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Free Verse
A moving, bittersweet tale reminiscent of Sharon Creech’s Walk Two Moons set in a West Virginia coal-mining town
When her brother dies in a fire, Sasha Harless has no one left, and nowhere to turn. After her father died in the mines and her mother ran off, he was her last caretaker. They’d always dreamed of leaving Caboose, West Virginia together someday, but instead she’s in foster care, feeling more stuck and broken than ever.
But then Sasha discovers family she didn’t know she had, and she finally has something to hold onto, especially sweet little Mikey, who’s just as broken as she is. Sasha even makes her first friend at school, and is slowly learning to cope with her brother’s death through writing poetry, finding a new way to express herself when spoken words just won’t do. But when tragedy strikes the mine her cousin works in, Sasha fears the worst and takes Mikey and runs, with no plans to return. In this sensitive and poignant portrayal, Sarah Dooley shows us that life, like poetry, doesn’t always take the form you intend.
When her brother dies in a fire, Sasha Harless has no one left, and nowhere to turn. After her father died in the mines and her mother ran off, he was her last caretaker. They’d always dreamed of leaving Caboose, West Virginia together someday, but instead she’s in foster care, feeling more stuck and broken than ever.
But then Sasha discovers family she didn’t know she had, and she finally has something to hold onto, especially sweet little Mikey, who’s just as broken as she is. Sasha even makes her first friend at school, and is slowly learning to cope with her brother’s death through writing poetry, finding a new way to express herself when spoken words just won’t do. But when tragedy strikes the mine her cousin works in, Sasha fears the worst and takes Mikey and runs, with no plans to return. In this sensitive and poignant portrayal, Sarah Dooley shows us that life, like poetry, doesn’t always take the form you intend.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews
March 12, 2016
FREE VERSE is a sparkling mix of prose and verse that tells the story of Sasha, a young girl who lives in the coal-mining town of Caboose, West Virginia, but longs to escape. When trouble hits, Sasha runs, and she's had plenty of reasons to flee. Her mother is long gone, her father passed in a coal-mining accident, and her older brother and caretaker, Michael, has just lost his life on the job as a fireman. Though Sasha finds a loving foster placement and the potential for new family next door, she struggles to accept that staying in Caboose might be the answer she's looking for.
During the course of the story, Sasha discovers poetry, which helps her free the words that are weighing her down. Sasha's verse is crisp and clear, her voice ringing so true it is astonishing. Truly, these sections of the narrative captured me and kept me reading, waiting to see what would happen when Sasha faces tragedy once again and has to decide if the pain is worth staying.
A sensitive story with a fabulous cast of characters. Highly recommend for fans of BROWN GIRL DREAMING and ONE FOR THE MURPHYS.
During the course of the story, Sasha discovers poetry, which helps her free the words that are weighing her down. Sasha's verse is crisp and clear, her voice ringing so true it is astonishing. Truly, these sections of the narrative captured me and kept me reading, waiting to see what would happen when Sasha faces tragedy once again and has to decide if the pain is worth staying.
A sensitive story with a fabulous cast of characters. Highly recommend for fans of BROWN GIRL DREAMING and ONE FOR THE MURPHYS.
August 4, 2016
Free Verse is one of those books that is going to hit you hard. Definitely harder than you would think a middle grade novel would hit... At least that was the case for me.
Free Verse is about Sasha. Her father had died in an accident at the mine. Her mother had run off. She was being taken care of by her older brother...who then died in a fire. Leaving her alone in the world, with no one to turn to.
She and her brother had held on to the dream of escaping their small mining town, and it is a dream she finds hard to let go of after he is gone. So she has a tendency to run.
Sasha ends up in the foster system, being taken care of by a lady who lives in her small town. And then it turns out that her new neighbors are actually family members of hers.
Sasha gets to learn more about the family and becomes close, especially with her younger cousin - who just may have more problems than she does.
So, I already told you that this was a hard hitting book, and it definitely was. Sasha has a lot of problems due to the things that have happened to her. The loss, the grief, the abandonment. It has all taken its toll on her. She tends to run away a lot when she gets angry or confused.
