she finds a way all her own to enjoy the sport that she loves. When her friend is hurt, she applies that same tenacity to finding ways to help him. There are several really good supporting characters in this book including Maggie's mother and best friend. The book includes several author notes both about baseball and about the War in Korea that add interest to the story.

Though I'm not at all a sports fan, I love stories about sports. Maybe it is the tension and conflict? This was such a fun book to read. I'm even thinking of trying to learn to keep score during a baseball game just because this book made it sound so interesting--and I'm horrible at math!

Down Garrapata Road by Anne Estevis

A first effort by a Texas teacher, this collection of stories about 4 different families tells about Mexican-American families living in South Texas in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The stories are told from the child’s point of view, when they are leaving childhood and becoming teenagers. The first family’s stories are all told by one daughter, and those stories are the best, especially about the relations between her mother and father – how the mother obeys the father, but makes her feelings felt in spite of his opposition. These young people had a simpler and harder existence then teenagers today, but teens can still relate to their problems of wanting to dress a certain way, and to have freedom in their social life. It’s also a good book for recording a cultural history that otherwise might not be remembered.

Superman True Brit

Superman True Brit

by Kim "Howard" Johnson, with some help by John Cleese

Art by John Byrne and Mark Farmer

YP FIC JOHNSON

In this Elseworld comic, a small variation makes for a big change in the traditional Superman story. Instead of landing in Kansas, Kal-el's rocket lands in Kent, England. The Clark family finds the surprising child and names the boy Colin. As Colin grows to a man they teach him to be careful with his gifts, always remembering the important creed which every Brit lives by: WWTNT (What Would the Neighbors Think?) A small slip of his powers (causing a nearly fatal accident), lands him an enviable job as a tabloid reporter at the Daily Smear. He finds new uses for his power as he attempts to spy out what the latest Celebrity Hotties are up to. The biggest change comes for Colin Clark when he sees two popular musicians trapped in a car. With his parents permission, he quickly dons a disguise and rescues them. Other rescues follow, some not fully appreciated, for example when he helps the British army safely pull a WWII bomb from the ground, but then accidently throws the old bomb into the Eiffel Tower. Eventually, Colin realizes that he must stand up for himself and even face down his tabloid boss.

In this very funny interpretation, Howard presents an interesting scenario that not only makes for a fun story, but leads to a whole series of amusing variations. What if Superman's ship had landed in Germany, France, India, Kenya, Brazil or even Antarctica? The possibilities are endless!

This is a very quick, very fun read. The artwork at times presents the traditional square-jawed image of Superman and at other times presents a hapless geek who creates as many problems as he solves, but always with great enthusiasm!

Girl Overboard

Girl Overboard

by Justina Chen Headley

YP FIC HEADLEY

Daughter of a famous and rich business guru, Syrah has a lot to live up to and as much to live down. A fall down the wrong side of a mountain may have ended her chances of becoming a professional snowboarder, and now the press thinks she is a reckless and spoiled rich girl. Her adult half-siblings, old as in the same age as her mom, couldn’t agree more. Her perfect mother thinks she is too fat, and Syrah isn’t so sure that she is wrong. And just when she most needs someone to talk to, her best friend, Age, gets back together with his hyper jealous ex-girlfriend. Syrah must meet her parents’ demands and still be true to herself while trying to recover both physically and emotionally from her fall. Uncovering a family secret may provide her with the strength and understanding that she needs to cope with the challenges she faces.

In her second novel for teens, Headley has written a multi-layered story about wealth and families set within the Asian American Culture. While Syrah’s life is going forward, the story of her snowboarding accident slowly reveals itself like the layers of an onion coming off one by one. It is as though, at first she can’t even think about what happened. Then slowly, first with a passing word or two, then scene by scene the full story comes to light. Headley handles the family histories in much the same way. Headley describes Syrah’s manga journal vividly, but it would have been fun to see some actual artwork, especially as Syrah’s progression as a character is reflected in her artwork. Also, a short author’s note about the Chinese Cultural Revolution would have been interesting after seeing through the story how this historical tragedy could continue to adversely affect families even generations after it took place. These were small complaints though. Syrah’s lively character and the family dynamics set amidst current social trends and historic tragedy combined to make this an excellent book.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

By Gabrielle Zevin

YP FIC ZEVIN



Nadia slips while carrying her school's brand new camera. She manages to save the camera but not herself. She wakes up to find a handsome guy, James, telling the ambulance driver that he is her boyfriend. Nadia quickly realizes that she has lost some of her memories, and so she must reconcile her current life with the life that she remembers.



Where has her mom gone, and why won't her dad talk to her about it? She has a boyfriend, not James, who is good-looking and talented, but what did she see in him? She has a best friend who makes her a great mix cd, but what are the songs supposed to mean to them? And James, Mr. Mystery himself. She can't stop thinking about him.

In some ways this book is the typical girl-loses-her-memory book: Naomi had been a popular, multi-talented student in her high school, who seemed to have it all. Yet, Naomi finds that she had made several perplexing decisions before the accident, and no one can tell her why she'd made those choices. Despite a few genre stereotypes, Zevin manages to create a fresh story by not allowing Naomi any simple, black or white answers to the many questions she faces.