Morgan Hansen LIS848, Group 1 Bibliographic Essay July 6, 2009 The Other Format Kids, Tweens, and Teens Can’t Get Enough Of: Annotated Bibliography of Novels in Verse Bryant, Jennifer. The Trial. New York. NY: A.A. Knopf, 2004. Ages 9-13. When Charles Lindbergh’s infant son was snatched from his crib in 1932, people across America demanded Bruno Richard Hauptmann receive the just punishment he deserved. Twelve year old Katie Leigh Flynn gets the chance of a lifetime to watch this unfold in the courtroom of her New Jersey hometown. Through the effective use of non-rhyming poems reminiscent of newspaper articles and suspense, Jen Bryant gives readers a front row seat to one of the twentieth century’s most famous criminal trials. Cheng, Andrea. Where the Steps Were. Honesdale, PA: WordSong, 2008. Ages 8-12. As another school year begins, five third-graders are told Pleasant Hill School in Cincinnati will be demolished in May. Even though this change is about to occur, the students’ teacher trudges forward in teaching them about African Americans struggle for equal rights. Written in free verse poems alternating between the five students, Where the Steps Were moves quickly yet authentically tells the stories of the narrators’ lives. Creech, Sharon. Love That Dog. New York, NY: Joanna Cotler Books, 2003. Ages 8-12. Jack is adamant that he will not write poetry because only girls do that. However, his opinion begins to change as his teacher Miss Stretchberry introduces him to work by authors like Robert Frost, Walter Dean Myers, and William Blake. Many elementary school children will relate to Creech’s humorous yet thought-provoking tale told in various forms of writing poetry for the first time. Crist-Evans, Craig. North of Everything. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2004. Ages 10-14. Among the two most difficult words a young person could hear from his parents is the phrase, “we’re moving.” As if this isn’t enough to deal with, the unnamed narrator must also adjust to a pregnant mother, then a new sister, and then a father who becomes ill with cancer. Crist-Evans gently but evocatively uses free verse poems to tell the emotional story of a family who realizes that living in a simpler environment doesn’t necessarily equate a life free of difficulty.
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Frost, Helen. Keesha’s House. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. Ages 15-18. Six teens stumble their way to the house in an inner-city neighborhood where Keesha has found refuge. Each one is attempting to cope with difficult circumstances, such as pregnancy, parents who are in prison, abuse, homosexuality, and crime convictions. Through a series of poems in various forms written from many perspectives, Frost writes candidly and realistically about youth facing dead ends in their lives who find hope in each other. Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade. New York, NY: Dial Books, 2002. Ages 15-18. At a high school in the Bronx, the students in Mr. Ward’s English class are studying poetry from the Harlem Renaissance and discover that words written long ago ring true in their lives. Eighteen students react by composing a piece of their own for Open Mike Friday. Using a combination of prose and verse, Grimes writes honestly about the challenges young people face in an urban environment. Herrera, Juan Felipe. Downtown Boy. New York, NY: Scholastic Press, 2005. Ages 10-14. To most ten year old boys, moving to a new place is difficult to deal with but for Juanito, son of migrant workers, it’s just a part of life. Another constant in his life seems to be getting tangled up with mischief, but Juanito wishes this wasn’t so. Using California in the 1950s as his backdrop, Herrera expertly infuses this string of free verse poems with vivid descriptions of the occurrences that are Juanito’s world. Hopkins, Ellen. Identical. New York, NY: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008. Ages 15-18. From the outside, identical twin sisters Kaeleigh and Raeanne’s family looks like they have achieved the American dream: their mom is campaigning for public office and their father is a district-court judge. Beneath the campaign signs and gavels, however, this family is hiding dark secrets of abuse, drugs, sex, and alcohol. Replete with emotion, Hopkins sharply uses free verse poetry to convey the life of a broken family. Levithan, David. The Realm of Possibility. New York, NY: Knopf, 2004. Ages 15-18 Twenty high school students discover that what is possible is not a fixed point but one that is changed and expanded every day. Planes fly, phones fit in pants pockets, a girl longs to be with another, and two boys celebrate their anniversary together. Groups of four poems in a variety of writing styles contained in free verse from the perspective of these twenty narrators tell interconnected, honest stories of homosexual and heterosexual love and the joy that comes from it.