At one point Sasha finds herself learning about poetry and discovers it as an outlet for her emotions, thus the title Free Verse. I actually thought that the book would have more of the poetry in it than it actually did...so I was a little disappointed in that regards.
Over all though, I did appreciate the message and the story contained within Free Verse. Definitely for those who want an emotional read.
My Rating
4 Stars
Find more of my reviews here:
http://readingwithcupcakes.blogspot.com/
This review is based on an ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Free Verse is about Sasha. Her father had died in an accident at the mine. Her mother had run off. She was being taken care of by her older brother...who then died in a fire. Leaving her alone in the world, with no one to turn to.
She and her brother had held on to the dream of escaping their small mining town, and it is a dream she finds hard to let go of after he is gone. So she has a tendency to run.
Sasha ends up in the foster system, being taken care of by a lady who lives in her small town. And then it turns out that her new neighbors are actually family members of hers.
Sasha gets to learn more about the family and becomes close, especially with her younger cousin - who just may have more problems than she does.
So, I already told you that this was a hard hitting book, and it definitely was. Sasha has a lot of problems due to the things that have happened to her. The loss, the grief, the abandonment. It has all taken its toll on her. She tends to run away a lot when she gets angry or confused.
At one point Sasha finds herself learning about poetry and discovers it as an outlet for her emotions, thus the title Free Verse. I actually thought that the book would have more of the poetry in it than it actually did...so I was a little disappointed in that regards.
Over all though, I did appreciate the message and the story contained within Free Verse. Definitely for those who want an emotional read.
My Rating
4 Stars
Find more of my reviews here:
http://readingwithcupcakes.blogspot.com/
This review is based on an ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
February 3, 2017
What's with all the sad books lately? After reading this, I need to find a nice, happy book that's all fluff.
Sasha's older brother recently passed away, and she's now an orphan, living with a new foster mom. Her sadness wants to swallow her whole, and she's tempted to let it.
Some parts are confusing, like when Sasha does something violent, it skips over what happens. She's just sitting there one minute, then the next thing you know, she's got the shards of some broken thing all around her. There aren't a lot of explanations in those parts and it can be frustrating to try and figure out what happened.
I had a hard time liking other parts of the book too. For example, Sasha runs away constantly. Everyone is very calm about missing children. And bad things keep happening. Like, a LOT. Every other page, someone is missing, dead, or run away. Mothers, fathers, brothers, friends, they disappear one after another out of Sasha's life. The kid can't catch a break.
However, the characters, the setting, the story, they're all written beautifully. You can feel Sasha's desperation, her sadness, and her desire to live up to her late brother's expectations.
I love it when Sasha discovered poetry, and learns that she's good at it. It gives her a voice when her own disappears. It provides an outlet for her words when her tongue doesn't work. Poetry also gives her a circle to belong to. Maybe not friends, but a friend-like community.
Verdict: Free Verse very sad story about a girl suffering one loss after another and finding her voice through poetry.
Content: Some language/cursing, mentions of violence and death.
Source: I received an unsolicited copy of this book from the publisher.
Sasha's older brother recently passed away, and she's now an orphan, living with a new foster mom. Her sadness wants to swallow her whole, and she's tempted to let it.
Some parts are confusing, like when Sasha does something violent, it skips over what happens. She's just sitting there one minute, then the next thing you know, she's got the shards of some broken thing all around her. There aren't a lot of explanations in those parts and it can be frustrating to try and figure out what happened.
I had a hard time liking other parts of the book too. For example, Sasha runs away constantly. Everyone is very calm about missing children. And bad things keep happening. Like, a LOT. Every other page, someone is missing, dead, or run away. Mothers, fathers, brothers, friends, they disappear one after another out of Sasha's life. The kid can't catch a break.
However, the characters, the setting, the story, they're all written beautifully. You can feel Sasha's desperation, her sadness, and her desire to live up to her late brother's expectations.
I love it when Sasha discovered poetry, and learns that she's good at it. It gives her a voice when her own disappears. It provides an outlet for her words when her tongue doesn't work. Poetry also gives her a circle to belong to. Maybe not friends, but a friend-like community.
