CCBC-Net Archives
RE: Versify: Novels in Verse
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Gardow, Pamela <pgardow_at_ecasd.k12.wi.us>
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:02:01 -0500
When they're done well, there is nothing more powerful than a novel in vers e. Every word counts and adds to the tone, emotional content, character, e tc. in a way that is often fresh and more evocative than standard narrative.
Many students love this form and actively search our catalog for "novels in verse," either because they enjoy the emotional impact or frequently gritt y subject matter, or because they are quick reads. Other students will rea d one without realizing the story is in verse, because the format became in visible as they were caught up in the story.
Of course, many students love Ellen Hopkins, but some of my favorites are:
Anything by Sonya Sones, but especially Stop Pretending: what happened when my big sister went crazy Crossing Stones, by Helen Frost Poet Slave of Cuba, and The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle Fortune's Bones by Marilyn Nelson Your own, Sylvia : a verse portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill (Brilliant!!) Exposed by Kimberly Marcus. The watch that ends the night : voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf The death of Jayson Porter by Jaime Adoff. All the broken pieces : a novel in verse by Ann E. Burg.
Pam Gardow Memorial High School Eau Claire, WI
Message-----
From: Megan Schliesman
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 4:44 PM To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject:
Versify: Novels in Verse
It's time to start out discussion for the first part of April: Versify: Novels in Verse.
Do you have any preconceived notions about novels in verse? Do you come to them with anticipation, trepidation, or with expectations no different tha n you would a prose novel.
I confess that I used to find myself groaning when I open a book and discov er it's a novel in verse. But I started doing that less and less thanks to so many outstanding offerings in recnet years. Some of my favorite novels of 2011 were comprised of poems, including Allan Wolf's "The Watch That En ds the Night," Guadalupe Garcia McCall's "Under the Mesquite," and Thannha Lai's "Inside Out & Back Again."
Oh, and then there's Helen Frost. She just knocks me out with every offerin g, not the least of which is last year's "Hidden."
Reading a novel in poems can be an amazing experience, but one that's chall enging to break down. I don't think I initially approach the reading any di fferently (once I finally stopped groaning): I'm still looking for a good s tory. But every word matters in a way I'm much more aware of.
What are some of your favorite novels written in verse/poems? And do you a pproach your analysis of them differently than straightforward prose?
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:02:01 -0500
When they're done well, there is nothing more powerful than a novel in vers e. Every word counts and adds to the tone, emotional content, character, e tc. in a way that is often fresh and more evocative than standard narrative.
Many students love this form and actively search our catalog for "novels in verse," either because they enjoy the emotional impact or frequently gritt y subject matter, or because they are quick reads. Other students will rea d one without realizing the story is in verse, because the format became in visible as they were caught up in the story.
Of course, many students love Ellen Hopkins, but some of my favorites are:
Anything by Sonya Sones, but especially Stop Pretending: what happened when my big sister went crazy Crossing Stones, by Helen Frost Poet Slave of Cuba, and The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle Fortune's Bones by Marilyn Nelson Your own, Sylvia : a verse portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill (Brilliant!!) Exposed by Kimberly Marcus. The watch that ends the night : voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf The death of Jayson Porter by Jaime Adoff. All the broken pieces : a novel in verse by Ann E. Burg.
Pam Gardow Memorial High School Eau Claire, WI
Message-----
From: Megan Schliesman
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 4:44 PM To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject:
Versify: Novels in Verse
It's time to start out discussion for the first part of April: Versify: Novels in Verse.
Do you have any preconceived notions about novels in verse? Do you come to them with anticipation, trepidation, or with expectations no different tha n you would a prose novel.
I confess that I used to find myself groaning when I open a book and discov er it's a novel in verse. But I started doing that less and less thanks to so many outstanding offerings in recnet years. Some of my favorite novels of 2011 were comprised of poems, including Allan Wolf's "The Watch That En ds the Night," Guadalupe Garcia McCall's "Under the Mesquite," and Thannha Lai's "Inside Out & Back Again."
Oh, and then there's Helen Frost. She just knocks me out with every offerin g, not the least of which is last year's "Hidden."
Reading a novel in poems can be an amazing experience, but one that's chall enging to break down. I don't think I initially approach the reading any di fferently (once I finally stopped groaning): I'm still looking for a good s tory. But every word matters in a way I'm much more aware of.
What are some of your favorite novels written in verse/poems? And do you a pproach your analysis of them differently than straightforward prose?
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
---Received on Thu 05 Apr 2012 02:02:01 PM CDT
