Heartbeat

Rating:
Summary: Poetry for young adults.
Review: Annie's world if full of diversites that she manages to interconnect in her poetry. With her friend Max she shares a love of running, and perhaps a first "love". School is filled with a vocabulary of forbidden words, a thesaurus, art, and aggravation. Homelife, however, is where the most poignant moments are to be found. At one end of the spectrum is her mother who is growing an alien pumpkin baby inside herself, and on the other is her grandfather, slowly dying, gradually forgetting, and bravely joking about the end.

*** Somehow, all of these various things are tied together with a consistancy and simplicity that moves along as smoothly as the heroine's races. Annie is a thoughtful girl facing ordinary challenges at a crucial time in her life. The writing is life affirming and simple, hearkening back to a quieter age. ***

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore for Huntress Reviews.