CCBC Booklists

CCBC Review:

Eleven-year-old Lonnie C. Motion-Locomotion for short-is writing to save his life. At least that's what it feels like. Living in foster care since the death of his parents in a fire, Lonnie is directing his grief and his hurt into poetry, with the help of his teacher. Along the way, he's discovering he has both a talent and a need for writing. Separated from his younger sister, Lili, who has been placed in another home, and uncertain about what Miss Edna, his foster mother, thinks of him, poetry gives Lonnie focus for his undirected energy and form for his mixed-up emotions. It's also a way to record what he observes and experiences in daily life, as well as the bittersweet memories of life before the fire. Jacqueline Woodson uses both free verse and structured poetic forms as she creates a memorable character study of an African American boy breaking out of the past and into a future of his own making. Nothing is static-not Lonnie himself, not his relationships, and certainly not his life. ©2003 Cooperative Children's Book Center

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 9-12
Age Range: Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10) Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Formats: Novel Poetry
Subjects: African Americans Foster Families Grief and Loss Novels in Verse School Separation Sisters Writers and Writing
Diversity subject: Black/African
On CCBC Booklist: School Stories: Selected PreK-12 Literature about the School Experience 

Publisher: Putnam
Publish Year: 2003
Pages: 128
ISBN: 0399231153
CCBC Location: Fiction, Woodson

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