Starred Review On October 6, 1998, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, was lured into a truck, driven into the country, savagely beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die ich he did, five days later. In the 68 poems that make up this novel-in-verse, Newman re-creates the events and circumstances surrounding this unspeakably vile hate crime and offers a moving tribute to a young man she regards as a martyr. Her poems are told from multiple points of view, including that of the fence, the rope that bound the boy, and a doe that stood watch over him. The beautifully realized selections are also written in a variety of forms, ranging from haiku to villanelle, from concrete poetry to rhymed couplets. Each form (discussed in an appendix) matches the tone and mood of its content, creating an almost musical effect that is both intellectually and aesthetically engaging. Written with love, anger, regret, and other profound emotions, this is a truly important book that deserves the widest readership, not only among independent readers but among students in a classroom setting, as well. Most importantly, the book will introduce Matthew Shepard to a generation too young to remember the tragic circumstances of his death.

Gay student Matthew Shepard's murder stunned the University of Wyoming community in October, 1998; Gay Awareness Week was about to begin, with Newman the keynote speaker. Sixty-eight poems in varied forms present a range of voices--the fence, the doctor, stars--in this "historical novel in verse." Newman's language serves the voices well, the poems always simple, accessible, and moving. Reading list, websites.

Nearly 14 years after the unspeakable tragedy that put Laramie, Wyo., on the hate crimes map, lesbian literary icon Newman offers a 68-poem tribute to Matthew Shepard. Readers who were infants on October 6, 1998, may learn here for the first time how the 21-year-old Shepard was lured from a bar by two men who drove him to the outskirts of town, beat him mercilessly, tied him to a fence and left him to die. Ironically, months before Shepard's murder, Newman had been invited to Laramie to speak at the University of Wyoming's Gay Awareness Week and actually delivered her keynote address on the day he died. This cycle of poems, meant to be read sequentially as a whole, incorporates Newman's reflections on Shepard's killing and its aftermath, using a number of common poetic forms and literary devices to portray the events of that fateful night and the trial that followed. While the collection as a whole treats a difficult subject with sensitivity and directness, these poems are in no way nuanced or subtle. For example, Newman repeatedly employs personification to make inanimate objects, such as the fence, road, clothesline and truck, unwitting accessories to the crime, and she imitates William Carlos Williams' "This Is Just to Say" false-apology format no fewer than four times with mixed results. Though somewhat heavyhanded, these poems are sure to instill much-needed empathy and awareness to gay issues in today's teens. (Poetry. 14 & up)

Just days after 21-year-old Matthew Shepard was killed in 1998, Newman (Heather Has Two Mommies) visited his school, the University of Wyoming, as the keynote speaker for its Gay Awareness Week. Writing from this personal viewpoint, Newman crafts 68 poems, imagining the perspectives of Shepard, his convicted killers, the stars above, the fence to which he was tied, a nearby deer, and many more. Despite the variety of voices and poetic forms Newman uses (haiku, pantoum, villanelle, and others), the poems read as a somewhat repetitive chorus of rage, shame, and disgust (-I can take anything/ I-m tough as time/ But when I saw him/ between the two of them/ trapped in that truck/ it made me want to heave,- says the road). It-s a visceral, painful read, but it-s difficult to say how singsongy couplets from Shepard-s cat (-Where is the boy? Will he ever be back?/ I-m cold and I-m lonely and I need a snack-) or a punny offering from the rope used to bind him (-They roped me in/ I was fit to be tied-) make this tragedy more real. Ages 14-up. (Sept.)