Verdict: Free Verse very sad story about a girl suffering one loss after another and finding her voice through poetry.
Content: Some language/cursing, mentions of violence and death.
Source: I received an unsolicited copy of this book from the publisher.
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July 5, 2024why does this review show up when I google myself!!! digital footprint is real 😔
February 14, 2018
I love this book! It's such a sweet story about a girl finding her way home. It started a little slow in the beginning but it was amazing. And the poetry was beautiful.
Four stars!
Four stars!
March 20, 2019
So sad and a bit depressing but really good.
March 20, 2016
This quiet novel, part of which is in verse, packs a powerful punch. There is so much loss in Sasha's life, it's no wonder she has an anger problem. Luckily for her, there are a number of caring adults in her life who won't give up on her. When a final loss causes her to stop speaking, she retreats to her poetry notebook and finds a voice there.
July 27, 2018
This book was so boring. The parts that were supposed to be sad were not sad?? And usually I cry at books even if they mention something that is even remotely sad. It was well-written, but just became worse as the book went on. Like Sasha, girl, what was you thinkinnnn. I don’t get what all the hype is about in the comments, but it wasn’t even that sad. Don’t COME AT ME :):
August 15, 2016
Amazing middle grade novel written in a mix of prose and verse. Will be recommending for next year's WEMTA Battle of the Books list for grades 4 and 5. Heartbreaking but hopeful.
December 17, 2017
Part one was dreadfully boring, part two was better, and parts three and four had me bawling my eyes out. If you’re struggling with the beginning like I did, just hang on. Part 4 makes it all worth it.
April 18, 2018
This road in front of Hubert's house,
empty in the evening light,
leads to a two-lane that leads to a highway,
goes places I've never seen, but might.
This is a well-written and accurate depiction of a girl growing up in a small, old West Virginia mining town. The despair and grief felt in towns like this is portrayed well. It's a slower-paced book but one I'm glad to have read.
empty in the evening light,
leads to a two-lane that leads to a highway,
goes places I've never seen, but might.
This is a well-written and accurate depiction of a girl growing up in a small, old West Virginia mining town. The despair and grief felt in towns like this is portrayed well. It's a slower-paced book but one I'm glad to have read.
February 1, 2018
Beautifully written heart-wrenching story of loss and family. This book will stay with me for a while.
July 8, 2019
Wow. This was a very powerful book that was extremely sad. It was hard to follow at times but it was still amazing. I would recommend this book to people who don’t mind sad books. It’s also a pretty quick one too.
March 10, 2024
Very beautifully written. I’m used to lots of descriptions of landscapes, people, etc. and maybe I just glossed over those parts but she really just made you FEEL the characters. Instead of watching from the outside I could almost feel the way they interacted with each other.
January 14, 2024
Very beautifully written! Almost made me cry at the end.
March 20, 2020
I read this adventure novel, Free Verse, as an e-text. This book tells the story of Sasha, a young girl from Caboose, West Virginia, who joins the foster system after her mother runs off, her father passes away, and her older brother/guardian passes away. Tempted to get out of Caboose, Sasha tries to run away from her life there several times. While she is living in her new foster placement, she learns that her new neighbors are relatives of hers and she begins to build relationships with these new family members and she learns about her family’s history. As the story evolves, Sasha is introduced to poetry and begins writing poetry as an outlet for her emotions. In a 5th or 6th grade classroom, I would use this book to teach about poetry. After reading the novel, students will write their own poem talking about the plot of the book. While discussing poetry, we will also talk about the effect that writing poetry had on Sasha and identify other activities that may help us cope with life in our own individual ways. I will also use this book to teach about the impact that the coal-mining industry has on communities around the world.
This book is a WOW book for me because it allows the readers to feel Sasha’s pain while feeling hopeful that she will find the familial love she deserves. I love that this novel relates to a population of students that doesn’t often get written about. Students that are currently in or have ever been in the foster system will find comfort in reading a text that they can relate to, which is so important to a student’s reading career. Sarah Dooley does a brilliant job of telling a sad story in a way that has the readers remaining hopeful and glued to the page.
