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This Is the Story of You by Beth Kephart

May 3, 2016 by

Source: Purchased
Hardcover, 264 pgs.
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This Is the Story of You by Beth Kephart has the slow build-up of a weather front across thousands of miles of ocean, and when it hits, you are still unprepared because you’re in denial that you’ll be blown away and that your life could be upended by one wisp of wind, let alone a hurricane.  Invincibility is something many of us have in common at one point or another in our lives, whether it is in our teen years or later in life.  Eventually, that illusion is shattered — by a death in the family, a near miss, an unexpected circumstance.

Mira Banul and her friends are from those families that live on Haven year-round, and they are not like the tourists who visit for the beach and sun in the summer months.  Although their livelihoods can be dependent upon those summer tourists, their lives are more than just them.  Mira is an observer, while her friends Deni and Eva are the fixer and optimist, respectively.  Their personalities are big on the page as Kephart fully fleshes out these young ladies in description and in terms of their passions and quirks.  Mira and her skates, Deni and her aviators (“walked around with two pools of reflected sky on her head”), and Eva and her stories about lost civilizations.

“‘Weather’s bigger than the rest of us.’
‘I wanted to stop it.’
‘No, Deni.  All of us. None of us could stop it.'” (pg. 145)

As graduation nears for these ladies, it is hard for them to see past the current moment or the current projects.  When Shift comes to town and breaks up their merry threesome, Mira and Deni are left wondering what the draw is to this mysterious boy who comes to Haven in the middle of the school year.  Has Eva allowed herself to fall head-over-heels as she has done in the past, or is she merely being overly generous to the new kid in town?  Deni wants to protect her, Mira wants to see how it all shakes out.  In the background another storm is brewing, as nature decides its time to shake the trees.

If you’ve read other books by Kephart, you’ll see the birds in the trees and skies, and you may even perceive a nod to her previous work (at least, I thought of the one where the Schuylkill River is personified when Mira and her classmates talk about their Project Flows — or perhaps I read too many Kephart books, though I doubt that).  Her prose is poetic and requires attention, but it is worth the extra time, falling into the worlds she creates and the realistic characters she crafts, though I suspect they guide her hand.

This Is the Story of You by Beth Kephart will astonish you with the resilience of young people, their drive to make things right, and their ability to withstand more than expected, but it is in the final pages that the true mystery is resolved.  I will say this, I’m not often surprised by book endings or mysteries, but Kephart exceeded my detective skills for the first time in a long while.  (I had suspicions, but not a fully formed conclusion.)  Readers who love to immerse themselves in realistic places and explore humanity won’t be disappointed.  Kephart is a talent at creating places that come alive and characters that grab hold of us emotionally.

**You’ve probably already suspected this is a contender for the best of 2016 list at the end of the year!**

RATING: Cinquain

About the Author:

Following the publication of five memoirs and FLOW, the autobiography of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River, I’ve had the great pleasure of turning my attention to young adult fiction. UNDERCOVER and HOUSE OF DANCE were both named a best of the year by Kirkus and Bank Street. NOTHING BUT GHOSTS, A HEART IS NOT A SIZE, and DANGEROUS NEIGHBORS were critically acclaimed. In October YOU ARE MY ONLY will be released by Egmont USA. Next summer, Philomel will release SMALL DAMAGES. I am at work on a prequel to DANGEROUS NEIGHBORS, a novel for adults, and a memoir about teaching.

Other Books Reviewed:

Filed Under: fiction, purchased, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes

April 22, 2016 by

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 40 pgs.
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Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes, is beautifully illustrated and it is visually stunning.  Kids will love the vibrant colors and the surprising shapes in every corner of each page.

Like the author, a self-described observer, kids will start noticing swirls all over the book.  The text can swirl, just like the shell of a snail, or it can be uncurled into a straight line.  Younger readers will learn that some little animals will curl into swirls to stay warm or to hide from predators.  Flowers will uncoil toward the sun.  Swirls, like those of the ram’s horn, can be strong, or they can be used to grab things like the tentacles of an octopus.

Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes, would be a good educational tool for a classroom, but the book really didn’t hold my daugher’s attention with a story.  It’s more of a book that explains the different uses or needs of swirls.  The illustrations are visually arresting, which can be worth the cost of the book alone, perhaps some of the pages could be turned into posters for a room.

