Rhyme Schemer

October 13, 2014
In this affecting verse novel, Holt (Brains for Lunch) traces 12-year-old Kevin evolution from bully to bullied while highlighting the solace he finds writing poetry. Kevin sees his peers as "easy prey" and feels all-powerful as "king of the seventh grade." At home, however, his distracted parents barely notice him, and his siblings either ignore or actively torment him. Kevin channels his feelings of inadequacy and aggression into his journal. Tension spikes when Kevin is suspended, and his main target, Robin, finds Kevin's journal; Robin uses Kevin's own words to terrorize and embarrass him, which turns school into a nightmare for him ("The days don't even separate anymore./ It is all just one long/ never/ end/ ing/ day"). An unlikely champion emerges in the memorable school librarian who sees Kevin's potential. Though some of the roots of Kevin's bullying come across as rather obvious and familiar, and the resolution too tidy, bullies, those bullied, and bystanders alike will be left with much to ponder. Ages 10âup. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

September 1, 2014
A class bully with poetic leanings gets a painful dose of his own medicine. In this middle-grade novel in verse, Holt explores the cycle of violence and alienation that can result from parental neglect. Twelve-year-old Kevin is the self-professed "[k]ing of the seventh grade," the youngest of five boys and son to two preoccupied physicians. He starts off the school year by choosing class runt Robin and the mole on his new teacher's face as the unwitting subjects of his derision-anything to help shore up the self-worth his abusive older brother Petey has made it his mission to erode. With a motto of "So many / weenies. / So little / time," Kevin sets about publicly humiliating Robin and otherwise becoming a menace to the community. Though a tormentor at school, at home, bullied Kevin laments feeling "lost all the time / A toy in a shoe / A sock in the trash" and takes refuge by composing his thoughts in a notebook of poems. When Robin gets hold of the notebook and exposes Kevin as a poet, the tables turn, and both boys must reckon with the motives behind the pain they've inflicted. Holt draws a fairly straight line between cause and effect, weakening the artistry of her tale but making it one that most readers will readily understand. While Holt's simplistic plot resolves a bit too neatly, this transformative tale offers important lessons for all persuasions of middle graders, whether bullies or targets, complicit or horrified bystanders. (Verse fiction. 10-14)

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September 1, 2014

Gr 4-7-Bullied by his older brother at home, seventh-grader Kevin in turn bullies his classmates at school. He's even found a clever way to do his bullying: transforming pages torn from library books to create humorous but cruel found poems. When another student (a previous victim of Kevin's bullying) finds Kevin's journal and learns that he is the creator of the poems, the tables are turned. Kevin must find a way to make peace with his victim-turned-aggressor. He finds an unlikely ally in the school librarian when he is assigned a detention shelving books. This slim verse novel is a quick read with a strong anti-bullying message, though readers who struggle with similar issues may find the solution a bit pat. The setting, topic, and format make this book ideal for classroom use during a poetry unit.-Misti Tidman, Licking County Library, Newark, OH

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2014
Grades 5-8 Twelve-year-old Kevin begins seventh grade by declaring himself the king and setting his sights on targets for his bullying and derisionwith classmate Robin taking the brunt of his abuse. In this novel in verse, Kevin's inner life is exposed through the poems he makes up about a teacher's mole, the abuse he suffers at the hands of his older brother, the frustration and isolation he feels as the son of two busy physicians (he is the youngest of five boys, aka the baby/the accident ). When his notebook is stolen by Robin, the tables are turned and Kevin becomes the target. Holt manages to make her poetry-writing seventh-grade bully both believable and sympathetic, and his voice rings totally authentic. The sparse rhymes and occasional scratches and arrows drawn on the pages add a dimension of humor and pathos to what might otherwise be a run-of-the-mill morality tale about bullying. The ending, while tidy, should prove satisfying for readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)