Andrew Fusek Peters is the author of "Bear and Turtle and the Great Lake Race" and "The Tiger and the Wise Man."
Gr 6-9-While the subjects addressed by these mostly modern poets are current (teen pregnancy, school violence, dating), the uninspiring selections try too hard to be trendy. The rhymes are forced and obvious, and some of the free-verse poems play with space and shape-only to draw attention to the fact that they say nothing ("We're so pretty. We're so zitty/We're the spotty crew./Bad skin's fab, so grab a scab/and an abscess or two"). These words definitely won't intrigue today's readers; in fact, they may actually insult them. Even "Extract from Killing Time," which is a Columbine metaphor (using flowers instead of bullets), fails miserably and closes with a trite conclusion. The black-and-white sketches are stark, flat, and emotionless.-Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