Rating: Tercet

About the Author:

Joyce Sidman lives in Wayzata, Minnesota, with her husband and dog, Watson. They have two sons, but they’ve grown up, so she set her mind to creating books.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

The Seven Ages by Louise Glück

April 20, 2016 by

Source: Purchased
Paperback, 80 pgs.
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The Seven Ages by Louise Glück is a book about transformation and, by extension, aging and death — the battle between faith and the fear of mortality.  The title opens with a cryptic tale of a human who arrives on Earth even before the Garden of Eden, when it is just dust.  The narrator loves it all the same, even in its barrenness, but like many humans she wants to possess it.  How do you hold onto something that changes and is going to continue changing? The short answer is: you can’t.  Except maybe in a dream but even memories change.

Throughout the book, Glück touches, tastes, and experiences a variety of things, but in “The Sensual World,” she says, “I caution you as I was never cautioned:// you will never let go, you will never be satiated./You will be damaged and scarred, you will continue to hunger.//” (pg. 7)  We have entered that garden and we have tasted the forbidden fruits, and even as we are punished, we still want more.  We cannot get enough sensory input, which leads to emotional attachments that continue even as we age, even if they are not acted upon.

In “Birthday,” the narrator remembers “that age. Riddled with self-doubt, self-loathing,/and at the same time suffused/with contempt for the communal, the ordinary;…” (pg. 20) The narrator is on the outside at this party, watching those who are wrapped up in making friends and making connections, but also vividly aware of the solitary member who prefers their own counsel.  Here again, the narrator cautions that in silence it is difficult to “test one’s ideas.  Because they are not ideas, they are the truth.//”  She speaks of this again in “From a Journal”: “how ignorant we all are most of the time,/seeing things/only from one vantage, like a sniper.//” (pg. 25)

Once we come away from ourselves and view the world differently, usually after years of a narrow focus, we come to realize that we want more time.  We want “to extend those days, to be inseparable from them./ So that a few hours could take up a lifetime.//” (“The Destination”, pg. 28)  The Seven Ages by Louise Glück is an exploration of aging through the lens of an observer, someone who has experienced life and who has separated herself from it when necessary.  Things we see are not as we expect, things we obtain do not satiate our appetites, and in our haste to achieve things, we break them.  Human frailty cannot be escaped, and we cannot return to our youth.  Glück attests to these stages and says that appreciating what has come before is hard, especially when we are hungry for more and have run out of time.

Rating: Quatrain

About the Poet:

Louise Glück was born in New York City of Hungarian Jewish heritage and grew up on Long Island. Glück attended Sarah Lawrence College and later Columbia University.

She is the author of twelve books of poetry, including: “A Village Life” (2009); Averno (2006), which was a finalist for The National Book Award; The Seven Ages (2001); Vita Nova (1999), which was awarded The New Yorker’s Book Award in Poetry; Meadowlands (1996); The Wild Iris (1992), which received the Pulitzer Prize and the Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Award; Ararat (1990), which received the Library of Congress’s Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry. Louise Glück has also published a collection of essays, Proofs and Theories: Essays on Poetry (1994), which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction.

Filed Under: challenges, Events, Harper Collins, national poetry month, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Online Marketing for Busy Authors: A Step-by-Step Guide by Fauzia Burke

April 19, 2016 by

Source: FSB Associates
Paperback, 168 pgs.
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Online Marketing for Busy Authors: A Step-by-Step Guide by Fauzia Burke offers new authors and busy authors who know little about online marketing a step-by-step guide that will minimize missteps.  Like when plotting a story, authors will have to do some legwork, creating a marketing outline of sorts.  First of all, books are like an extension of an author’s brand; so an author will want to examine what their goals and dreams are, as well understand who the readers of a particular book are.  Are they young women? Are they older, college-educated men?  You get the idea.  Burke includes some worksheets to help authors get started outlining their personal and professional goals and dreams, and how their books play into that process.

Authors also can use this form to identify their audience, which will later help determine which social media channels will be the best marketing tools, cutting down on wasted efforts on channels that the identified audience doesn’t use as often or at all.  The goal is to be able to tell a room full of people in just a few sentences what their book is about and how it fits with the audience it targets.  With Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and many other social networks to monitor in addition to traditional marketing techniques, authors may wonder when they’ll find time to write another book.  Burke’s no-nonsense style will speak to busy authors because she makes the task of online marketing seem less daunting, especially for those who feel overwhelmed by the process.

