The secret to poetry (?!?!?!)

Well, at least one gorgeous description from ADIOS, NIRVANA by Conrad Wesselhoeft:

"You have to build your poem on images and tilt those images at your own angle.  If you're lucky, they'll come alive...That's the secret--to close your hand on jagged glass, then open it and find a butterfly." (page 39)

Back to Business: A Guest Post and a Teen Fashion Statement

Today, I am guest posting at the blog of the delightful Christine Fonseca, answering the question

I hope that you will find the above-referenced guest post fun and interesting.

HOWEVER, IS THERE EVER REALLY YIN WITH THE YANG?

While I was attending the always amazing SCBWI Western Washington Annual Conference, my husband took my fourteen-year-old to an overnight lacrosse tournament at which he allowed him to do THIS:

Seriously, I was without words when this picture popped up on my phone.  Then a word came to me.  It was an expletive I won't repeat here.  Then I thought, well, at least he's expressing himself.  Attractive? No.  Expressive? You tell me.



First Give-away Winner & author Joshua C. Cohen's Audition Story...

Which is totally hilarious!

CONGRATS to our first National Poetry Month Prize Winner: CASS

Check out her lovely blog Words on Paper

Heading Cass's way is a copy of Sonya Sones' lovely verse novel debut, STOP PRETENDING

plus bookmarks, bookmarks, bookmarks!

 

And make sure to hop on over to A Year of Auditions to read "Gimme a C for Crashing" wherein Josh Cohen reveals the writer lessons that can be learned from head-planting (don't worry, not tragic) on a gymnastics mat.

Bookanistas: Addie on the Inside by James Howe

Plot without spoilers...For Addie Carle, seventh grade means her first real boyfriend, DuShawn, and a chance at popularity.  Still, on the inside, she's still passionate about her causes--especially tolerance and no-name calling.  And she can't quite put the social stuff ahead of her convictions. Will DuShawn and the "cool" crowd become casualties of her outspoken idealism?

Of literary interest...Through a variety of verse forms (some great groupings of haikus), Howe explores the complex, uncertain internal journey of a character who presents an almost larger-than-life certainty to the outside world.

Finally, just gotta say...Addie is the second companion book to Howe's powerful 2003 prose novel, The Misfits.  His first follow-up, Totally Joe, is written as an abecedarian journal, beginning with "A is for Addie."  I love the way Howe incorporates so many literary forms into his stories of the "Gang of Four" (or five).  The shape of each book is as unique as its main character.  And all offer wonderful messages both of tolerance and of celebrating your true self.

For more Bookanista book love, visit us at The Reading Room or just click along via the links below!

LiLa Roecker adores Alice-Miranda at School
Christine Fonseca caws about Scrawl
Shannon Messenger gets passionate about Possession
Shelli Johannes-Wells takes a shine to Shimmer
Scott Tracey raves about Red Glove
Jessi Kirby feels The Pull of Gravity
Shana Silver delights in The Day Before
Carrie Harris takes The Goddess Test - with giveaway
Corrine Jackson swoons for Starcrossed
Sarah Frances Hardy celebrates The Best Birthday Party Ever
Kirsten Hubbard fawns over Family - with giveaway