A Novel Challenge

Last year I surprised myself by reading a novel in verse and liking it. I read my second novel in verse earlier this year. Now that might not sound like a lot, but I've never been a person who really liked poetry. Yet both of these books, Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas and Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate, pulled me in quickly and impressed me with their sparse, beautiful use of language.

So I was fascinated when I saw this challenge from Caroline Starr Rose. The rules are simple:

1. Read five novels-in-verse by December 31
2. Create a post about the contest (and link to the original post)
3. Report back in December on your books (nothing fancy...just share your titles and any thoughts you might like to add)
4. One participant will win an ARC of MAY B., Caroline's debut historical novel-in-verse

I'm not familiar with a lot of novels in verse, but I'm looking forward to discovering more. I bought I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder a few weeks ago. It's a book I've thought about reading for a while so that will be my first book for the challenge.

If you'd like to join in the challenge, follow the link to Caroline's blog. And if you've got suggestions for some other novels in verse, tell me in the comments. Because my TBR pile isn't big enough already :D

Have a fabulous weekend!

Another Verse

I never thought I would read a novel in verse. Somehow the concept made me think of William Wordsworth or Burt Bacharach. Or Dr. Seuss. And to be honest, I didn't want to read anything written by those people for 200 pages or more.

But last year someone gave me Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas. I ignored it for a while, let it sit on the shelf. But let me tell you, when I finally opened it, I couldn't put it down. I was blown away.

So this year I was actually excited when I got my hands on Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate. I had seen positive reviews from people and the story sounded interesting enough: Kek, a ten-year-old boy from the Sudan, is shipped off to Minnesota in winter after his father and brother are killed and his mother disappears. But like other books I enjoy, it isn't just the story that pulled me in. It's the writing.

Kek moves in with an aunt and older cousin who had escaped the refugee camp earlier. He has so much to discover in Minnesota: snow, English, grocery stores. The words are written beautifully, but the book is funny, too. This passage with Kek and his cousin Ganwar before his first day of school made me laugh out loud.

That night,
I try on the school clothes
in the box Dave has brought for me.
I pick a button shirt with flowers on it
and soft red pants,
but Ganwar rolls his eyes.
Thos are pajamas, he says.
You wear them when you sleep.

I try again.
Ganwar shakes his head.
The kids will eat you alive, he says.

This is bad news,
since I didn't know that America people
like to eat each other.

Home of the Brave won the Golden Kite Award for Fiction, it's an SLJ Best Book of the Year. Of course, if you're like me, awards don't mean you want to read the book.

What I'm really enjoying about this book is seeing how the author can get a point across with very few words. If two people are talking outside in the cold, she doesn't say It's cold. She writes

His laughter makes little clouds.

Isn't that great? Here's a kid who has never experienced winter and what does he notice? Laughter makes little clouds. Brilliant!

Whether or not you enjoy novels in verse, if you are a writer, I highly recommend that you read one. Home of the Brave and Because I am Furniture are great choices, but there are plenty of others out there. I think Lisa Schroeder will be next on my list. Look at how the authors use language, how they  say so much with so little. Then think about how you can apply that to your own writing.

We're not all going to write novels in verse. But learning to be more economical with words is a lesson we can all use.