Burke also notes that the most successful authors are those that know their brand, their audience, and target their time toward those things, as well as their secondary goals, which may include building relationships with readers, helping a specific group, or calling attention to a specific cause.  In addition to the pre-marketing research, Burke offers a priority list for authors, and one of the items on the list may surprise some.

Online Marketing for Busy Authors: A Step-by-Step Guide by Fauzia Burke is a great place to start with learning how to market a book online.  It not only will educate authors about themselves and their books, but their audience as well.  When done right, these authors will build a fan base that will happily help them market their books to others, turn out for events, and more.  But it can’t just be about marketing.  She reminds authors that social networks are about building relationships that last.

**For bloggers looking to grow their presence on the Internet, there are some great tips that could translate really well.**

Rating: Quatrain

About the Author:

Fauzia Burke has been a leader in online marketing and digital branding for authors and others for nearly twenty years, now integrating publicity, branding, social media, and websites to establish clients online.

 

Filed Under: challenges, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Read in 2016, Reference, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Santa Clauses: Short Poems from the North Pole by Bob Raczka, illustrated by Chuck Groenink

April 15, 2016 by

NPMBlogTour2016

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 32 pgs.
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Santa Clauses: Short Poems from the North Pole by Bob Raczka, illustrated by Chuck Groenink, emphasizes what we already know about Santa Claus and his life as a gift giver, toy maker, husband, and reindeer trainer.  But he has one more talent, a secret talent — he’s a poet who write haiku.  Inside this book, there are 25 haiku poems that illustrate life at the North Pole, giving young readers and inside look at what it is like to be Santa Claus.

Although some of the haiku are not perfect, and one or two are a bit simplistic, overall the haiku are fun to read, and would make a great addition to the holiday reading list with little kids.  My favorite haiku is the one in which Mrs. Claus becomes a young girl again, making a snow angel.  My daughter loves the part when Comet and the white fox return from the woods with their own Christmas tree, helping Santa with his preparations.

Some of the haiku will have readers thinking about the stories they know well, and others will have readers looking at things a little differently.  Santa Clauses: Short Poems from the North Pole by Bob Raczka, illustrated by Chuck Groenink, is a cute book with short poems that could be read one day at a time beginning on Dec. 1.

Rating: Quatrain

About the Author:

Bob Raczka loved to draw, especially dinosaurs, cars and airplanes, as a boy. He spent a lot of time making paper airplanes and model rockets. He studied art in college, which came in quite handy while writing a series of art appreciation books, Bob Raczka’s Art Adventures. He also studied advertising, a creative field in which he worked in for more than 25 years. Bob also discovered how much he loved poetry and began writing his own. His message for today’s kids is to make stuff!”

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, children's fiction, Events, national poetry month, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Coming Up Hot: Eight New Poets from the Caribbean

April 14, 2016 by

Source: Akashic Books, Peekash Press
Paperback, 208 pgs.
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Coming Up Hot: Eight New Poets from the Caribbean, with a preface from Kwame Dawes, features poems from Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, Danielle Jennings, Ruel Johnson, Monica Minott, Debra Providence, Shivanee Ramlochan, Colin Robinson, and Sassy Ross.  There is a variety of poems in this collection that speak to the culture of the Caribbean, but also to the loss of culture among those who move away to the United States or other locations.  Some poems beautifully capture the dialect of the language and the beat of the culture without detracting from the readers’ enjoyment, but there are a few poems that can be difficult to understand and will require additional attention if readers are unfamiliar with the Caribbean dialects used.

Kwame Dawes says in the preface, “It is important and admirable that this gathering of poets allows us to explore the meaning of these ides of home.”  This is an apt description of this collection because in it are poems that range from finding a place in a college classroom, even among those with a similar culture, to a mother explaining to her child that she is not a home or a mother, though her “womb” knows her.  These narrators are looking for that feeling of belonging, being able to settle down and be content.  Their lives are in flux, and some are embroiled in violence or destructive behavior, but all of these voices are strong and determined.  They rely on their heritage from the cultural nuances they were taught by family to the ones they have learned on their own.

