From: Carrie Schadle <bz227>
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 12:56:34 -0500 (EST)

What is so amazing to me about Hesse's achievment is that after about two pages you are completely unaware of the form the story is being told in. When I first opened the book I was a little wary of the poems (and I like poetry!) as a way to tell the story, but I was immediately sucked in and read the whole thing in one reading. By using poetry Hesse does not limit herself to the langage of prose, and it is this use of language that allowed many of us to experience the book on the emotional and physical way that we did. Over and over I have heard people say that as they read the book they could really feel the dust. It is not impossible to create this with lyrical prose, but choosing to do so in poetry made it that much more visceral. Obviously, I love the book. I wonder how children are reacting? Is it doomed because they will open it up, see the poetic form and say no way? We talk again and again about "special" books and how they just need to be introduced to chilren, but 9 times out of 10, we just don't have that chance. Would you even mention in a booktalk that it is written in poems? I don't think I would, and again, this is coming from someone who likes poetry, isn't afraid of it, and uses it with all ages frequently. Sorry if this is rather disjointed--just stuff that came to mind when I opened up my mailbox and saw the invitation to talk about a book I adore and have since I received a review copy months and months ago reccommended it to everyone--even people who don't read children's books.

******************************** Carrie Schadle Aguilar Branch, New York Public Library bz227 at freenet.buffalo.edu 212/534)30
Received on Tue 03 Feb 1998 11:56:34 AM CST