This skillful first novel by poet Shovan features 18 characters who narrate their pivotal fifth-grade year in a variety of poetic forms. The class is torn about the future of their school building, which the district is actively planning to close, spurring some to political action by petitioning to save Emerson Elementary. Meanwhile, friends are made and lost, crushes bloom, and the students' home lives impact their school lives. At times the sheer number of protagonists, all given equal billing, makes this novel in verse difficult to follow. However, the multiethnic class is distinctive, and readers will grow to care about students' personal struggles, such as whether Gaby's English improves or Mark's grief over his father's death will heal. Back matter on the types of poems utilized will prove useful for those wanting to learn more about poetic forms, and can make for interesting exercises for classroom teachers. A worthwhile book for all libraries, this will appeal to readers looking to spend quality time with kids like themselves.

Eighteen students will be in Ms. Hill's last fifth-grade class, before bulldozers destroy Emerson Elementary to make room for a grocery store. The kids in her racially diverse classroom voice their opinions about their beloved school's closing through poems in a range of styles. The poems are easy to read, in authentic-sounding language capturing the poets' personalities. A helpful guide to poetic forms is appended.

Gr 4-6 At the end of the term, Emerson Elementary School will be bulldozed to make way for a shopping center and students will be reassigned to other schools in the district. This change is particularly hard for the 18 fifth graders in Ms. Hill's class. She tasks them with keeping a poetry journal throughout the year; their poems will be placed in a time capsule at the end of the year. The students write about their feelings, the project, the imminent changes to their community, and their worries about middle school through alternating poems divided into four quarters. One girl's mother is being deployed, a boy's father recently left the family, and another boy's beloved grandfather is ailing. With the gentle guidance of their teacher, who may have been arrested in the 1960s protesting the Vietnam War, they become socially aware and organize a movement to protest the school closure. The distinct personalities of the students shine through in a variety of poetic forms. Sadness, humor, anger, and hope are expressed in authentically young voices. The poetic forms are discussed in further detail in the back matter, making for a great teaching resource. VERDICT This gently evocative study of change in all its glory and terror would make a terrific read-aloud or introduction to a poetry unit. A most impressive debut. Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