In “The Haunting of His Name” by Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné’s narrator talks about how the love of a man can be haunting even if that man is abusive or not good to you.  There’s prescription here for how to get over him: “You must not love him,/so you bind yourself/with hunger and smoke,/sing hard against/your body’s silence.”  This is a man who will not leave you, so you must  wash “him from the temple of your heart.”  In her poem, “Learning to Breathe in Luminous Water,” the narrator explains that you only need to teach yourself to breathe underwater, learn to deal with the hardships and transform or overcome the obstacles ahead.  Almost by a matter of sheer will, the woman can find a way through.

Like Monica Minott’s “Penelope to Calypso,” women must learn to accept what has happened or how the world has come to pass, but they have the power to move forward or accept a new path that they carve on their own.  Penelope says to Calypso, “Odysseus is like driftwood;/long before he met you and me/he belonged to the sea./When driftwood wash up,/they make interesting furnishings/and conversation piece/”  It is clear that these women are strong enough to stand on their own.  On the other side of the coin, when the connections are right, women should know how that feels, even if it is a little like the snapper trapped by the “Fisherman’s Net.”

Coming Up Hot: Eight New Poets from the Caribbean is a collection of empowerment for women and men alike, for the immigrants searching for new opportunities.  Like all opportunities, there are challenges that must be met and overcome, but seeking strength from the outside is not always the best solution.  Inner strength can ensure the path is endurable and that opportunities are not lost.

Rating: Quatrain

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, Events, national poetry month, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Field Work by Seamus Heaney

April 12, 2016 by

Source: Purchased
Paperback, 80 pgs.
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Field Work by Seamus Heaney is a collection of poems that follow his removal from Belfast, Ireland, to the country south of Dublin in the County Wicklow.  It’s clear that even as his family has been away from the troubles in Northern Ireland, they are still foremost in his mind and poems.  Some of these poems are elegies to the friends and family he has lost along the way, but these poems are less focused on the political and more focused on his internal, emotional struggle with the issues in Ireland.  In “Oysters,” the narrator talks of himself as an estuary in which the oysters atop, and as he tastes the saltiness he recognizes that the oysters are “alive and violated.”  As the poem evolves, it is clear that the oysters are Ireland, split in two — ripped apart violently.  As the narrator eats, he recognizes that he must be deliberate in his actions or he will be forced into action, actions that could be reckless.

In “Casualty,” the narrator wants to supply a full picture of the Irish struggle — a man sits at a bar and continues to drink from the high shelf and he’s a “dole-breadwinner.”  But soon we see him through the eyes of the narrator, a man with a quick, observant eye.  His death is swift and among the other 12 in a Derry blast, in which “Everybody held/his breath and trembled.”  A man that questioned and raised concerns, simply swept away by a random decision to enter an bar that was not his usual.  How many times can we say we have deviated from our routines and how soon before we find ourselves the next casualty of a decision we had no idea was bad.

The downtrodden, the working class, and others are here between these pages.  “The gunwale’s lifting ear –/trusting the gift,/risking gift’s undertow–/is unmanned now//” (“In Memoriam Sean O’Riada”)  In a nod to Yeats, Heaney examines what the artist and musician means to him, but cautions that he is not the same as the fisherman that Yeats held in esteem.  There are several references and allusions to Yeats in this collection.

However, one of the best rendered sections may be the “Glanmore Sonnets” where Heaney turns his keen eye to the country around him.  Here he demonstrates his love for the people in the country and their welcoming nature, though his thoughts do turn to other times, especially during a “first night … in that hotel … ”

X

I dreamt we slept in a moss in Donegal
On turf banks under blankets, with our faces
Exposed all night in a wetting drizzle,
Pallid as the dripping sapling birches.
Lorenzo and Jessica in a cold climate.
Diarmuid and Grainne waiting to be found.
Darkly asperged and censed, we were laid out
Like breathing effigies on a raised ground.
And in that dream I dreamt -- how like you this? --
Our first night years ago in that hotel
When you came with your deliberate kiss
To raise us towards the lovely and painful
Covenants of flesh; our separateness;
The respite in our dewy dreaming faces.

There is a dream-like quality to many of these poems, as Heaney meditates on the past and the present issues facing Ireland. The narrator says in “High Summer,” “On the last day, when I was clearing up,/on a warm ledge I found a bag of maggots/and opened it. A black/and throbbing swarm came riddling out/life newsreel of a police force run amok,/sunspotting flies in gauzy meaty flight,/the barristers and black berets of light.//” It’s clear that the struggles are ever-present, even in the country, and there is no escaping their dark shadows even in Field Work by Seamus Heaney.

