Why We Broke Up

Recommended grades 7-12.  Why We Broke Up is the story of a boy and of a girl.  Min and Ed were a match made in... Shakespeare.  He is a jock and she is "arty."    Unlike Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, Min and Ed escape the relationship with their lives, if not their pride, and with a box full of artifacts.  In order to get past the heartbreak, Min undertakes the project of returning the artifacts to Ed, along with a 200+ page letter tracing the roots of their breakup.  Author Daniel Handler (the man behind Lemony Snicket and his Series of Unfortunate Events) brings intelligence and tragedy in the voice of Min.  Female readers in particular will be able to empathize with the thrill of her first love and the devastation of the fall out.  Artist Maria Kalman contributes color paintings of each item as it appears in the letter.  The paintings bring the stories into life and out of abstraction.  The marriage of the text and the images forms a sentimental, heart-wrenching tale that almost all readers, tween, teen, and adult can relate to.  Highly recommended, ****

A River of Words

Recommended Grades 3-5.  Jen Bryant narrates the biography of poet William Carlos Williams in her picture book A River of Words (Eerdman's Books, 2008).  The reader follows young William as he explores the scenic country in his childhood home of Rutherford, New Jersey, goes to medical school in Pennsylvania with famous friends Ezra Pound, Hilda Doolittle, and Charles Demuth, and opens a his own office back in Rutherford.  All the while, Williams shapes the world and words around him into poetry.  The illustrations by Melissa Sweet are a high point of the book.  Sweet draws simple figures primarily in earth tones-- rough sketches so that you can still see her pencil line.  Each illustration is worked into a collage style that includes books from Williams' school days, torn pages from his notebooks with his most famous poems scribbled in different drafts and other artifacts from his developing life.  The pictures themselves show the compulsion of Williams' poetical outbursts- that although he was the "busiest man in the county" with his medical practice he could not quiet his mind against the poetic phrases coming in.  The illustrations also demonstrate how Williams broke out of the standard rules of poetry to produce his own free form style that has influenced generations of poets after him.  Both the author and illustrator express their deep love for Williams, and confess that they are members of those influenced by his work.  A River of Words is a Caldecott Honor Book for good reason.  The illustrations will inspire young readers and have the potential to inspire future artistic endeavors, just as William Carlos Williams was the inspiration for this book.  Highly Recommended, *****