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LeZotte, Ann Clare. T4: a novel in verse. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Ages 12-18. When the Nazi party took control of Germany in the 1930s, many people were forced to go into hiding lest they be captured and transported to concentration camps. Thirteen year old Paula Becker, who is deaf, is one of these individuals since her disability makes her a target of Hitler’s Tiergartenstrasse 4 (T4) mandated euthanizing of all people with permanent mental or physical conditions. Offering a perspective not often seen amongst Holocaust era literature, LeZotte combines her own experiences as a deaf individual with facts from history to create an emotionally intense tale told through free verse poems. Nelson, Marilyn. Carver, a life in poems. Asheville, N.C.: Front Street, 2001. Ages 10-14. Born into slavery, George Washington Carver’s life certainly was not an easy one, yet he triumphed over adversity to become one of the most famous African American scientists in history. To honor his memory, Nelson has written a collection of lyrical poems from the perspective of individuals who knew Carver at various stages in his life, as well as through the scientists own voice. Each one is simply written, yet replete with the goodness, dedication, and beauty Carver lived his life with. Sones, Sonya. One of those Hideous Books where the Mother Dies. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2004. Ages 15-18. Readers will not be surprised when they read in the first free verse poem that Ruby’s mother has died. Ruby must now go live with her estranged father in LA, thousands of miles from Boston and everything and everyone that she’s known in her fifteen years of life. This new life is an odd, yet effective combination of being spoiled rotten like a princess and a struggle to process the grief of her mother’s absence that creates a funny, thought-provoking novel in free verse. Spinelli, Eileen. Where I Live. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2007. Ages 7-11. In recent months, many children have heard their parents say the say thing Diana’s do: “I lost my job last week.” Much to Diana’s chagrin, her family copes with this loss by moving in with her grandpa in Pittsburgh which is a six hour drive from where they live now. Combining free verse poems with simple yet powerful pencil drawings, Where I Live is infused with imagery and symbolism that tell this tale of a child who must adjust to many changes. Testa, Maria. Almost Forever. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2003. Ages 7-11. As a family decorates their Christmas tree in 1967 they receive a letter containing the word Vietnam, signifying that the father of the family must go to this country to serve in the US Army Medical Corps. The young narrator of Almost Forever struggles to
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understand why Daddy must go and wonder if Daddy is every coming back. In a collection of 30 free verse poems, this work tenderly yet realistically demonstrates what many American families experienced as the war raged in Vietnam. Woodson, Jacqueline. Locomotion. New York, NY: Speak, 2003. Ages 10-14. Lonnie Motion’s eleven years of life have not been easy ones: he lost his parents when he was seven, was separated from his only sister, and is forced to live with a strict foster mom in an urban environment that is unforgiving to African Americans like Lonnie. Through the encouragement of his teacher, Ms. Marcus, this young man discovers that writing poetry can be an outlet to express his unsorted and unprocessed emotions. Presenting various poetic forms, Woodson crafts an emotional plot told through the realistic voice of a youth struggling through the difficult circumstances that are his life. Bibliographic Essay As I began contemplating what trend I might be interested in exploring, the bookshelf that contains my personal library of materials for youth was in my line of sight. Love That Dog by Sharon Creech caught my eye, partially because of the book’s bright yellow cover and spine. More importantly, I was transported back to when I first read this book during a children’s literature class as part of my undergraduate degree. I recalled I finished the book in thirty minutes (or less), but was laughing almost the entire time. I also recalled during my pre-student teaching classroom experience, one group of students read this book and became inspired to write their own poetry in a variety of forms (even concrete). As soon as I spied this book that I love so much, – and have witnessed others fall in love with – I knew immediately that I wanted to delve deeper into the world of novels in verse. A good place to start when examining anything, such as a trend in literature for example, is to define it. This ensures that language is used consistently by anyone discussing the subject and reduces any disagreements due to misunderstanding. At the beginning of the article “Vetting the Verse Novel”, Patty Campbell wittingly offers this definition of novels in verse… in verse:
