October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard
Leslea Newman
Fiction N465o

A masterful poetic exploration of the impact of Matthew Shepard’s murder on the world.

On the night of October 6, 1998, a gay twenty-one-year-old college student named Matthew Shepard was lured from a Wyoming bar by two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a remote fence, and left to die. Gay Awareness Week was beginning at the University of Wyoming, and the keynote speaker was Lesléa Newman, discussing her book Heather Has Two Mommies. Shaken, the author addressed the large audience that gathered, but she remained haunted by Matthew’s murder. October Mourning, a novel in verse, is her deeply felt response to the events of that tragic day. Using her poetic imagination, the author creates fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence Matthew was tied to, the stars that watched over him, the deer that kept him company, and Matthew himself. More than a decade later, this stunning cycle of sixty-eight poems serves as an illumination for readers too young to remember, and as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard’s life.

(from publisher)

Brown Girl Dreaming

Brown Girl Dreaming
Jacqueline Woodson
811 W8679br

 Jacqueline Woodson, one of today's finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse.

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.

(From Amazon.)

Kiss of Broken Glass

Kiss of Broken Glass
Madeleine Kuderick
Fiction K953k

My name is Kenna.
No one ever told me the truth about cutting—
How scars multiply like freaking rabbits.
How cutting turns you into a pathological liar.
How getting caught lands you in a psych ward with no way out for 72 hours.
But that's exactly what happens.
To me anyway.
And I bet you wonder how anyone could ever change—in just three days, in a place like this where everybody's broken.

Trust me.
I wonder that myself.

An incandescent novel that pulses with emotion and lingers long after the last page, Kiss of Broken Glass is unforgettable.

(From publisher.)

Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling

Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling
Lucy Frank
Fiction F85t

This novel-in-verse—at once literary and emotionally gripping—follows the unfolding friendship between two very different teenage girls who share a hospital room and an illness.

Chess, the narrator, is sick, but with what exactly, she isn’t sure. And to make matters worse, she must share a hospital room with Shannon, her polar opposite. Where Chess is polite, Shannon is rude. Where Chess tolerates pain silently, Shannon screams bloody murder. Where Chess seems to be getting slowly better, Shannon seems to be getting worse. How these teenagers become friends, helping each other come to terms with their illness, makes for a dramatic and deeply moving read.

(From Amazon.)

The Crossover

The Crossover
Kwame Alexander
Fiction Al27c

“A bolt of lightning on my kicks . . . The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I’m delivering,” raps twelve-year-old Josh Bell. Thanks to their dad, he and his twin brother, Jordan, are kings on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his
blood—he’s got mad beats, too, which help him find his rhythm when it’s all on the line.

As their winning season unfolds, things begin to change. When Jordan meets a girl, the twins’ bond unravels. Josh and Jordan must grow up on and off the court and realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story’s heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family. Told in dynamic verse, this fast and furious middle grade novel bounces with rhythm and bursts with heart.

(From publisher.)