poetry Archives - Page 132 of 291

Alone
by Megan E. Freeman (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone–left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned.

With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read. After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten.

As months pass, she escapes natural disasters, looters, and wild animals. But Maddie’s most formidable enemy is the crushing loneliness she faces every day. Can Maddie’s stubborn will to survive carry her through the most frightening experience of her life?

Snippet:
This Is Not Adolescent Hyperbole

This is my reality.

Alone in this place
where I have been
surviving on my own
for over three years
with no one but
a big, smelly
rottweiler who farts
and hogs the covers.

A 2021 Cybils Poetry nominee

Starfish
by Lisa Fipps (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Ever since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she’s been bullied about her weight. To cope, she tries to live by the Fat Girl Rules–like “no making waves,” “avoid eating in public,” and “don’t move so fast that your body jiggles.” And she’s found her safe space–her swimming pool–where she feels weightless in a fat-obsessed world. In the water, she can stretch herself out like a starfish and take up all the room she wants. It’s also where she can get away from her pushy mom, who thinks criticizing Ellie’s weight will motivate her to diet. Fortunately, Ellie has allies in her dad, her therapist, and her new neighbor, Catalina, who loves Ellie for who she is. With this support buoying her, Ellie might finally be able to cast aside the Fat Girl Rules and starfish in real life–by unapologetically being her own fabulous self.

Snippet:

I wish I could tell everyone
how they made me feel that day–
humiliated,
angry,
deeply sad.

But every time I try to stand up for myself,
the words get stuck in my throat
like a giant glob of peanut butter.

A 2021 Cybils Poetry nominee