About the Poet:

Seamus Heaney was an Irish poet, writer and lecturer from County Derry, Ireland. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, “for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past.”

Filed Under: challenges, Events, national poetry month, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, purchased, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Normal Norman by Tara Lazar, illustrated by S. Britt

April 8, 2016 by

Source: Sterling Children’s Books
Hardcover, 40 pgs.
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Normal Norman by Tara Lazar, illustrated by S. Britt, is a very colorful book about a junior scientist and Norman, a gorilla.  The junior scientist in a lab seeks to define what “normal” is, and in so doing, she comes to learn that normal is indefinable.  Norman is a gorilla who wears eye glasses and carries a stuffed aardvark.  Upon examining Norman, the junior scientist finds that his head size is normal, as are his paws and ears.  However, as the examination progresses, she learns that he doesn’t eat bananas or sleep on leaves in the jungle.

The junior scientist increasingly gets frustrated as she finds her subject does not fit what she deems to be normal.  Eventually throughout the book, she realizes that normal does not necessarily mean the same thing for everyone.  One person’s normal is not everyone’s normal.  The illustrations are engaging and colorful, and my daughter was intrigued about this use of the scientific method.  She giggled when Norman would do something outside the norm.

Normal Norman by Tara Lazar, illustrated by S. Britt, is a good book for parents and children to discuss individuality and what it means to be normal.  At the conclusion of the book, we talked about normal and what it means to us as individuals, and kids will find that Norman’s normal is just as fun and exciting as someone else’s normal.

Rating: Quatrain

About the Author:

Street magic performer. Award-winning ice sculptor. Hog-calling champion. These are all things Tara Lazar has never been. Instead, she prefers baking with her daughters, creating jewelry, and writing stories for children. THE MONSTORE is her first book, inspired by her pesky little brother (who is no longer so pesky). Tara has several picture books to be published in the coming years. I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BEAR BOOK and LITTLE RED GLIDING HOOD were both released in Fall 2015. Next up: NORMAL NORMAN on March 1, 2016.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2016, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Ghost Sick by Emily Pohl-Weary

April 7, 2016 by

Source: Tightrope Books
Paperback, 150 pgs.
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Ghost Sick by Emily Pohl-Weary is a collection of poems that witness. They are testimony, commentary, and emotional responses to the crime, drugs, loss of innocence and more in a Toronto neighborhood and other places where lives are wasted and lost too easily. In “World of Sorrow,” the narrator says, “I had no way of comprehending/it only takes a second to tear/the spirit from a young body//” More often than not, young people believe they are invincible, and it is this naivete that leaves them especially vulnerable to waste, decay, and death. Pohl-Weary laments these losses, and she struggles to come to terms with those who have been lost and the potential they may have had under different circumstances.

Her images are playful, but then turn sinister, like in “Falling Angel,” where the narrator says, “Our honey gigolo, haloed, wary/Smiling at women, the boy who would kill//Carried disaster in the tilt of his chin/tightness of his shoulders, heavy droop of eyelids//”  What causes this young man to become a murder, and what does it mean for those around him.  Growing up in this neighborhood, the young must be forever watchful of how they are perceived by others and ensure that their actions cannot be the cause of another’s death or harm.  As the narrator in “Never Say Goodbye” indicates, “life is a process of hardening//” and it can even happen when you’re young and having a good time.

Nearly a third of the way through the volume, the poet asks, “How many candlelight vigils/will it take to light the sky/with grief?” (“The Gentle Giant”)  But in the same section, the narrator says in “Those Who Died,” “Remember that you live where they did not./You are the survivor and the advocate./You must live for those who died.//”  It is the pressure many surviving family members and friends place on themselves — to advocate for those who can no longer speak for themselves.  In many ways, these are the people who are “ghost sick” because they are the most haunted by those they have lost, and they are unable to escape that pressure.

Craft Supplies (pg. 51)

a wise woman once told me
you can't expect miracles
from dollar store markers
though they're often realized
in the most unusual, tawdry places
like the bottom of a bin

Readers will find that not all is dreary in Pohl-Weary’s world, as hope remains an eternal spring even in the darkest places. It can be held by a child with potential, a community that listens and acts, or even in the depths of a dream resurfacing for someone who has been lost. We, the living, are the ones that are haunting the dead with our emptiness at their leaving. We need to fill those holes and move on, so that they may do the same, as the narrator in “Meaning” suggests.

