Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Green Bean Teen Queen that highlights great reads for tweens.
Title: Shakespeare Bats Cleanup
Author: Ron Koertge
Paperback: 116 pages
Publisher: Candlewick (February 2006)
Genre: novel in verse
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Liliha Public Library
Review:
This novel in verse is told from the point of view of 14-year-old Kevin Boland, who while he is laid up at home for months with a bout of mono is given a journal by his writer father and writes poems from a book in his father's library. By playing with different forms of poetry, Kevin shares his thoughts on the loss of his mother, baseball and making out with girls. Even after he's better, he continues to write poems. The genius in this type of book is that it shows young readers that poetry can be about anything. I also like it because like Locomotion (Jacqueline Woodson) and Love That Dog (Sharon Creech), the protagonist is a young boy finding his voice for the very first time and using writing as a way to express his sorrows and frustrations.
1 comment:
What I love about this book besides the fact that it is poetry written by a young man, it also has a supports related theme, which will be engaging to a wider male audience. Thanks for turning me on to this title. I will be sure to get this before my poetry unit this year.
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