Book Review: "Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses" by Ron Koertge

Title: Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses
Author: Ron Koertge
Illustrator: Andrea Dezso
Publisher: Candlewick Press, 2012

In this poetry collection, we see familiar fairy tales turned completely upside down and twisted to a barely recognizable transformation. Popular tales like "Cinderella" and "Little Red Riding Hood" coexist with less familiar ones like "The Robber Bridegroom," and "Godfather Death" in very dark modernizations and reimaginations. These are not stories you would want to be told at bedtime.

This is a very short volume, one I finished in under an hour. Unfortunately I feel like Koertge was looking to bring new meaning to the fairy tales, different messages to a modern audience, yet not always succeeding in making it as deep as it felt like he wanted to go. Some of the poems succeed more than others—for example, I found the stories told from the villains' perspectives to be illuminating and well done, like the stepsisters' story in "Cinderella" and the Mole's story in "Thumbelina." Others seem to be just modernizations with nothing new or that interesting to share, like "Bluebeard" and "The Frog Prince," or lack a clear message, like "Bearskin."

I have mixed feelings about this collection of retold fairy tales, but I would say if you are interested in them, you should give the book a shot. It's short and a very fast read. If you end up feeling like the volume is missing something, or want a poetry collection of fairy tale retellings with more substance, pick up Anne Sexton's Transformations, an excellent contribution to American literature and the poetry canon.

Disclosure: I got this book from the library.

Review: "What My Mother Doesn't Know" by Sonya Sones

Title: What My Mother Doesn't Know
Author: Sonya Sones
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2001

Happy National Poetry Month! Here's a little something to give you your poetry fix.


What My Mother Doesn't Know is a verse novel, narrated by 14-year-old Sophie. She tells us her story of that particular time in her life; she meets boys and has boyfriends, she has a tumultuous relationship with her mother and an almost nonexistent one with her father, and has two very close best friends.

The poetry is lovely, though at times I didn't see how the free verse helped move the story forward. It worked much of the time, with the line breaks being just perfect, but there were points when it felt like this part of the story had to be told as a poem since the rest was—it filled in information we needed to know, but the free verse seemed unnecessary. Some of the poems had rhyme schemes, which was nice and different to see, and one had a shape to the words. I always like when poets to play with form like that.

Sophie deals with a lot during this half year in her life. She has one boyfriend, meets another (sort of), and then (possibly) another. But it's not like she's boy crazy—it all seems very natural and normal. Plus Sones isn't afraid to talk about things like sexual desire (not sex, at least in this book), which might be why she's been banned so often, even if the situations in the book are pretty tame.

I did enjoy the bits with Sophie and her mother. I got just as angry at her mother as she did, and I wish I could have jumped into the story to help them. But yet, her mother was very human and showed multiple sides that made it impossible for me to hate her. I'm glad we got to see this relationship develop a little.

This was an honest look at the life of a girl blooming into maturity and discovering all the sides of love—the love between a mother and child, between friends, and between a girl and a boy. What My Mother Doesn't Know is a sweet coming-of-age story as well as a quick read.

Disclosure: I got this book (with the pretty new cover) at my local library.

Review: "The Sky Is Everywhere" by Jandy Nelson

Title: The Sky Is Everywhere
Author: Jandy Nelson
Publisher: Dial Books, 2010

Lennon "Lennie" Walker's world is shattered when Bailey, her older sister, best friend, and heart, dies at the young age of 19. Lost in a maelstrom of grief, she, her Gram, and her Uncle Big stumble through the ensuing weeks in a fog. Always the lesser star of the two sisters, Lennie doesn't know what to do with herself without her sister, by whom she was always defined. All she can do is write down bits of poetry on whatever scraps of paper or writing surface she can find, and fall into a tumultuous and grief-fueled relationship with Bailey's boyfriend, Toby, to her own horror and confusion.

And then Joe Fontaine comes into her life. Exuberant, joyful, positive Joe, half French and gorgeous, musical virtuoso. All of a sudden Lennie glimpses what it might feel like to be happy again. But will her reckless actions with Toby and her overwhelming sadness destroy the incredible love she and Joe could have?

This book has been bouncing around the blogosphere for some time now, so I decided to find out what all the fuss is about. And yes, it is excellently written, beautiful poetic prose with heartrending description and simile. I especially loved the poems Lennie writes and leaves wherever she thinks of the words she needs to release. That said, I found it slightly unbelievable that all of her thoughts are that graceful and elegant.

