this is a goog book for student who would like to read about kids stories realting to them self. also tells you about some of the things teenagers can go threw. by Jayla ( )

This book is a very good book to read i enjoy all the vivd poetry they speak. You will have a completly different outloook on life and the world around you after you read this book. ( )

Richie's Picks: BRONX MASQUERADE by Nikki Grimes, Penguin Putnam, January 2002

"...It's not much better at home. My older brother's always after me to hit the streets with him, calls me a girly man for loving books and jazz. Don't get me wrong. B-ball is all right. Girls like you, for one thing. But it's not you they like. It's Mr. Basketball. And if that's not who you are inside, then it's not you they're liking. So what's the point?..."

BRONX MASQUERADE is a wonderful new novel by Nikki Grimes. It is written in internal monologue and poetry in the voices of eighteen urban high school students who get inspired by a poetry assignment:

OPEN MIKE:

"Bronx Masquerade" by Devon Hope

"I woke up this morning
exhausted from hiding
the me of me
so I stand here confiding
there's more to Devon
than jump shot and rim.
I'm more than tall
and lengthy of limb.
I dare you to peep
behind these eyes,
discover the poet
in tough-guy disguise.
Don't call me Jump Shot.
My name is Surprise."

As the students get involved in writing the poems and reading them to the class on what turns into "Open Mike" Fridays, they reveal their dreams, nightmares, and how they relate to each other. From not living up to a father's expectations to fears about their physical appearances, from violence and teen motherhood to friendship and alienation, you gain an incredibly intimate understanding of these teenagers from a book that ended way too quickly for me.

The publisher is calling this a 12 and up, but there is nothing objectionable to stop it from being taught both in middle grade and high school classrooms. It is both fun and inspirational to read, and to read aloud:

"...Sterling's right. I haven't been trying. Not since my parents divorced. I've been afraid to get close to anyone. When my mom left, I was suddenly out of orbit. It's like she was the sun, and when she took off, the only thing left was a big black hole where she used to be..."

OPEN MIKE:

"Ode to Stone" by Amy Moscowitz

"One day at Far Rockaway
is all it took.
One lookat rocks in water
decided me:
I want to be stone.
I want to be marble.
Dressed up limestone
never looked so good.
Let me be granite
and I promise
I'll show you how to take
a shellacking.
Yes, I'll risk sunburn.
Just let me be a rock
wedged into the earth or sea
tidal waves crashing over me
while I remain intact--
no split at the core,
more buffed than bruised
Forget the pillar of salt.
I'll look back at the count of three
and you can turn me into stone.
Go on.
I'm half rock
already."

Richie Partington
Richie's Picks
BudNotBuddy@aol.com ( )

Very relevant to the high school/middle school classroom. No over-arching narrative but the poems are lively and engaging. Also, it scores points for depicting young people from a variety of different backgrounds.

A beautiful rhythm of person and poetry, following the emergence of understanding in a mixed class of high-schoolers in the Bronx. Each of these students--black, white, Puerto Rican, Italian, and all shades in between--believe themselves to be alone, some more than others. Each feels not quite right, or outcasted, or ugly, or worthless. Yet when their English teacher starts to set class time aside for weekly poetry slams, the kids aren't afraid to let themselves out on paper. Through lines and beats, each student finds a means of expression which begins to connect student to student. Suddenly, people aren't feeling as alone. Now, people realize just how wrong their judgements of their classmates have been. Suddenly, they find a family...una familia...a place where they are understood, for better or worse. ( )