This book is a WOW book for me because it allows the readers to feel Sasha’s pain while feeling hopeful that she will find the familial love she deserves. I love that this novel relates to a population of students that doesn’t often get written about. Students that are currently in or have ever been in the foster system will find comfort in reading a text that they can relate to, which is so important to a student’s reading career. Sarah Dooley does a brilliant job of telling a sad story in a way that has the readers remaining hopeful and glued to the page.
February 21, 2016
Sarah Dooley's newest book Free Verse chronicles the life of young Sasha, who was abandoned by her birth mother and lost her birth father in a mining accident. Her older brother, Michael, assumes parenting responsibilities, but Sasha soon loses him as well. A ward of the state, she is handed over to her kind foster mother, Phyllis, but Sasha frequently runs from Phyllis's care in search of her own roots and her own place in an Appalachian world she's uncertain she wants to remain a part of. Sasha begins to find bright spots in her life by locating extended family, making a friend, and participating in poetry club. However, another tragedy strikes that throws her back into jeopardy.
Dooley so accurately brings to life a traumatized child, a concerned but disappointed foster mother, a burly coal miner who can spend hours doing hard manual labor but is helpless when it comes to dealing with emotions, and modern-day Appalachia where drug abuse, poverty, and mining accidents are every day realities. There is beauty in this grit, and Dooley displays that too.
This book is a beautiful marriage of poetry and prose. The concerned foster mother's "empty hands hang like wilted flowers". "Trailers climb hills like mountain goats." Forms of poetry are described and examples are given, making this a perfect book for tweens and young teens who are learning the writing craft.
As an adoptive mother, social worker, former teacher, and children's therapist I know these characters. I have been several of them. This would be a wonderful book for tweens and teens and should be incorporated into the school setting. Countless children are silently dealing with trauma, blended families, poverty, loss. This book would speak to them, and what it would say is: You are not alone. There is always some place you belong. It's just a matter of finding it.
Thank you, Ms. Dooley, for a fabulous read.
Dooley so accurately brings to life a traumatized child, a concerned but disappointed foster mother, a burly coal miner who can spend hours doing hard manual labor but is helpless when it comes to dealing with emotions, and modern-day Appalachia where drug abuse, poverty, and mining accidents are every day realities. There is beauty in this grit, and Dooley displays that too.
This book is a beautiful marriage of poetry and prose. The concerned foster mother's "empty hands hang like wilted flowers". "Trailers climb hills like mountain goats." Forms of poetry are described and examples are given, making this a perfect book for tweens and young teens who are learning the writing craft.
As an adoptive mother, social worker, former teacher, and children's therapist I know these characters. I have been several of them. This would be a wonderful book for tweens and teens and should be incorporated into the school setting. Countless children are silently dealing with trauma, blended families, poverty, loss. This book would speak to them, and what it would say is: You are not alone. There is always some place you belong. It's just a matter of finding it.
Thank you, Ms. Dooley, for a fabulous read.
July 12, 2016
from Becca--
I rarely write to authors after I've read their books, but after finishing Sarah Dooley's latest YA novel, I felt like I had to tell her how much I loved her work. Besides effectively moving the plot along with both prose and poetry, I also appreciated the beauty of Dooley's writing and how believable her main character of young Sasha Harless is as she's trying to navigate a life of constant transition and loss as a foster kid in her tiny, coal-mining town in West Virginia. There were many, many sentences that I re-read because of their expert use of imagery or metaphor, and the wonderful and surprising character development also kept me turning pages.
As adults disappear in Sasha's life, she also discovers both her school's poetry club and family members she didn't know she had. But instead of Sasha's story being sugary or predictable, Dooley's writing is both complex and unflinching. Overall, I think the book's main message is not only that art has great potential to develop healing and identity, no matter who we are, but also that we just plain need each other. We can try to go it alone, but we never really will be.
Highly recommended for teachers, writers, teen book clubs.
