Poetry Friday: Broadway Across America

Broadway Across America

Gazelles ready to
leap for Simba the Lion
King, dancing through town.


Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

Catch the full roundup with Sylvia Vardell at Poetry For Children.

Brushing Mom's Hair: Andrea Cheng

Sometimes a book will rest in your palm, and you know you've found a kindred spirit. That happened to me recently when Andrea Cheng's Brushing Mom's Hair crossed my path.

This special work teeters between a novel in poems and a verse novel. Each entry is titled, and the majority could stand alone as individual poems. Yet, united they tell a beautiful story about Ann, coping with her mother's recent breast cancer, mastectomy, and treatments. It is through Ann's art and dance that she finds moments of peace and control. The reader joins her as she moves through worry, embarrassment, a diminished appetite, the waiting, and finally joy.

Andrea Cheng's attention to detail brings rich life to the collection: beans, a fluorescent smiley face, warm bricks, and striped leg warmers. Each grounds the poems and makes tangible connections to the reader. Andrea bravely relays the truth of the breast cancer experience.

Nicole Wong has contributed delicate pen and ink and wash drawings and spot illustrations to every page. The line mimics the tenuous state of the characters at times and then the rising hope at other moments. There's a beautiful dance between line, text, and negative space on each spread. It is a welcome aid to the reader working through the difficult subject matter.

Personally, I feel close to this work as it seems to dance between my own novels Loose Threads and On Pointe.



Brushing Mom's Hair is accessible to tweens, teens and adults. Share it with your loved one upon its release in September. Give it to another this October for Breast Cancer Month.

Brushing Mom's Hair
by Andrea Cheng
illustrated by Nicole Wong
Wordsong, September, 2009

Poetry Friday: Midsummer Fairies

Midsummer Fairies

Midsummer fairies
Cast spells
With eyes
And smiles
Beware the flicker of
Light
On your
Midsummer night

Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

Catch the roundup with Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading.

What a Girl Wants: YA or Adult

In a roundabout way, Colleen over at Chasing Ray, asked the ladies what we thought about the YA versus adult distinction in literature. Do girls need YA books? Here's my entry. Visit her post to hear all the passion. It's going to be a hot one!


Lorie Ann Grover: I believe teen girls need stories that express their own voices and introduce them to new ones that speak outside of their worldviews. Any topic can potentially engage a teen if it's contained in a meaningful story. The teen protagonist is merely a conduit which connects the reader, with a shorter life experience, to the writer.

So, what can be found in the teen novel not found in an adult work? Nothing, aside from a guarantee of hope in some measure, even if it's small. At least today, I still find this to be true. Otherwise, there will be the same literary merit, engaging plot, and credible characters. There will be the same value.

At ALA, Libba Bray was recently telling me about her book tour in Germany where she found YA and adult works esteemed equally. I am hopeful we might reach this conclusion in the states. Let writers craft their stories and people from all walks find the words, regardless of age or place in life.

Me as a Superhero!

Holly Cupala found this fun app to make your own superhero as we are reading Cecil Castellucci's The Plain Janes over at rgz. Check out the Superhero Factory!

So here I am. Ha! I think it took into account my rheumatoid arthritis. ;~)

Thoughts on Revision or Run, Chicken, Run

I've been thinking about my revision process because of Holly Cupala's Summer Revision Smackdown this summer with Jolie Stekly. I had some clarity this morning as I discussed my pattern with my daughter.

So I'm working on a manuscript I've been nursing a few years. Just recently I grasped a major plot and structure change. What commenced was a frantic urge to get to my computer to tackle the ideas. I became irritated, grumpy, and driven. Other activities and people were a test in patience. (Sorry, you guys.)

This morning I landed on the last page, all changes poured from head onto the screen. Like separating the yolk and white with eggshells. Slippery, bloopy stuff.

And now there's peace again. I can do rgz work, clean, chat with friends. I'm still revising. But there's not the urgency that I had before. What I have is a dead, plucked, uncooked, floppy chicken. However, it's not going anywhere.

These are my thoughts. If you hit me at the egg separating moment, please accept my apologies. I'll be dancing with the floppy chicken soon enough and hoping people will join my conga line.

Here's to good friends and family who tolerate revising writers! Love ya! Smack!

Poetry Friday: Andy Warhol Portrait

Andy Warhol Portrait

What? What is the fear?
What to perceive, grasp, ponder?
Red-white thoughts on blue.


Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

Catch the roundup with Becky Laney at Becky's Book Reviews.