Ready for some poetry? We sure are! In lieu of a Poetry Collection nominee, we’re sharing an interactive book with haiku designed for young listeners. While the haiku may not rhyme, the title does: Peek-a-Boo Haiku. This week’s novel in verse wraps the journey of a young girl coping with a debilitating disease in multiple forms of poetry, giving readers many ways to connect to the story.
Book summaries come from Goodreads. Click the book cover image to add it to your own TBR.
POETRY COLLECTION
Monsterville residents are anything but ordinary. The monsters here are “friendly! thoughtful! shy and scary,” much like their human neighbors. This quirky collection of illustrated poems is a celebration of friendship, emotional intelligence, and creative play as a form of healing.
Matt @ Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme – The nice thing about this is, aside from the wonderfully playful and thoughtful poems, the monsters are never shown as scary or things to be feared – they are as friendly, quirky, and unique as every child who reads the book! The variety of poem styles (some rhyme, some are free verse) as well as the variety of monsters makes each page new and surprising for a young reader.
NOVEL IN VERSE
Aniana del Mar belongs in the water like a dolphin belongs to the sea. But she and Papi keep her swim practices and meets hidden from Mami, who has never recovered from losing someone she loves to the water years ago. That is, until the day Ani's stiffness and swollen joints mean she can no longer get out of bed, and Ani is forced to reveal just how important swimming is to her.
Mami forbids her from returning to the water but Ani and her doctor believe that swimming along with medication will help Ani manage her disease. What follows is the journey of a girl who must grieve who she once was in order to rise like the tide and become the young woman she is meant to be.
Jessica @ Cracking the Cover – This novel-in-verse is a beautiful exploration of family dynamics, intergenerational trauma, and bodily autonomy. Jasminne Mendez’s verse has a gentleness to it while still hitting a punch. Her pauses, phrasing and use of different poetic forms — concrete/shape, Haiku, Tanka — echo the ebb and flow of the water Ani so desperately wants to swim in. The current that runs through them is accessible and electric. And young readers will especially be drawn to the words that quite literally take shape on the page.
Amy @ Goodreads – This was a sweet story about Aniana finding her passion (swimming) and fighting to continue despite personal medical issues and generational family trauma. Written in verse that includes some structured poems, shape poems, and many free verse poems, this book has a strong message and would be great to teach with.