I think my biggest problem was that EVERYONE kept talking about this book's amazingness. I think I prepared myself to dislike it from the start because of all this hype (see Jamie's post on The Perpetual Page-Turner about the Hype Monster). It just didn't hit me like it did everyone else, though I was struck much more often toward the end by Lennie's pain than in the beginning. If this book does anything, it will most likely make you at least feel.

I was most struck by Lennie's observation that she will never stop mourning for her dead sister. She might lose a little bit of Bailey, but she will always love her and will therefore always grieve.

It is an exquisitely written book and I'm glad I read it. I just think I was prepared to not like it as much as everyone else.

Disclosure: I got this book from my library.

Review: "Diamond Willow" by Helen Frost

Title: Diamond Willow
Author: Helen Frost
Publisher: Frances Foster Books, 2008
Where I got it: Library, after reading about it on Anita Silvey's awesome Children's Book-a-Day Almanac.

*Starred Review*

Told in diamond-shaped poems, this is the story of 12-year-old Willow, a part-Athabascan girl (on her mother's side) who lives in a remote part of Alaska with her family in a tiny community where the only means of transportation are dog sleds and snow machines. Willow isn't very popular at school and tries to stay on the periphery, but she wants her parents to trust her and let her have more responsibility. Finally, her parents let her mush the dogs, led by her favorite, Roxy, alone to her grandparents' house; but on the way home, an accident—as well as unearthing a family secret—will change the way she sees herself, and how she lives her life.

Frost carefully sculpts each poem to fit into a diamond shape, which she explains in her author's note at the beginning. A diamond willow is not a specific type of willow, she explains, but any willow that has lost branches—wherever there was a wound in the tree and a branch fell, a diamond shape appears, with a darker center. Frost also gives a richer, deeper center to each of her poems—bolded letters spell out a secret thought from Willow, who narrates them.

Interspersed are narrations from animals in and around Willow's home, giving a different perspective of the story and providing some context. What makes these narrations so important is the fact that the animals contain the spirits of the characters' departed ancestors. Each had been human at one time, and still they look out for their own.

I cannot say how much I loved this book. The poetry was beautifully crafted, not only to shape the diamond, but to spell out the deeper message. These short thoughts lend an incredible clarity to Willow's spirit and soul; they are the cries behind the words she speaks that are never said aloud, but that she feels so sharply within her mind and heart. I loved finding these bursts in the heart of each poem, and they lend such richness to the story and to Willow.

The story itself is heartrending, as well. It's an incredible yet gentle family story that will not leave me for some time. Willow grows so much, and I loved watching it unfold. I will be going out and buying this for my own collection for sure, as it's well worth owning.

"Locomotion" by Jacqueline Woodson

Title: Locomotion

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Publisher: Speak, 2004 (reprinted in 2010)

Where and why: I managed to find this copy at my local Used Book Superstore after searching high and low (the library was taking too long to get it through ILL). I read it for the poetry unit in my summer class.

This is 11-year-old Lonnie Collins Motion's story, told through verse. One of his school assignments is a poetry notebook, a project his teacher Ms. Marcus devised for her students. At first unsure of his abilities as a poet, we see as the book progresses how he uses it as an outlet for grief, anger and his insecurity about the future. Living in a foster home, Lonnie eventually reveals to us through his poetry that he was orphaned at the age of 7 and was soon separated from his sister, who was adopted.

Lonnie shows us his nightmares, his bad memories, his struggles and triumphs at school, and his hopes for a brighter future. Though it is mostly in free verse, which he says he prefers as there are no rules to follow, he does experiment with other forms as Ms. Marcus teaches them in her classroom. He writes haiku, a sonnet, and is especially excited about epistle poems (poems in letter format).

Woodson deals with some pretty serious themes, like the loss of loved ones (even if they aren't necessarily dead), poverty, family (what constitutes "family" and the meaning of it), and spirituality (Lonnie explores his belief in God). Yet she also confronts everyday issues, like friendship, bullying, and the way kids look at poetry.

Lonnie often has to decide how to express his interest and talent in poetry, at first choosing to keep it a secret. As the school year progresses, he gets more comfortable with himself and his ability as a writer, sharing his penchant more often with his classmates and others. I really loved how Woodson likened it to rap—a reluctant boy in the class refuses at first, but when Ms. Marcus mentions that rappers are poets, the boy is more than willing to participate in the poetry portion of class.

Locomotion is a great place to start a child's interest or education in poetry. It can be used in the classroom to teach about different ways it can be used, different forms, and show how it's not just for the people in your textbooks. It's a living, breathing art form, and anyone can use it—even fifth-graders.