I rarely write to authors after I've read their books, but after finishing Sarah Dooley's latest YA novel, I felt like I had to tell her how much I loved her work. Besides effectively moving the plot along with both prose and poetry, I also appreciated the beauty of Dooley's writing and how believable her main character of young Sasha Harless is as she's trying to navigate a life of constant transition and loss as a foster kid in her tiny, coal-mining town in West Virginia. There were many, many sentences that I re-read because of their expert use of imagery or metaphor, and the wonderful and surprising character development also kept me turning pages.
As adults disappear in Sasha's life, she also discovers both her school's poetry club and family members she didn't know she had. But instead of Sasha's story being sugary or predictable, Dooley's writing is both complex and unflinching. Overall, I think the book's main message is not only that art has great potential to develop healing and identity, no matter who we are, but also that we just plain need each other. We can try to go it alone, but we never really will be.
Highly recommended for teachers, writers, teen book clubs.
July 22, 2020
I really enjoyed this.
This isn't the type of novel I normally pick up, but I bought a class set for my Grade 8 classroom, at an exception Al cost, and was really interested in seeing if this was a good choice.
It was.
The story takes us through the tragic life of a young girl, who eventually finds some comfort in writing poetry. It is an interesting take on a story like this and is well paced and well written.
There are some places where the text does get a bit confusing, when the narrator says one thing, but actually means the complete opposite. It is an interesting tool, that can be fun, but at times it left me rereading sections looking to see if they missed something. It is a very minor gripe though, with a well balanced story and it does fit the main character's... character.
Another great part was the poetry itself.
The poetry the main character writes is well done, with excellent voice and the content allows the reader to see inside the her and understand her. It was exceptionally well handled, and made this book special.
This is definitely a good read, and well worth your time.
This isn't the type of novel I normally pick up, but I bought a class set for my Grade 8 classroom, at an exception Al cost, and was really interested in seeing if this was a good choice.
It was.
The story takes us through the tragic life of a young girl, who eventually finds some comfort in writing poetry. It is an interesting take on a story like this and is well paced and well written.
There are some places where the text does get a bit confusing, when the narrator says one thing, but actually means the complete opposite. It is an interesting tool, that can be fun, but at times it left me rereading sections looking to see if they missed something. It is a very minor gripe though, with a well balanced story and it does fit the main character's... character.
Another great part was the poetry itself.
The poetry the main character writes is well done, with excellent voice and the content allows the reader to see inside the her and understand her. It was exceptionally well handled, and made this book special.
This is definitely a good read, and well worth your time.
September 6, 2016
What a beautiful book. I immediately shared it with a friend who teaches fourth graders. So heartbreaking and real. I loved the setting--West Virginia, coal mining country and the fact that poverty isn't a racial or other-country thing. It happens to children in the United States, white children as well as black and brown children. The protagonist is feisty. We sense, from the beginning of the story that she will survive. The price she'll have to pay to survive is what's in question. I loved so many of the characters--Phyllis, Mikey, Mikey's little sisters, his dad (who is the main character's cousin it turns out. The book is about loss and heartbreak and anger...but it is also about poetry the the child's understanding that poetry will allow her to say what she can't find language for. I also love that it is formal poetry that helps her do this--haiku an quatrains, cinquains and tercets. The form helps control the emotion to allow the language to emerge. Don't miss the book. It may deserve five stars. Yes. It must.
March 28, 2016
Although this book has been compared to Walk Two Moons (which I liked and will re-read despite its few negative reviews ), I found Sarah Dooley went way deeper in Free Verse than Sharon Creech in Walk Two Moons. Deeper look at life in the mining towns and mining jobs, deeper hopelessness after loss and the threat of more, deeper displays of losing control and waking up to it, altogether a book deep as a mine with crumbling moments and rescuing sighs from the reader when the plot went this or that way. The poetry was a bonus, and beautiful it was. Loved it and will share with all who listen when I recommend yet another book that must be read.
May 12, 2016
Sarah Dooley’s FREE VERSE may have been written for young readers, but it’s a novel for every age group. Set in my home state of West Virginia, the novel describes not only the fear of disaster coal miners and their families live under, but it reveals the big-hearted resiliency of the Appalachian spirit. Sasha, our protagonist and would-be poet, has lost her father to mining and a brother to firefighting. Thankfully, she is embraced by a make-shift family that helps her get a toehold in a terrain she will ultimately call home. Dooley’s prose is gorgeous, and she brilliantly expresses Sasha’s internal struggles through the poetry the young girl writes. It’s a stunning and poignant novel.