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The verse novel? What is it? It’s poetry. Poetry? What is it? Who knows. Maybe Webster knows Or at least American Heritage Aha! “A composition designed to convey a vivid and imaginative sense of experience, characterized by the use of condensed language chosen for its sound and suggestive power as well as its meaning, and by the use of such literary techniques as structured meter, natural cadences, rhyme, or metaphor.” Which about sums it up Except for the part about rhyme. (611) So it’s not just shortened lines that make poetry (and thus novels in verse). Poetry is defined just as much by the words that are chosen (and not chosen) as how many of them are on a line, how many syllables make up each phrase, and whether the lines rhyme or not. Because poetry is so much more than form, there are numerous shapes that it can take; thus, the novel in verse can also “look” very different from one to the next. For the vast majority, these books are written in free verse form, which means that there are no rules as to number of syllables, rhyming structure, etc. This allows the author much more flexibility to tell his or her story, which is most likely why novel in verse authors prefer it. It is difficult enough to tell one story through a poem, and thus is much more taxing to write a collection of poems that each have their own tale and yet mesh together to form a much larger picture. A few novels have used traditional poetic forms; in most cases, the author will use a variety of forms. Examples of books where the author uses this tactic are Love That Dog by Sharon Creech and Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson. Another less used format of novels in verse is to alternate between poetry and prose, such as in Nikki Grimes’ Bronx Masquerade. Just as authors of novels in verse have chosen primarily to use free verse to construct their work, they have also been similar the subject matter they elect to write about. In exploring the depths of this trend, I observed that most books could be considered realistic fiction. That is, written about characters that youth could relate to, using the present day as the chronological setting. Exceptions to this rule are beginning to arrive on the scene however. Deviations from the rule thus far seem to be historical fiction (such as LeZotte’s T4 and Testa’s Almost Forever), and biographical (Nelson’s Carver: a Life in Poems and Your Own, Sylvia: a Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill). It will be interesting to see if realistic novels in verse continue to be
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the rule, or if other genres will become just as common (I would be quite intrigued to read a fantasy novel in verse). So when exactly did someone first get the idea that a collection of poems could indeed form a larger picture, that they could be more cohesive than being all being written by Shel Silverstein or about a specific subject like Valentine’s Day? The novel in verse as we now know it likely got its beginnings way back before novels in prose were the standard, which started to occur in the eighteenth century (Campbell 612). Then prose reigned as king for many centuries until the poetry collections of Mel Glenn in the late 1980s, followed by the book My Friend’s Got This Problem, Mr. Candler in 1991 in which the poems were concentrated strongly around a theme and a place. However, the first book to be officially recognized as a novel in verse is Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff, which was published in 1993 (Campbell 612). For the next few years, it remained to be Wolff and Glenn experimenting with this new way of presenting a story to youth (though a few well-known authors of prose, such as Robert Cormier, also tried verse). However, in 1998, novels in verse began to receive more mainstream recognition when Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust won the Newbery Award (Campbell 612). And thus began the trend we know as novels in verse, which continues to become more common each year. From 1993 until 2003, approximately thirty titles were published electing to use verse instead of prose. Compare this to the fourteen that were published from January until September of 2004, when Patty Campbell’s article “Vetting the Verse Novel” appeared in Horn Book Magazine, which where all of the preceding historical information is gleaned from. Now that novels in verse have become more and more popular, will they continue on this path or become yet another literary fad of the past? For a number of reasons, I believe these books will continue to be written, published and enjoyed by youth. First of all, novels in verse are a format and accompanying language not a plot characteristic or character. For examples sake, compare this to trends in clothes. I would compare novels in verse to short sleeve shirts. Various styles of this type of shirt (polo, plaid, floral, brightly colored, etc) may wax and wane as far as their popularity. However, short sleeve shirts will likely be part of many people’s wardrobes for years to come. Similarly, what novels in verse are written about, what types of characters they feature, whether they are realistic, humorous or imaginative may change over time but the fact that they are written in poetic form with well-chosen language will remain. Another