MORE THAN FRIENDS

The highs and lows of first love are chronicled in various poetic forms. Two unnamed narrators, a boy and a girl, speak in alternating voices about the course of a relationship from crush to breakup. At the bottom of each page, the authors note which form of poetry was used to tell that particular point in the story. Some of the forms, such as the sonnet and terza rima, will be familiar to teen poetry aficionados. Others—the tanka and Vietnamese luc bat, for example—invite discussion of unfamiliar forms. It is unlikely than anyone other than teens already interested in poetry will pick this up voluntarily, even teens who are fans of verse authors. This book’s value may come in its potential for classroom use: For teachers looking for ways to get high-school students to read and relate to poetry and learn its forms this is a top choice. The teen voices are honest and will ring true for any teen who’s ever had a crush, been mortified by his or her parents or broken off a relationship with the classic “it’s not you, it's me.” (Poetry. 11-15)