Bound To Stay Bound

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School Library Journal - 02/01/2012 Gr 4–6—Levine fashions her introduction to the topic after a poem by William Carlos Williams—"This Is Just to Say"—in which he 'fesses up to having eaten some plums from the icebox ("Forgive me/they were delicious/so sweet/and so cold"). The "false apology" poems (Levine's designation) include three four-line stanzas. The first states the offense; the second describes it; the third lays out the false apology (based on what came before). In a note on creating this novel poetic form, Levine advises readers: "Your poems should be mean, or what's the point?" Many of her unrhymed selections relate to fairy-tale or nursery-rhyme characters (Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, Jack and Jill), and some have particularly wicked twists: Grandma leaves Red Riding Hood to the wolf; the bear goes over the mountain and dies in a landslide. Others involve intentionally hurtful actions against a sibling—sanding the face off a sister's Barbie doll; stealing a brother's lucky baseball cap just before the state playoff. Black-ink-and-pencil drawings—many of them bizarre images of people, animals, and unearthly beings—accompany the verses. While the collection is supposed to be funny and to appeal to readers' dark sense of justice, it largely comes off as distasteful and even disturbing. Forgive me, there's got to be a better way to engage this audience with poetry.—Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Heights Public Library, OH - Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 03/01/2012 *Starred Review* Mean-spirited mischief and gruesome scenarios are part of the fun in these fractured-fairy-tale poems, which include wry takes on the Brothers Grimm, Mother Goose nonsense, and popular folklore. Written in the form of false apologies inspired by William Carlos Williams’ poem “This Is Just to Say,” the accessible free verse, along with wild line cartoons, shows the ugly standoffs and power plays between familiar characters. Snow White leaves willingly with the witch rather than staying with the dwarfs, who snore, pick their noses, and never bathe. Rapunzel lops off her braid, telling her would-be suitor, “You’re not worth / the pain / in my scalp.” The Beast burps after gobbling down Beauty for breakfast, then asks her father for another daughter. The princess always knew about the pea, which “helped immeasurably / in faking / the true princess test.” In an author’s note, Levine includes Williams’ poem and encourages readers to write their own false-apology verses, “in your own cruel ways.” But, she warns, “You have to be mean and grouchy.” Of course, the subversive, cranky tone is the appeal, as is the close look at popular sayings: ever thought about what it means to say “Blood is thicker than water”? Readers will enjoy sharing the surprising selections, which will make them rethink what they thought they knew. - Copyright 2012 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 04/01/2012 There are poetry collections on a broad variety of subjects, but this is almost certainly a historic first: a collection of insincere poetic apologies. Levine follows closely in the footsteps of William Carlos Williams, modeling her verses tightly on “This Is Just to Say,” his famous confession of unfair plum consumption, and using that title for all of her nearly fifty entries. While subjects vary, most poems draw on folklore, nursery rhyme, or familiar songs: the pushing of Humpty Dumpty off the wall happened because “all the king’s horses/ and all the king’s men/ were bored,” explains one poem apologetically, while Beauty’s Beast sorrowfully confesses, “I breakfasted/ on your daughter” (“please send/ her sisters/ by the next coach”). While not all poems are equally successful (and some of the apologies seem genuine enough, if comic in context), the collection overall possesses appealing irreverence and vitality. The open and breezy format adds accessibility, with each spread offering one or two of the terse verses offset by Cordell’s humorous art, monochromatic, wittily scrawled images often containing their own exclamations or sound effects. The introduction includes a spirited set of instructions for the writing of fauxpology poems, and there would be entertainment value in individual recitations as well as in just browsing. DS - Copyright 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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