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Jan 31, 2017JCLChrisK rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A surprisingly skillful, evocative, and engaging book. The unwieldy title didn't hold much appeal for me going in and the central concern--a class protesting the Board of Education's plans to tear down their school and replace it with a supermarket--doesn't seem like one that would get fifth graders all that riled up. Yet Shovan finds a way to for that concern to have realistic impact on each of the 18 students, often as a metaphor for bigger, more personal changes--or desire for changes--they're dealing with. The building change is the conceit, yet through it each character finds ways to express their lives and personalities with a minimum of words. And that's what I found particularly impressive: each of the 18 students is distinct. Each page or spread is a poem by one of them, alternating between them over the course of a school year. The poetry forms and styles vary, with each character trying out different ones based on their moods and needs. Even so, their personalities show through. And the poems seem like ones that fifth graders might produce. Middle grade readers should find it accessible and the characters relatable. The book ends with a nice appendix that briefly describes the poetry forms and topic prompts used, with references to examples from the book for each. That adds to the pleasurable reading an inviting opportunity for readers to explore their own poetry voices.