Review by Booklist Review
This skillful first novel by poet Shovan features 18 characters who narrate their pivotal fifth-grade year in a variety of poetic forms. The class is torn about the future of their school building, which the district is actively planning to close, spurring some to political action by petitioning to save Emerson Elementary. Meanwhile, friends are made and lost, crushes bloom, and the students' home lives impact their school lives. At times the sheer number of protagonists, all given equal billing, makes this novel in verse difficult to follow. However, the multiethnic class is distinctive, and readers will grow to care about students' personal struggles, such as whether Gaby's English improves or Mark's grief over his father's death will heal. Back matter on the types of poems utilized will prove useful for those wanting to learn more about poetic forms, and can make for interesting exercises for classroom teachers. A worthwhile book for all libraries, this will appeal to readers looking to spend quality time with kids like themselves.--Cruze, Karen Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This entertaining debut novel in verse follows the fifth graders at Emerson Elementary as they attempt to save their "run-down" school, which is danger of closing. In an ethnically diverse class featuring familiar rivalries and crushes, each student has an opportunity to be his or herself in journal entries destined for a time capsule, which are seen only by their teacher, Ms. Hill. In page-long entries, Shovan skillfully employ different poetic forms and styles-haikus, rhymes, acrostics, free verse, limericks, and more (all discussed in an endnote)-to express the students' personalities, though 18 distinct voices are a lot to track. Characters like Norah from Jerusalem; George, whose father recently left home; Shoshanna, dealing with a demanding friend ("When Hannah wins/ class president/ I'll finally be free./ If she is boss/ of our whole grade/ she won't be bossing me"); and Brianna, whose mother struggles to make ends meet, will inspire readers as they find the courage to save their school and make their voices heard, both as a united front and as capable, valuable individuals. Ages 8-12. Agent: Stephen Barbara, Inkwell Management. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-When the land where their school is located is sold to build a supermarket, 18 fifth graders use poetry to tell the story of their loss. Each student has a unique voice reflecting personality, culture, and individual challenges. Some fight the change. Others embrace new possibilities. Soon they will be scattered to other schools. It is a year of final events, each commemorated by the students in their own ways and each recorded through poems that will be gathered in a time capsule. This presentation is beautifully performed by Jonathan Todd Ross, Kevin R. Free, Jessica Almasy, Almarie Guerra, Jill Frutkin, Cherise Boothe, and Rachel Botchan, who bring each child to life. The poems are short and evocative, encapsulating emotion in a few brief words. A final note provides further information about the poetic forms used in the book. Because many poems depend not only on their auditory but also their visual qualities, the audiobook is most effective when accompanied by the print title. -VERDICT This is a tender, heartwarming homage to friendship, growth, and change that would be a terrific addition to classroom and library collections and offer a nice jumping-off point for poetry units in both primary and middle schools. ["A most impressive debut": SLJ 3/16 review of the Wendy Lamb book.]-Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary, Federal Way, WA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Eighteen students will be in Ms. Hills last fifth-grade class, before bulldozers destroy Emerson Elementary to make room for a grocery store. Inspired by Ms. Hills past as a peaceful protester, the kids in her racially diverse classroom learn to voice their own opinions about the closing of their beloved school. Charismatic George attempts to stage a demonstration. Katies mom is an architect working on the new building, but Katie chooses to stand with her classmates, while other students, such as bossy Hannah and quiet Sydney, relish the fresh start a new school could give them. Each student writes his or her opinions and concerns as poems, in notebooks they will eventually bury with a time capsule. They experiment with different stylessome poems are in free verse, some rhyme; some are serious (Top Ten Things That Stink When Your Father Dies), others silly; Gabys are in both Spanish and English; and some characters seem to be more fond of writing than others. By the end of the year everyone has learned to say what he or she means creatively. The poems are easy to read, in authentic-sounding language that captures the poets personalities; avatar-like illustrations accompany each piece to remind readers of whos who. A helpful guide to poetic forms appears at the end of the book. sarah berman (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This novel in verse is a remarkable feat of mimicry. The poems sound exactly like they were written by real fifth-graders. Ms. Hill's students, a diverse bunch judging by their names and their pictures, are required to write a poem every morning. (They listen to folk music while they're writing, which says a lot about Ms. Hill.) One Seuss-inspired poem includes the stanza "Some kids are glad and some are sad. / You sit by Teacher. Were you bad?" That level of authenticity is hard to take unless it reveals something about the characters' personalities. Happily, many of the students are worth getting to know, like Newt Mathews, a boy with Asperger's who rescues the frogs hiding in the school's back brick wall. Their story is compelling enough: as the title hints, the students are trying to prevent their school from being torn down. But too much of the plot feels conventional. When a student gets a crush on a girl who claims to hate him, some readers will pray that they don't fall in love. The last section of the book is full of lovely, inventive moments. A set of instructions for making a flipbook somehow becomes a metaphor for loss. But too many poemsespecially a bad parody of "Big Yellow Taxi"simply don't work. Readers may wonder if they really needed a poem for every day of the school year. (glossary, guide to poetic forms) (Verse novel. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