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March 17, 2016Graded By: Brian
Cover Story: Halfway to Heaven
Drinking Buddy: Too Tired for Having Fun
Testosterone Estrogen Level: One Fist of Iron
Talky Talk: Have They Given Up?
Bonus Factors: God, What Did We Do?; Brothers and Sisters, What a Terrible Time
Bromance Status: A Big, Big Man
Read the full book report here.
Cover Story: Halfway to Heaven
Drinking Buddy: Too Tired for Having Fun
Talky Talk: Have They Given Up?
Bonus Factors: God, What Did We Do?; Brothers and Sisters, What a Terrible Time
Bromance Status: A Big, Big Man
Read the full book report here.
July 18, 2016
What a great example of a first person narrative. Free verse would make an excellent book for a literature circle or read aloud. There are so many themes that can be explored in the novel. Of course, there is Sasha's voice, self expression through poetry, the concepts of family, abandonment and loss, poverty, sense of place and home and so much more.
Really, really well done.
Really, really well done.
July 7, 2016
A haiku for this review:
So many good byes //
Tears, confusion, hope and love //
Make this book special
So many good byes //
Tears, confusion, hope and love //
Make this book special
May 31, 2016
I am in love with this book, both Sasha and her poetry as well as Phyllis, Hubert, Mikey, and Anthony.
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September 12, 2019This novel is a very emotional tale of a young, Sasha Harless. Stuck in a small, coal mining, town, Sasha has no where left to turn, and no one left in her family except an older brother Michael. Their mother had ran off when they were younger, and their father died in the mines. Michael stepped up as the role of Sasha’s caretaker, until he too fell victim to the mines of Caboose, West Virginia. Now completely alone, Sasha is turned over to the foster care system. This poses its own set of problems and forces her to go through some very difficult times, all while struggling to escape Caboose. Eventually, she returns to school and discovers the art of writing poetry. The story blooms as Ms. Harless explores a whole new world of writing—a way to express the words that weigh so heavily on her soul. Sasha figures out along the line that she has other family, who have had a similar experience to her own. She clings to a younger cousin, Mikey. Following her discovery of new family is yet another tragic mining accident, which leaves her frantic for escape. Younger cousin with her, she runs away from Caboose, WV and attempts life on her own while taking care of young Mikey. The author, Sarah Dooley, does a beautiful job of developing a character despite the story being told in a verse fashion. I am a lover of verse novels, but usually find that they don’t give you all the satisfaction of a normal story and leave you wanting more from the author. Dooley wrote in an exceptional fashion that satisfies the reader and provides a full/developed story. I would use this book in my classroom to show my students about other walks of life that may differ from their own. I could also use this book as a spring board to start a creative writing assignment about their own journeys, somewhat of a personal narrative. I believe students will find this book very interesting, although it may not captivate the attention of all readers. The fact that this story does not follow traditional norms for a story, ending without joy and resolutions, keeps me from reading it aloud in my classroom. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with giving students books with different kinds of endings; however, I feel as though the readers would not be attracted to a story that does not provide them a solid resolution to the ending. I would still have this book in a classroom collection, as well as a personal collection!
December 14, 2018
Note: I am writing this review for Young Adult Literature course project.
Not every child loses both of their parents and their brother, left to enter the foster system, but many young adults can relate to that, unfortunately. However, it is her need to express her emotions, and difficulties doing so that every young adult CAN relate to. Her actions and voice make this a true YA lit novel that calls to many young people itching for a way to be heard.
Sasha discovers her voice through poetry, and it is important for students to read this book so that they can see that there is an outlet that they can also connect with emotionally. I appreciate Sasha's relation to poetry, because I had a similar one with music when I was her age. I think this appeals to teens for that reason. Even though it may not be poetry, it is important for people to be heard, not censored, and appreciated.
