Word!

What about that Bronx Masquerade huh? Gorgeous! Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"I've got no use/for lame excuses/or imitation love/that packs/a punch" (p.16).
"I told her it made no difference at all. Dead is dead, and lonely is lonely and both stink" (p.53).

I always find it intimidating at first to discover that a book incorporates poetry, but usually I end up loving it in the end. I guess it's linked to growing up without teachers who were enthusiastic about poetry. My senior year AP teacher treated poetry like it was something dead, something to suffer through "for the academics". How could we go through life without poetry! As Coleridge once said, "[Poetry is] the best words in the best order."

I love how this book is all about our common humanity! There were so many voices to juggle, but Nikki Grimes wrote in such a way that I didn't feel overwhelmed. I was reminded of my struggles with The Hobbit. I don't know how many times I picked up that book and had to give up with trying to handle all of the names (those dwarves, man!). Finally I just stopped being so uptight about it and I kept reading-not paying so scrunitious attention to the names-and I got through...MORE than fine. Same deal with this book I feel.


p.s. Anyone else find it...interesting that the character Steve who bleached his hair, has an earring, and wishes to be a set designer on broadway, "kicked my doubts back to the closet," (p.116). Interesting choice of words. Ah, stereotypes and how they infiltrate! (not to suggest that the author is supporting a stereotype--just poking fun at my initial exclamation before I caught myself)