Rating: 
Summary: MAKE HIM STOP!!!
Review: Please, please, please. Let's be honest. Anybody can write a book of poems like these. All you have to do is be pompous, arrogant, narcissistic, pick a bunch of random words, and then lump them together and call it poetry. If the average Joe wrote poems like this, publishers wouldn't even consider publishing it. Works of "art" should not be turned into basketcases for charity. (If someone is going to publish something like this they should at least send ALL profits to charity.)
The harsh truth is that this is LITERARY TRASH. Besides, no one can feel sorry for this kid when he's proclaiming himself "the peacemaker from God". Please!!!... make it stop!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Love, joy and peace
Review: Reader in Chicago just doesn't understand. Perhaps he should like to trade places with Mattie for even a day.
Rating:
Summary: Mattie Words Have HEART HOPE and INSPIRATION
Review: The work and words of Mattie are beautifully inspiring. Much more so than the unnecessary negative commentary to tear down the hope of a child, along with all others Mattie's work is inspiring to keep on, despite tremendous obstacles, illness and pain.
Mattie's poetry is heartfelt, genuine, and filled with promise for those who may have lost all hope of their own.
KEEP GOING MATTIE! Your work is beautiful, inspiring, needed, and YOU are a treasure.
Rating:
Summary: Simple thoughts for simple minds.
Review: There was a time when it was believed that children should be seen and not heard.Sadly it appears that that time has passed.While I honestly feel sorry for young Mr.Stepanek and the tribulations he has had to endure I am equally saddened by the willingness of so many to embrace victimhood as the new art and exploitation as a form of support.Art,good art anyway must stand on its own and "Heartsongs" is no better or worse than the simple minded ramblings found on any elementary school bulletin board or proud parents refrigerator door.The only difference is the lack of the use of macaroni and a weeping Oprah and her followers declaring him a true hero,wise beyond his years ,yada yada.Lets be honest if it wasnt for his sad illness no one would be reading his books past page one.Im sorry but as heart tugging as it is its exploitation pure and Simple.The new emperor of Oprahs Victimland may only be 11 but sadly his poems have no clothes of their own.
Rating:
Summary: Young yet Old
Review: Though sometimes in Matties book it seems like he writes like a younger kid, in other poems its like he is much older. Mattie is now 12 and is already in high school taking finals. Other who wrote in this review have said that he only got his book published because of his illness, and i doubt thats true, you might just be jealous that someone quite younger than you has gottten where you wish you could've been, but faster. If any of you knew Mattie you'd know that he doesn't have a father, and that three of his other siblings have died before Mattie was even born before one that died sadly when Mattie was two. Though it's impossible to believe but Mattie did have feelings at age two and he did love and remember his brother very much. Mattie has been doubted about if he would live longer his entire life, be luckly he kept getting older. He plans to be 101 someday and have a family. So before you think that Mattie got this far just because of his illness, think again, because Mattie never gives up, and he'll never stop.
Rating:
Summary: A wise boy poet genius continues to rapidly grow
Review: Young poet Mattie J.T. Stepanek does it again. In Hope Through Heartsongs he takes his already wise, visionary, and layered poetry a step FURTHER. In his two previous Heartsongs books he showed that he was astoundingly wise (and talented) beyond his years, or beyond any years for that matter. Just take his two past books and multiply the wisdom and talent multifold -- and you have Hope Through Heartsongs. When does this young artist and self-proclaimed peace-maker's incredible personal growth STOP?? There's absolutely no sign of it yet. Indeed, Hope Through Heartsongs, clearly originally in the works before 911 took place, includes an up-to-date introduction by Mattie: "We cannot let sad or traumatic events, or even acts of terror, be the death of hope,' he writes. "That is why this book explores these issues and finds that in spite of each struggle, we can and will find hope if we choose to do so." And he has clearly chosen to do so, and to urge others with every fiber of his being to make the same choice. By now you may know the story: he has muscular dystrophy and
lost all of his three siblings to the same disease. Several poems deal with his losses, his thinking through the death's meaning and possibility, and pondering life's meaning -- and
opportunities. One of the most touching poems is "Walking Again,' a reflection on the situation, changes and his wishes upon discovering that his beloved mother could no longer walk or playfully toss him in the air. Yet his poems are not "downers" but about hope and peace, with titles such as Beyond the Pain, Bravery Prayer, On Saying Goodbye, Examination of Faith, Just Peace, The Bigger Picture, Believing in Someday -- and many more. He dedicates this book to "all people who are struggling to find hope" and divides it into three sections: Hope for Within, Hope for Each Other, Hope for Our World. People are WRONG who call Mattie a great child poet. He is a great POET...period. In another culture he'd be a guru and would have followers far and wide. Why? Because Mattie Stepanek just doesn't speak from the brain, or even from the heart, but from deep within his soul....a very old, experienced and wise soul.
|