Ghost Sick by Emily Pohl-Weary is a profound collection that will have readers looking at their own losses to determine if they have filled those empty holes.

Rating: Cinquain

About the Poet:

Award-winning author, editor, and creative writing instructor Emily Pohl-Weary has published seven books, a series of girl pirate comics, and her own literary magazine.

She was the 2015 writer-in-residence for Queen’s University, where she mentored students and facilitating a workshop for people affected by incarceration. She has also been the University of the Fraser Valley’s Kuldip Gill Writing Fellowship Writer in Residence in B.C., and the Toronto Public Library system’s eWriter-in-Residence for Young Voices. She was also fortunate to be Dawson City, Yukon’s writer-in-residence at the Pierre Berton House.

Her most recent book is a collection of poetry, Ghost Sick, which was released in February 2015. Her novel for teens, Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl, was published by Penguin Razorbill (Canada) and Skyscape (U.S.A.) in fall 2013. Her five previous books include Strange Times at Western High, Girls Who Bite Back, A Girl Like Sugar, Iron-on Constellations, and Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril.

Emily is also a current creative writing instructor at the University of Dalhousie. For more than a decade she has also facilitated creative writing workshops that focus on advanced writing skills, learning tools for conflict-resolution and processing trauma, and finding your unique voice.

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, Events, national poetry month, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Read in 2016, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Mendeleev’s Mandala by Jessica Goodfellow

April 5, 2016 by

NPMBlogTour2016

Source: Mayapple Press
Paperback, 100 pgs.
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Mendeleev’s Mandala by Jessica Goodfellow is broken down into five sections, mixing in elements of mathematics, science, and various poetic styles.  Dmitri Mendeleev is considered the father of the periodic table, and like Mendeleev, Goodfellow carefully crafts each poem with a larger picture in mind, and in these poems, she strives to capture all the necessary elements for her own mandala to create a microcosm of her own struggles.

In part one, she lays down the foundation, uncovering hidden truths in a variety of stories from Iphigenia and Isaac to theories of gravity and continental drift. Each are treated similarly in that they are picked apart for their weaknesses, but also used to demonstrate the categorization and delineation that continues to occur now, as humans seek to understand the unknown.  Like in “Imagine No Apples,” the apples fall from the tree but never too far from the Omega, which in many ways is the end.  Even as we begin, we are never far from our ending, and the circle continues in a loop.  What would happen if there were no apples — no alpha, no beginning?  Would there be an omega?

“of what use is this thirst for things
resembling other things, this endless trying
to wring milk from a two-headed cow.” (pg. 26, “Burning Aunt Hisako”)

Humanity has a hard time reconciling reason with the unknown; and in many ways, we presume that because we reason that everything is knowable. This is not the case.  Section two of the collection is a rumination on time — time as it passes and our place in it.  It is the strongest part of the collection in terms of cohesion.  We want to be the candle flame, but we are more like the melting wax, the narrator notes in “In Praise of the Candle Clock.”  And as the narration continues regarding the development of the clock to its modern form, so too does its function and our perception of time.  Goodfellow has beautifully rendered this transformation from the shape-poem “Ode to the Hourglass” to “The Invention of the Clock Face.”  But most heart-wrenching is “Three Views of Mars” where perception is broken down by one who can see, one whose field of vision has narrowed considerably, and to one who is innocent and just beginning to see the world.

Mendeleev’s Mandala by Jessica Goodfellow is a look beyond the world of facts and science into the world of emotion, spirituality, faith, and more.  These poems remind us that even as we reason, we can view things completely wrong.  The mandala is larger than any one of us, but we all have roles to play, and we should do so to the best of our abilities, even if it all does seem rather random.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Poet:

Jessica Goodfellow grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but has spent the last twenty years in California, Florida, and Japan. She received an MS degree from the California Institute of Technology and an MA in linguistics from the University of New England. Her first book of poetry, The Insomniac’s Weather Report (three candles press), won the Three Candles Press First Book Prize, and was reissued by Isobar Press in 2014. Her new book Mendeleev’s Mandala is available from Mayapple Press (2015). She is also the author of a poetry chapbook, A Pilgrim’s Guide to Chaos in the Heartland (Concerete Wolf, 2006), winner of the Concrete Wolf Chapbook Competition. Her work has appeared in the anthology Best New Poets 2006, on the website Verse Daily, and has been featured by Garrison Keillor on NPR”s “The Writer’s Almanac.” She was a recipient of the Chad Walsh Poetry Prize from the Beloit Poetry Journal, and her work has been honored with the Linda Julian Essay Award as well as the Sue Lile Inman Fiction Prize, both from the Emrys Foundation. Her work has appeared in Motionpoems Season 6. Jessica currently lives in Japan with her husband and sons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, Events, national poetry month, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Read in 2016, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes

April 1, 2016 by

NPMBlogTour2016

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 48 pgs.
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Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes, is a collection of poems that rely on imagery and play off the illustrations on the page to help the readers guess what animal or element of the meadow is being talked about.  These colors are gorgeous, and the shadowing in the pictures add depth to the pictures.  While these concepts are a little harder for younger kids, the book does offer some additional information about meadow animals and the life cycle, which can be used to teach younger kids about nature.

Sidman includes a number of poetic styles, and this could help teachers combine earth science and literature teachings, reinforcing concepts and making learning more fun with the riddles.  The poems are at times a little more cryptic than necessary, especially for concepts like xylem and phloem, but there are other poems that accompany just the right picture to help kids visualize what the words are trying to convey.

Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes, is well illustrated and very visual, which is great for younger readers.  The poetry is in riddle form, so that kids can catch on to word clues along with the visual queues to figure out what animal or element of the meadow is being discussed.  The book is aimed at older readers already past kindergarten, but my daughter did have fun trying to guess what animals were being talked about.

Rating: Tercet

About the Author:

Joyce Sidman lives in Wayzata, Minnesota, with her husband and dog, Watson. They have two sons, but they’ve grown up, so she set her mind to creating books.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, children's fiction, Events, national poetry month, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

The Trouble to Check Her by Maria Grace

March 31, 2016 by

Source: Maria Grace
Paperback, 384 pgs.
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The Trouble to Check Her by Maria Grace (Book 2 in The Queen of Rosings Park series) and Lizzy and Darcy are not the stars of this one.  Lydia is always portrayed as the youngest, silliest sister who gets herself into the worst trouble, forcing Darcy to rescue her and pay Wickham to take her.  What if there were an alternative?  What if she was caught soon enough and could be sent to what is essentially reform school?

Lydia is ungrateful, as she pines for Wickham at Mrs. Drummond’s school, but she soon learns that there is little sympathy among the other students.  She misses Wickham, hates Darcy and Lizzy and her father, and has little love for Mrs. Drummond or Miss Fitzgilbert.  Despite her reluctance to do the chores set before her and the charitable visits to the alms houses and other places in Summerseat, she finds herself growing closer to Miss Fitzgilbert and Juliana, who is even more of a fallen woman than she is.  The lessons on numbers do not stick with her, but her lessons in drawing and painting and music are her saving grace.  Her pencil flits across the page and she creates realistic pictures of her friends and various situations. 

Her new friends are a balm to her loneliness, and she soon finds her place at the school, even though there are a few students who try to make her stay uncomfortable.  As Lydia uncovers her creative side, she begins to see her other friends at the school as less than pleasant, especially when they blame her for things that she did not do.   The Trouble to Check Her by Maria Grace (Book 2 in The Queen of Rosings Park series) is refreshing and enjoyable, and Lydia grows and evolves in the most wonderful ways, while maintaining her sense of humor and ability to enjoy sisterly interaction.

Rating: Cinquain

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About the Author:

Though Maria Grace has been writing fiction since she was ten years old, those early efforts happily reside in a file drawer and are unlikely to see the light of day again, for which many are grateful. After penning five file-drawer novels in high school, she took a break from writing to pursue college and earn her doctorate in Educational Psychology. After 16 years of university teaching, she returned to her first love, fiction writing.

She has one husband, two graduate degrees and two black belts, three sons, four undergraduate majors, five nieces, sewn six Regency era costumes, written seven Regency-era fiction projects, and designed eight websites. To round out the list, she cooks for nine in order to accommodate the growing boys and usually makes ten meals at a time so she only cooks twice a month.

Filed Under: ARC, fiction, Read in 2016, reviews Tagged With: , ,