characteristic that affects the staying power of novels in verse is the presence of ample white space on the pages. The fact that there are not words from the left side all the way to the right makes youth (perhaps especially reluctant readers) think the books won’t be so painstaking to read because there are less words (Sullivan 44). This is quite similar to the way graphic novels are appealing because they are composed primarily of pictures. Because novels in verse attract reluctant readers, I think these books will continue to exist. When a reluctant reader finds something he or she enjoys, the adults in that youth’s life are eager to get their hands on anything similar so the young person will continue reading. Unlike graphic novels, however, novels in verse are written for a wider range of audiences. In my experience, graphic novels are written mostly for middle school and high school youth. As will be evident in the next section, novels in verse appeal to midelementary school students all the way up through seniors in high school (and quite
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possibly beyond). Books also exist in this format that appeal to both genders and a wide variety of races and ethnicities (I could continue writing, but then I would be repeating what will be in the next few paragraphs). The more groups of people a genre appeals to, the better chance it has for standing the test of time, which I am confident will be the case with novels in verse. As I alluded to earlier, novels in verse appeal to a wide range of youth. I have attempted to select books for my bibliography that represent the diversity available within this trend. I have included books appropriate for elementary school, middle school, and high school students. I was conscious to choose books that featured male and female protagonists, so that my list includes titles that appeal to both genders. I have also included books with multicultural themes, characters with disabilities, and characters that are LGBTQ. Finally, my bibliography contains titles that will appeal to youth dealing with certain situations (moving, parent losing a job, death, etc). Below, I’ve included a list of the fifteen books in my bibliography, and the audiences to which they appeal. The diversity will of audiences will be quite apparent. • Trial by Jen Bryant: Middle school, female, crime • Where the Steps Were by Andrea Cheng: Elementary school, both genders, inner city life • Love That Dog by Sharon Creech: Elementary school, male, dislike of writing poetry • North of Everything by Craig Crist-Evans: Middle school, male, moving, new sibling, illness/death • Keesha’s House by Helen Frost: High school, both genders, inner city life, pregnancy, foster care, incarceration, homosexuality, abuse, alcoholism • Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes: High school, both genders, race, abuse, parental love, neglect, death, body image, African American, Latino • Downtown Boy by Juan Felipe Herrera: Middle school, male, Mexican American, migrant workers • Identical by Ellen Hopkins: High school, female, twins, sexual abuse, alcohol/drug abuse, eating disorders, self-mutilation • Realm of Possibility by David Levithan: High school, both genders, homosexuality, death, eating disorders, African American • T4: a Novel in Verse by Ann Clare LeZotte: High school, female, disability, persecution • Carver: a Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson: Middle school, male, African American • One of those Hideous Books… by Sonya Sones: High School, female, death, estranged parent, moving • Where I Live by Eileen Spinelli: Elementary school, female, loss of parent job/financial difficulties, moving • Almost Forever by Maria Testa: Elementary school, female, parent serving in military • Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson: Middle school, male, African American, death, dislike of writing poetry, foster care As I explained earlier, it was my goal to select titles that represented the diversity that can be found within the trend of novels in verse. Thus, as I went through the process as described below, I took notes and recorded the audiences to ensure I did achieve the balance I desired. To start the process of discovering titles, I searched the Children’s
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Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD); this database allows me to search for keywords, limit by age level and publication date, and read the full text of reviews for each title. However, I soon found that there were too many to decide which were significant in this trend. Thus, I then decided it would be best to get someone else’s opinion. To do this, I used the Library Literature and Information Science Full Text database to locate some bibliographic essay type articles and found four that were quite helpful in narrowing the field. Patty Campbell’s article “Vetting the Verse Novel” was the most useful, as it also provided a historical view of this trend. The other three, however (Chance’s “Novels in Verse for Teens: a Poetry Phenomenon,” “Poetic Tales” from School Librarian’s Workshop, and Sullivan’s “Fiction or Poetry), also assisted me greatly in that they provided other’s