SISTER SLAM AND THE POETIC MOTORMOUTH ROAD TRIP

Plot summary alone cannot convey the awfulness of the poetry in this over-the-top melodrama. High-school graduate Laura Crapper changes her name to Sister Slam and heads out on a road trip in search of poetry slams with her friend Twig. Assured by their mutual admiration that their poetry will rock the world, the two arrive at the slam after a few inevitable mishaps due to a lack of preparation and no understanding of reality. Sister Slam insults the judge, whom they have coincidentally met in a gas station, and they lose, remaining fully convinced of their language abilities. They total their car, leaving them in the hands of rich, good-looking Jake, who invites them to the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Naturally, this turns out peachy keen and the press is soon singing their praises after an impromptu reading in Tavern on the Green. Gauche and jabbing each other, the two soon have jobs and an apartment, but race home to dear old dad when they hear of his stroke. While the simplistic rhyming works, occasionally, the leaden cliché-ridden lines mostly clink and clank along. So bad it’s almost campy. (Fiction. YA)