Tag Archive | poetry

Audition, by Stasia Ward Kehoe (book review) – ballet school, school of life

Dec6

book cover of Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe published by VikingCan Sara stay slim enough?
Can she stretch far enough?
Can she pirouette fast enough?
Does she have what it takes to become a true ballerina,
or will she remain just a corps de ballet dancer in the back row?

Dancing for hours daily despite bunions on her feet and muscle injuries, sneaking time alone with Rem, enduring his professional detachment at dance school… How much can you give of yourself before there’s no “you” left at all? That’s what Sara has to discover for herself, alone amid the competing dancers of the Jersey Ballet’s school.

A compelling novel-in-verse, Stasia’s first work of fiction is enriched by her background as a professional dancer and choreographer. Look for Audition at your local library or independent bookseller.
**kmm

Book info: Audition / Stasia Ward Kehoe. Viking, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer] Cover image and review copy courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: A dance scholarship takes Sara from Vermont to the Jersey Ballet – can she polish her small-town technique enough to stay there? Perhaps this is her chance to become a true ballerina instead of just a ballet dancer.

Taking the city bus from her host family’s house to dance class to private high school to dance class and dance class and dance class, Sara has never been so tired. The competition is intense, as she must master enough skills to move up to the next level in a short time. No scholarships for those who progress too slowly here.

Her eyes are always drawn to strong, intense Remington, choreography contest finalist, principal male dancer at Jersey Ballet, part-time teacher at age 22. And eventually Rem is drawn to 16-year-old Sara, taking her to small restaurants in stolen moments away from the studio.

As the girls compete to be soloists in the Nutcracker and Rem’s version of Goldilocks, each battles with herself to stay slim enough, to be flexible enough, to be good enough. As Rem and Sara create a very private dance in his apartment, she wonders if she’ll ever partner with him on stage as well.

This strong novel-in-verse gives very mature readers an open window into Sara’s longings and fears, her worries about succeeding in this immense opportunity that her parents are struggling to afford, her wonderment over how differently Rem treats her when they’re in public and when they’re alone. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

After the Kiss, by Terra Elan McVoy (book review) – one kiss, one photo, several broken hearts

Nov1

book cover of After the Kiss by Terra Elan McVoy published by Simon PulseModern technology – friend or foe?
Starting over again – easy or hard?
Broken trust – mend or abandon?

A novel in verse with two voices, two viewpoints, and countless ripples of intersecting lives and repercussions….
**kmm

Book info: After the Kiss / Terra Elan McVoy. Simon Pulse, 2010. [author’s site] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Starting her senior year in a new city, Camille kisses a cute boy just once, starting a painful chain of events as a cellphone photo of “The Kiss” gets back to his girlfriend, Becca.

Camille journals her longing to be with her boyfriend back in Chicago (her dad’s job makes them move so often) or with her best friend in San Francisco instead of being on the fringes of this group of lifelong friends who hang out at the lake house on weekends, savoring one last school year together. At least the puppies at the animal shelter in Atlanta accept her and love her.

Becca’s poems reflect her world – her adoration of haiku-writing baseball catcher Alec, her shock at causing a fender-bender accident and having to get a coffeehouse job to pay the repair bills, and her helplessness after seeing the photo of “The Kiss.”

Camille does her writing after school in Becca’s coffeehouse, but neither one knows the identity of the other until one heartstopping afternoon. Can Becca’s future include Alec? Is happiness waiting for Camille in Chicago?

Alternating chapters of poetry and journal entries look for answers on how life can go on when plans don’t go according to plan. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Cover image and review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Karma, by Cathy Ostlere (fiction) – lost in her parents’ India during civil war

Oct26

World Wednesday takes us from the prairies of Canada to the crowded streets of India as Maya travels to her parents’ homeland on a grief-stricken mission.

Instead of learning more about her Sikh and Hindu heritage or meeting family for the first time, she’s flung into the chaos, violence, and massacre that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984.

Look for this stunning verse novel at your local library or independent bookstore – you need to hear Maya’s story for yourself.
**kmm

Book info: Karma / Cathy Ostlere. Razorbill, 2011, paperback 2012. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: At 15, Maya is taking her mother’s ashes home to India, back to the grandparents she’s never met, traveling with her father in 1984, far from Canada where she was born.

Unheard-of for a Sikh and a Hindu to marry in India of the 1960s! Disowned by her family, his family warning of spiritual disaster, Maya’s parents emigrate to Manitoba, where Bapu hopes to be successful and Mata prays for children and peace.

The aloneness that the prairie winds swirled around her mother finds Maya in the crowded streets of poverty-stricken New Delhi, as she tries to make sense of everything in her journal, her diary in verse.
Suddenly, India’s Prime Minister is assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, and Hindus begin killing Sikhs in revenge. Bapu disguises himself and leaves Maya at their hotel while he tries to find a safe way for them to get to his hometown.

When rioters set fire to the hotel, Maya flees blindly into a city filled with mayhem, heading to the train station to go – anywhere. An accident, an attack, a fright, amnesia, a lost girl… Others continue telling Maya’s story when her own voice is no longer sufficient, as she journeys and drifts in confusion.

Can she find her voice again? Can she find her father? Did he really plan for her to marry someone here in India? How can she keep going, knowing that she left Mata’s ashes behind? This powerful novel in verse takes mature readers to a far land in a time not so distant, when civil war almost fractured India and its horrors threatened a young girl’s hold on reality. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Haiku – editing your thoughts

May10

It’s the ultimate editor’s blue-pencil job: paring down your dreams, thoughts, inspirations, message, and intentions into that oh-so-regimented haiku format (and today’s Wordcount Blogathon theme). Yep, 5-7-5 pattern, no deviations (but no rhyme-requirements either).

‘T ain’t easy, but as an antidote to our these-days tendency toward logorrhea (and blogorrhea), the disciplines of haiku can make us slow down, refocus, edit our writing, pare it down to the essentials.

Zen Ties  is the second of John Muth’s books [YouTube book trailer] about a Zen master panda living in a regular American neighborhood [publisher site] – this time Koo, his haiku-speaking nephew, comes to visit:

Tea was very good
My cup holds emptiness now
Where should I put it?

There can also be a humorous side to haiku’s rigor, as shown by Guyku: a Year of Haiku for Boys,  by Bob Raczka and Peter H. Reynolds [review] [publisher site], which features this summer-related guyku:

Lying on the lawn,
we study the blackboard sky,
connecting the dots.

The GiggleIT Project is a free international online writing project for students, and it includes haiku as one of its 2011 competitions. Once their teacher or librarian registers a class/group, then students’ creative writing and artwork can be showcased to a world audience. I should know, since I’m the GiggleIT publicity chair!

Voices of children,
All colors and all ages,
Lift us with laughter.
**kmm