perspective. My journey of discovering significant novels in verse did not end there. All four of the articles I consulted spoke mostly (if not solely) about this trend as it relates to books for young adults. My prior knowledge was that, though it was true there are more novels in verse available for an older crowd, there were some (like the one that started all my thinking, Love That Dog) tailored for younger audiences. Thus, I returned to the good ol’ CLCD and made great use of the reading level/audience functionality. And then, my search for fifteen diverse novels in verse came to a successful close. The articles I discovered to assist my selection process also helped me to judge the level of controversy of novels in verse as a trend. Based on what I read, the biggest dilemma librarians face in regards to these books is where to shelve them; those in the field are not sure whether to consider them fiction and thus place them in the general fiction collection or consider them poetry and shelve them next to Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky in the 800s (Sullivan 45). Thus, I can confidently assert that novels in verse do not present librarians with potential challenges by patrons just because they are written like poems with highly descriptive language. Some of the books I have chosen for my bibliography, however, are quite another story. Just glancing over the bulleted list created to emphasize the diverse audiences, there are a number of titles that could be considered “edgy” and thus possibly challenged. I believe the following books contain content that adults may deem inappropriate for youth: Where the Steps Were (Cheng), Keesha’s House (Frost), Bronx Masquerade (Grimes), Identical (Hopkins), and Realm of Possibility (Levithan). Some of these (like Keesha’s House and Identical) are the “poster children” of controversial books, but this is due to their content not their format and language structure. Since being introduced to Love That Dog a few years ago, I have been quite intrigued by novels in verse. Thus, having the chance to explore this trend in more depth (including its history) and discover many more titles that are written in poetic form rather than prose has been a delight. It is my hope that it has been as enjoyable, educational, and enlightening to read the preceding bibliography and essay as it was for me to write. I do also hope that this trend continues, so that many more generations have the opportunity to see how powerful of a story poetry can tell. In the words of Jack, narrator of Love That Dog, poetry is like “blooming words” that expand the minds of anyone who reads them (Creech 77).
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Books referenced in bibliographic essay not featured in annotated bibliography Glenn, Mel. My friend's got this problem, Mr. Candler: high school poems. New York, NY: Clarion Books, 1991. Hemphill, Stephanie. Your own, Sylvia: a verse portrait of Sylvia Plath. New York, NY: Knopf, 2007. Hesse, Karen. Out of the dust. New York, NY: Scholastic Press, 1997. Wolff, Virginia Euwer. Make lemonade. New York, NY: H. Holt, 1993.
Works Referenced Bloom, Susan P. “Bronx Masquerade [book review].” Horn Book Magazine 78, no. 2, (March/April 2002): 213. Campbell, Patty. “Vetting the Verse Novel.” Horn Book Magazine 80, no.5, (September/October 2004): 611-616. Cart, Micheal. “North of Everything [book review].” Booklist 101, no. 9/10, (January 2005): 858. Chance, Rosemary. “Novels in Verse for Teens: a Poetry Phenomenon.” Mississippi Libraries 68, no. 2, (Summer 2004): 34-35. Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database. Available from: <http://clcd.odyssi.com/member/csearch.htm> (accessed 17 June 2009). Engberg, Gillian. “Downtown Boy [book review].” Booklist 102, no. 8, (15 December 2005): 45. “Identical [book review].” Kirkus Reviews 76, no. 13, (1 July 2008): 703. Jones, Trevelyn E., et al. “Love That Dog [book review].” School Library Journal 47, no. 8, (August 2001): 177. Mercier, Cathryn M. “Carver [book review].” Horn Book Magazine 77, no. 5, (September/October 2001): 606.
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Moore, Denise. “T4: a Novel in Verse [book review].” School Library Journal 54, no. 9 (September 2008): 190. “One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies [book review].” Publishers Weekly 251, no. 25, (21 June 2004): 63-64. “Poetic Tales.” The School Librarian’s Workshop 23, no. 8, (April 2003): 12-13. “Realm of Possibility [book review].” Kirkus Reviews 72, no. 14, (15 July 2004): 689. R.L.S. “Where the Steps Were [book review].” Horn Book Magazine 84, no. 3, (May/June 2008): 309. Roback, Diane, et al. “Almost Forever [book review].” Publishers Weekly 250, no. 38, (22 September 2003): 104. Roback, Diane, et al. “Locomotion [book review].” Publishers Weekly 249, no. 47 (25 November 2002): 68. Rochman, Hazel. “Keesha’s House [book review].” Booklist 99, no. 13 (1 March 2003): 1192. Sullivan, Ed. “Fiction or Poetry?” School Library Journal 49, no. 8, (August 2003): 44-45. Sutton, Roger. “Trial [book review].” Horn Book Magazine 80, no. 2, (March/April 2004): 179. Taniguchi, Marilyn. “Where I Live [book review].” School Library Journal 53, no. 7, (July 2007): 85.