I think that this is a very teachable book because of its relations to students but mainly for its inclusion of poetry as a means of expression. I think it would pair well with a poetry unit, obviously, and should be supplemented with similar poetry, as opposed to more classical, structured poetry. The addition of Haiku was great because young students always love Haiku. and although they have limitations, offer simpler writing.
Not every child loses both of their parents and their brother, left to enter the foster system, but many young adults can relate to that, unfortunately. However, it is her need to express her emotions, and difficulties doing so that every young adult CAN relate to. Her actions and voice make this a true YA lit novel that calls to many young people itching for a way to be heard.
Sasha discovers her voice through poetry, and it is important for students to read this book so that they can see that there is an outlet that they can also connect with emotionally. I appreciate Sasha's relation to poetry, because I had a similar one with music when I was her age. I think this appeals to teens for that reason. Even though it may not be poetry, it is important for people to be heard, not censored, and appreciated.
I think that this is a very teachable book because of its relations to students but mainly for its inclusion of poetry as a means of expression. I think it would pair well with a poetry unit, obviously, and should be supplemented with similar poetry, as opposed to more classical, structured poetry. The addition of Haiku was great because young students always love Haiku. and although they have limitations, offer simpler writing.
October 16, 2021
In Free Verse we meet Sasha, a young girl who lives in a West Virginia coal mining town. The town of Caboose seems like an ending place. Sasha's brother Michael who took over as her guardian after their mother left town and their father was later killed in a mining accident, had a goal of leaving Caboose. He did the best he could for his little sister by staying and making that goal hers. Get a good education, get a scholarship and get out of town. See the world.
Before Sasha is anywhere near ready to work on those goals, Michael is gone. She is put into the loving home of Phyllis. The tragedies that have occurred repeatedly in Sasha's life have affected her and every now and then it shows. She can get easily upset and violent on occasion and she will up and leave without word or warning, causing Phyllis to worry.
Sasha learns the neighbor is a cousin of hers and as she gets to know their family, she finds that family is the people that care about you and the people that you come to care about too.
Very good at showing the turmoil kids must go through and the trouble the have expressing it.
Before Sasha is anywhere near ready to work on those goals, Michael is gone. She is put into the loving home of Phyllis. The tragedies that have occurred repeatedly in Sasha's life have affected her and every now and then it shows. She can get easily upset and violent on occasion and she will up and leave without word or warning, causing Phyllis to worry.
Sasha learns the neighbor is a cousin of hers and as she gets to know their family, she finds that family is the people that care about you and the people that you come to care about too.
Very good at showing the turmoil kids must go through and the trouble the have expressing it.
July 18, 2017
Caboose, VA - a typical mining town. Sasha lives there & has suffered far too many tragedies for
young teen. Her mother left (drugs), father died in a mining accident, and older brother, Michael, who was her caretaker, died as a firefighter. She is now living with Phyllis as a foster child. She is quiet, withdrawn & hesitant to get close to anyone for fear of losing them also. She does become friends with the younger neighbor boy, Mikey, who appears to have no friends and is not well liked by his stepmother. When Sasha discovers that she is related to them, her questions are many. Through the Poetry Club at school, she begins to write all forms of poetry. The last section of the book is told through her poetry. The self-appointed president of the Poetry Club, a former bully, encourages her to enter a contest because no one from that school has ever won and he wants a winner from his school. This book & the subject are serious, but the story is not overly mushy. It is told thoughtfully, and with much sensitivity.
young teen. Her mother left (drugs), father died in a mining accident, and older brother, Michael, who was her caretaker, died as a firefighter. She is now living with Phyllis as a foster child. She is quiet, withdrawn & hesitant to get close to anyone for fear of losing them also. She does become friends with the younger neighbor boy, Mikey, who appears to have no friends and is not well liked by his stepmother. When Sasha discovers that she is related to them, her questions are many. Through the Poetry Club at school, she begins to write all forms of poetry. The last section of the book is told through her poetry. The self-appointed president of the Poetry Club, a former bully, encourages her to enter a contest because no one from that school has ever won and he wants a winner from his school. This book & the subject are serious, but the story is not overly mushy. It is told thoughtfully, and with much sensitivity.
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