<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Lonnie's Words Touch Deeply
Review: "You have a poet's heart, Lonnie./ That's what Ms. Marcus said to me./ I have a poet's heart./ That's good. A good thing to have./ And I'm the one who has it." Lonnie Collins Motion does have a poet's heart, and the readers of this book feel honored to watch his gift emerge as he works to come to terms with what life has given him. Through poetic structures, Lonnie shares his life with us. Lonnie was seven and away at a babysitter's house when a fire claimed the lives of his parents. He and his little sister were taken into foster care and were soon separated from each other. Like other adolescent boys, Lonnie makes decisions every day about friends and girls and school, but his painful past and his intense self-reflection give him greater dimension than the ordinary coming-of-age character. It is Lonnie's love for his sister and his desire to rebuild his relationship with her that forces him to make big decisions about God and his future and, in turn, forces the reader to connect to him and want great things for him. Ms. Edna, Lonnie's foster mother, proves to be a greater inspiration than the reader initially expects, and his English teacher, Ms. Marcus provides him the opportunity to discover what really matters. This book is what some might call a "quick read," but the themes that emerge and memorable and honest. I recommend this book to readers ages 12 through adulthood.
Rating:
Summary: Lonnie's Words Touch Deeply
Review: "You have a poet's heart, Lonnie./ That's what Ms. Marcus said to me./ I have a poet's heart./ That's good. A good thing to have./ And I'm the one who has it." Lonnie Collins Motion does have a poet's heart, and the readers of this book feel honored to watch his gift emerge as he works to come to terms with what life has given him. Through poetic structures, Lonnie shares his life with us. Lonnie was seven and away at a babysitter's house when a fire claimed the lives of his parents. He and his little sister were taken into foster care and were soon separated from each other. Like other adolescent boys, Lonnie makes decisions every day about friends and girls and school, but his painful past and his intense self-reflection give him greater dimension than the ordinary coming-of-age character. It is Lonnie's love for his sister and his desire to rebuild his relationship with her that forces him to make big decisions about God and his future and, in turn, forces the reader to connect to him and want great things for him. Ms. Edna, Lonnie's foster mother, proves to be a greater inspiration than the reader initially expects, and his English teacher, Ms. Marcus provides him the opportunity to discover what really matters. This book is what some might call a "quick read," but the themes that emerge and memorable and honest. I recommend this book to readers ages 12 through adulthood.
Rating: 
Summary: You gotta swing your hips now
Review: Like snowdrops in the spring, books like Jacqueline Woodson's, "Locomotion" have sprung up en masse over the last few years. Their popularity comes from a variety of different areas. "Locomotion", like its fellow verse novel brethren, follows a sad youth as he discovers the beauty of verse and chronicles his life's problems and joys through this new medium. The result is a story told entirely in different kinds of poems. Long poems, short poems, sonnets, haiku, and letters to be exact. Kids love this book because it's a quick read. Educators like it because it teaches children about the beauty of free-flowing verse and is spotted with such mentions as Langston Hughes and Richard Wright. And librarians like it because it's a clever way of getting kids to read. Is the book the most original of its kind? No, not so much. But it is interesting and well-written and fun. A superb addition to any library, whether public, private, or at school.
Know a kid who just can't keep still? Who fidgets and yells and just generally enjoys life itself? Then you know a kid like Locomotion. Lonnie Collins Motion (Lo-Co-Motion) is frisky but deeply upset. It's not been long since his parents died in a house fire and he and his sister were separated between different foster families. Lonnie's staying with Miss Edna, a woman who enjoys silent kids but has a real soft spot in her heart for Lonnie. His sister is with a different woman, one who enjoys clean houses, religious children, and people who are NOT Lonnie. Fortunately, Lonnie's teacher at school, Ms. Marcus, has gotten him interested in writing down his thoughts in the form of poems. Suddenly Lonnie can't stop writing them! He puts down everything in his life that there is. His friends (one of whom comes down with sickle cell anemia), the girl he likes, his nights on the roof staring up into the stars, and many memories of his parents. Through the course of the book you get a real feel for Lonnie. You know that he's the kind of kid who'll end up doing well. And you know you shouldn't worry too deeply about him. He's smart enough to know how to get along in life. After all, he's already been through the worst.
The book tackles everything from race (Lonnie's black and often notices when white people, like his teacher, stumble along ignorantly) to class to personal integrity. This is perhaps one of the first children's books I've read that discusses soldiers fighting in the Middle East overseas in a straightforward manner (most impressive when you consider its 2003 publication date). I suspect "Locomotion" is bound to be parsed apart by eager teachers for the benefit of their students. I harbor some slight hope though that maybe some kid will find the book all on his or her own. Maybe they'll be attracted to its cover, where Lonnie dances about goofily. Maybe they'll like its form or what it's not afraid to say. And maybe, just maybe, some kid reading it will be inspired to write a poem or two about their own life. That's not a crazy thought, right?
