Book Review: Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry

Book: Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry
Genre: MG contemporary verse
Rating:★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I totally enjoyed this cute story about a girl who has moved to a new school and has to deal once again with everyone getting used to her Tourettes. It's told in verse with alternating points of view between the boy and the girl.

So the girl, Calli, moves in next door to Jinsong (sounds Korean to me, but he's actually Chinese) who is the popular student body present. He's vowed to be a friend to all. But that friendship pledge is tested when his friends think Calli is weird and Jin has to decide, what's more important... what his friends think of him, or being nice and friendly to Calli.

It's a bit of a struggle, but spoiler... he comes around. I like this kid a lot. Yes.

And Calli.. she is trying to decide is it better just to tell people what's going on with her, or to try and hide her issues? At first she hides it and things just get worse, but then she tries telling and hey, it's not so bad when people know.

It's a really cute story with these two cute characters at the heart of its struggle with normal everyday middle school kid issues. I totally enjoyed it and the whole verse thing just adds to the charm. Fast quick fun read. Awesome!

Book Review Discussion and Blog Tour: Joy Street by Laura Foley

Book: Joy Street by Laura Foley
Genre: Poetry
Rating:★★★☆ ☆
For: a TLC book tour
From: TLC Book Tours

Short Synopsis: This is a tiny little book comprised of several poems about the author's life, covering everything from her relationship with her partner to interesting dreams to her father's WWII experiences.

My Response: You know, I didn't really know what to expect when I said yes to this blog tour. A poetry book! Intriguing! But I suppose I have a bit of a narrow view as to what poetry is, not necessarily rhyming but maybe some sort of standard form with a rhythm and pattern. While some of these poems had that, some of them seemed more like simple thoughts. . . very small observances on life worded in a poetic way. So I guess that's poetry too! So I'm not sure if there is a proper definition of poetry, but if there is, I don't know it.

With that being said, I enjoyed the experience of reading these poems and flew quickly through the book. I especially liked the various visuals used to describe things like "rain hammering it's monstrous fists" and "sun-kissed cheeks." One of my favorite poems was about breast feeding in public, something I can relate to!

But the best thing I found about this unique reading experience is that it has inspired me to think that I too could write a little book of poetic observations about my life. I mean, I know it's harder than it looks, I know this for a fact, but I could try! And it would be a fun endeavor I think. I just may have to add this to my list of writing things to do. It will be fun to see what happens.

Bottom Line: I enjoyed this foray into a genre with which I'm not very familiar. Even though I know nothing about poetry, I still "got" it and enjoyed the experience. If you are interested in this book, you can find it here on Amazon.


Let's Talk About: Poetry! Where do you stand? Is it something you read and "get", read and "don't get" or don't read at all? Do you write poetry? And if so, what advice do you have for me if I want to have a go at it?


More About the Author: 
(From the TLC website)


Laura Foley is the author of four poetry collections. The Glass Tree won the Foreword Book of the Year Award, Silver, and was a Finalist for the New Hampshire Writer’s Project, Outstanding Book of Poetry. Her poems have appeared in journals and magazines including Valparaiso Poetry Review, Inquiring Mind, Pulse Magazine, Poetry Nook, Lavender Review, and in the anthology, In the Arms of Words: Poems for Disaster Relief. She won Harpur Palate’s Milton Kessler Memorial Poetry Award and the Grand Prize for theAtlanta Review’s International Poetry Contest. She lives on a woody hill in South Pomfret, Vermont with her partner Clara Gimenez and their three dogs. Please visit her website for book information or more poems: laurafoley.net.


For Other Reviews, check out these links on the book tour schedule:

Monday, January 5th: I’d Rather Be at the Beach

Tuesday, January 6th: Lit and Life
Wednesday, January 7th: Book Dilettante
Wednesday, January 7th: Savvy Verse and Wit
Friday, January 9th: Diary of an Eccentric
Monday, January 12th: It’s All About Books
Monday, January 13th: Unabridged Chick – review and interview
Wednesday, January 14th: Peeking Between the Pages
Thursday, January 15th: Peeking Between the Pages – author guest post
Friday, January 16th: Patricia’s Wisdom
Monday, January 19th: Books Without Any Pictures
Tuesday, January 20th: Worducopia
Wednesday, January 21st: Suko’s Notebook
Thursday, January 22nd: Suko’s Notebook – author guest post
Tuesday, January 23rd: Bookgirl’s Nightstand
Saturday, January 24th: Wordy Evidence of the Fact
Monday, January 26th: Bell, Book & Candle
Wednesday, January 28th: Musings of a Bookish Kitty – author guest post
Thursday, January 29th: Musings of a Bookish Kitty
TBD: Everything Distils Into Reading

Weekly Geeks 2009.13: A Poem

One of the options this week for Weekly Geeks is to "be a poet." Becky suggests an ABC poem, which I thought might be fun, but do think of what follows as more of a fun word challenge, and not a really a poem!

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A is for Author and all those ARCs.

B is for Books and beautiful Bookmarks.

C is for Characters, crazy and cool,

like Dudes named Darcy or Dragons that drool!

E is for Enthusiasm for books and reading.

F's for that Feeling of finally finishing.

G is for Goodreads, and a gazillion Giveaways.

H is for happy, stay-at-Home days.

I is, of course, for "It's All About Books"

J's for just do it and Journal those books!

K is for Kindle, a technology that's new,

and L is for Libraries, tried and true.

M is for Mysteries, Magic and Myths,

N's for the Next book on the list.

O is for Once upon a time,

P is for Plots and Poems that rhyme.

Q is for Quilts and Quotes profound,

R is for Release parties where Readers abound.

S is Signings and Shelves stacked with style

T's for the towering TBR pile.

U is for Understanding unusual tales,

V's for a Variety of used book sales.

W is for wonderful wonderful Words,

X is for syntaX, if spelled backwards!

Y is for YA, those books without lack

and Z's for my favorite author, Zusak!

***************

Silly and juvenile, but fun nonetheless!

Favorite Poem Contest

In celebration of National Poetry Month, my long-time blogging friend, Serena over at Savvy Verse and Wit is having a contest and giving away poetry books, of course! She wants to know what's your favorite poem. Go HERE for details and join in!


As for my favorite poem, I've always loved Robert Frost and especially this simple poem:


DUST OF SNOW


The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.



Probably I like it because I always need reminders that life's pretty great, even on bad days. There's always something small, but wonderful, that happens to make you realize that.