Tag: novel in verse

Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Inside Out and Back Again

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

inside outThe Newbery honor book Inside Out and Back Again (HarperCollins, 2011) by Thanhha Lai is written in verse snapshots. Here’s a brief summary of the story:
It’s 1975, 10-year-old Hà, her mother and 3 older brothers must leave Saigon, Vietnam. Schools were closed a month early, the president has resigned, the communists are coming. They pack up and head for the Navy ships to escape. They end up on the island of Guam and then in Alabama.

Thanhha brings Hà and her family to life. I love the line: “It’s hard to be grateful when you feel stupid because you don’t know the language.”

I also enjoyed the inside story on how the author wrote this award winning story. Read the article here. Read more about her and her books here.

Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Hate That Cat

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

HATE THAT CATI’ve long wondered if there were any novels written in verse that didn’t have girl main characters. Now, I know there’s at least one. I stumbled across Hate That Cat (Joanna Cotler Books, 2008) by master writer Sharon Creech. In it I met Jack, and traveled through his school year with him. He made me laugh out loud a number of times as he himself is learning about poetry and poets. (Regarding the latter, he always wants to know if they are alive.) Jack also tugged on my heart strings. Isn’t he lucky to have Ms Stretchberry as his teacher? Again.
LOVE THAT DOGNow I’ve found out that Hate that Cat is a sequel to Love that Dog. Even though the second book revealed what happened to the dog, I still have to go get the story and read it. I think I might also need to share these books with my grandsons now that they are old enough.
Sharon shares the inspiration for these stories and tidbits about them on her site. Click on novels, then choose which one you want to read about.

Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Sweetgrass Basket

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

sweet-grassbasket.jpgYou thought you had it tough?

Try early 1900s when you are forced to leave your father and go to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School where people look down on you!
In Sweetgrass Basket (Dutton, 2005) by Marlene Carvell, Mohawk sisters, Mattie and Sarah, are sent away after the death of their mother. This novel is told in verse and from both girls’ viewpoints. It’s hard for them to have to think in English and to give up their culture, but it’s harder knowing they can’t see their father.
Thanks to Readergirlz for introducing me to this historical novel!
Marlene Carvell was inspired to write this story based on her husband’s great-aunt’s experience. Read more about the author at Readergirlz and on the Strong Nations site.

Posted in So Many Good Books, YA Novels

Two novels in verse about grief by Lisa Schroeder

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

I heart you, you haunt me (Simon Pulse 2008) and Far from You (Simon Pulse 2009) by Lisa Schroeder both deal with the grief caused by death.
iheartyouIn the first book, I heart you, you haunt me, Ava’s boyfriend has died and we see what she’s thinking in short tight verse. One moving example:
“If tears
could bring him back,
there’d be enough
to bring him back
a hundred times.”
But then Ava starts hearing and seeing Jackson. Is she going crazy or is he a ghost? If he’s a ghost, why is he haunting her?

farfromyou.gifIn Lisa’s second book, Far from You, Alice’s grief is much older than Ava’s, but still Alice has not let it go. She’s resentful of her stepmother and her newborn half-sister (emphasis on half!). She and her best friend have had a disagreement and aren’t really talking. Alice’s dad makes her go on a trip with the three of them and a snowstorm changes her life.

Read about this Oregon author at www.lisaschroederbooks.com. I met Lisa through the creator of KidLit Central. Thanks, Kim, for the introduction and for loaning me the last book.