Diamond Willow by Helen Frost

Genre: Novel in Verse, Upper Elementary, Middle Grade
Source: I own a copy

Like Helen's book "Hidden", this book has hidden gems inside each of the diamond shaped poems. It gives us a more indepth look at the story.  This is a story of a young girl named Willow who feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere except with their dogs. She loves them. When she is finally given the opportunity to take them out on her own, something terrible happens. Willow finds out she is never alone. Part of the story is told through the voice of ancenstors. There is so much to love about this book that as I have said with the last few books, this is a must read and a must have four school book shelves.

There are always interesting things within Helen's books. I had never heard of the diamond willow. I had to look it up and realized I knew an old man years ago when I was a child who had a diamond willow cane. I thought that he had burned the diamond shape into it. It is always wonderful to learn something new as an adult.

Imperfect II by Tabatha Yeats, editor

Genre: Middle Grade, Poetry
Source: I own a copy

Once again we have a book of poetry geared toward kids. In this book we look at poetry from different perspectives. The perspective is what alter's the meaning. If you are interviewing someone about a fire that has just happened you will get different version of it based on the perspective of the person who was involved in the fire.  So it is with poetry. I can give my students the same topic, yet I will have a variety of poems, each different from the other, because they view the topic through their own unique perspective.

Through this book there are a variety of poetry forms. You have your simplest the acrostic on up to a golden shovel poem. There is something for everyone here.This is another great book I have on my shelves at school.

Spinning Through the Universe by Helen Frost

Genre: Middle Grade, Poetry, Novel in Verse
Source: I own a copy

Once again another favorite author. Helen Frost writes novels in verse. This is a book of poems from "room 214". This is a book that kids will be able to identify with. Although the teacher and students in this book are fiction, they could be any teacher or any student anywhere. She touches on topics such as; bikes. Jon's bike has gone missing in one poem. He talks about how special it is, noise and all. Then on the next page we read a poem by Andrew who took the bike because he had seen it lying in the rain. He didn't steal it because he wanted it. He took it to fix it up and return to Jon in better condition. There are poems about abuse, families and babies.  These are all topics kids deal with today. Helen's books are a must for all school and classroom libraries. I think the thing I enjoy the most about her books is at the back of each one. She has a section on the forms of poems she used and how to write them. Since reading her books I write more poetry and I have my students write more poetry. This is a must read.