"Locomotion" is like a slightly older and more mature version of Sharon Creech's, "Love That Dog". But while "Love That Dog" deals with the death of a pet and a boy's discovery of poetry, "Locomotion" is about the death of parents and a boy's discovery of what it means to be alive. Between the two, I'd choose "Locomotion" any day. A funny touching story that perfectly compliments its rambunctious narrator. If you've a reluctant reader on your hands, it's at least worth a shot to let them discover it.
Rating:
Summary: Richie's Picks: LOCOMOTION
Review: POETRY POEM
You don't just get to write a poem once
You gotta write it over and over and over
until it feels real good to you
And sometimes it does
and sometimes it doesn't
That's what's really great
and really stupid
about poetry. One lunchtime presentation at NCTE that I won't soon forget was listening to Jacqueline Woodson read extensively from her latest book, LOCOMOTION: MAMA
Some days, like today
and yesterday and probably
tomorrow--all my missing gets jumbled up inside of me. You know honeysuckle talc powder?
Mama used to smell like that. She told me
honeysuckle's really a flower but all I know
is the powder that smells like Mama.
Sometimes when the missing gets real bad
I go to the drugstore and before the guard starts
following me around like I'm gonna steal something
I go to the cosmetics lady and ask her if she has it.
When she says yeah, I say
Can I smell it to see if it's the right one?
Even though the cosmetics ladies roll their eyes at me
they let me smell it.
And for those few seconds, Mama's alive
again.
And I'm remembering
all kinds of good things about her like
the way she laughed at my jokes
even when they were dumb
and the way she sometimes just grabbed me
and hugged me before
I had a chance to get away.
And the way her voice always sounded good
and bad at the same time when she was singing
in the shower.
And her red pocketbook that always had some
tangerine Life Savers inside it for me and Lili No, I say to the cosmetics lady. It's not the right one.
And then I leave fast.
Before somebody asks to check my pockets
which are always empty 'cause I don't steal. Now, I'm somebody who likes to have a book in my hands, rather than on tape, but Jacki Woodson's reading enveloped me in Lonnie's story; LOCOMOTION was the first book I grabbed when I got home yesterday. "Everybody's doing a brand new dance now
Come on baby, do the Locomotion
I know you'll get to like it if you give it a chance now
Come on baby, do the locomotion
My little baby sister can do it with ease
It's easier than learning your abc's
So, come on. come on, do the locomotion with me"
--Gerry Goffin & Carole King LOCOMOTION is a verse novel in which Woodson tells the story of Lonnie Collins Motion (Get it?) who is eleven. He was lucky to survive his premature birth, and then saw his world devastated at seven when his parents were killed in a fire. Next, he is separated from his beloved little sister, Lili. All by himself, Lonnie suffered through the group home ordeal until coming to live with Miss Edna. With the help of his new foster mom, his inspiring teacher, Ms. Marcus, and the poetry through which he reveals his story, Lonnie begins healing from the trauma he's been enduring. There are good friends at school (one who's even a girl), a new big brother, and a regular schedule of visiting with Lili. Life's not all Disneyland, but Lonnie's a survivor who has made the most of his small share of good luck. PIGEON
People all the time talking about how much they hate pigeons 'cause pigeons fly by and crap on their heads and then somebody always says That's good luck! That's good luck! so you don't feel all stupid going through your pockets tryna find a tissue to wipe it off and you never find one 'cause you don't be carrying tissues like an old lady so you gotta walk up to some old lady with that pigeon crap on your head and ask her for a tissue and she just goes Don't worry, that's good luck like everybody else and it makes you hate those sky roaches 'cause they're everywhere in the city so you better duck if they fly over your head or else...
Rating:
Summary: Redefining Poetry
Review: The best part of Woodson's "Locomotion" is the absence of rhyme. For too many years the American Education system has been propounding the idea that poetry must rhyme. Here Woodson shows us that good poetry does not have to rhyme. Each poem included is emotionally charged, but very accessible. I would suggest this book for readers of all ages.
Rating:
Summary: Redefining Poetry
Review: The best part of Woodson's "Locomotion" is the absence of rhyme. For too many years the American Education system has been propounding the idea that poetry must rhyme. Here Woodson shows us that good poetry does not have to rhyme. Each poem included is emotionally charged, but very accessible. I would suggest this book for readers of all ages.
<< 1 >>
| 
