Category Archives: Poetry

Review: Under the Neon Lights by Arriel Vinson

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Under the Neon Lights by Arriel Vinson

Under the Neon Lights
Arriel Vinson
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Published June 3, 2025

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About Under the Neon Lights

In this sparkling and heartfelt debut YA novel in verse, a young Black girl discovers first love, self-worth, and the power of a good skate. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Joya Goffney.

Sixteen-year-old Jaelyn Coleman lives for Saturdays at WestSide Roll, the iconic neighborhood roller rink. On these magical nights, Jae can lose herself in the music of DJ Sunny, the smell of nachos from the concession, and the crowd of some of her favorite people—old heads, dance crews, and other regulars like herself. Here, Jae and other Black teens can fully be themselves.

One Saturday, as Jae skates away her worries, she crashes into the cutest boy she’s ever seen. Trey’s dimples, rich brown skin, and warm smile make it impossible for her to be mad at him though. Best of all, he can’t stop finding excuses to be around her. A nice change for once, in contrast with her best friend’s cold distance of late or her estranged father creeping back into her life.

Just as Jae thinks her summer might change for the better, devastating news hits: Westside Roll is shutting down. The gentrification rapidly taking over her predominantly Black Indianapolis neighborhood, filling it with luxury apartments and fancy boutiques, has come for her safe-haven. And this is just one trouble Jae can’t skate away from.

Debut author Arriel Vinson’s lyrical and contemplative story of young Black love and coming of age in Indianapolis ushers in an exciting new voice in YA literature.

My Review

The descriptions of the skating rink were so perfect. My memories of going skating and the sounds, smells, the stickiness in the air, all of that, came springing back to life in my head as I read this book. The descriptions of the music let you know what’s going on without ever slowing down the story. I felt like I was right there with Jae.

What’s really awesome, too, is that the story paints the picture of the skating rink as this hub for community. It’s a space where people gather and celebrate music, relationships, and the joy of roller skating. I loved every one of those scenes.

The story also makes space to explore the ways that relationships change. Sometimes things break, and we don’t know how to fix them. Sometimes people let us down. And sometimes people change. Figuring out when to fight or confront versus when to let things go is not easy, and Jae faces several complex choices in her relationships.

Jae also lives in a town that’s facing increasing gentrification. It’s no the theme of the story. This isn’t a book about mobilizing the community to stop what’s happening. It’s about figuring out how to be who you are in an ever-changing world, and how to hold onto the things that matter to you even when the world keeps changing. There are some great moments in which Jae calls out gentrification and acknowledges the harm it’s causing. So while it’s not a story that centers on saving the skating rink, it does address the impact of the closure on the community.

I was engaged from the first page to the last. The verse lines move quickly, drawing our attention to the perfect amount of detail and creating a rich emotional story. I cannot wait to see what the author writes next.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few instances of strong profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Scenes show people falling while skating. References to racism and prejudice. Jae’s neighborhood faces increasing gentrification.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner

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The Trouble with Heroes
Kate Messner
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published April 29, 2025

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About The Trouble with Heroes

Bestselling and award-winning author Kate Messner takes readers on a heart-filling journey as a boy finds his path to healing.

One summer.
46 mountain peaks.
A second chance to make things right.

Finn Connelly is nothing like his dad, a star athlete and firefighter hero who always ran toward danger until he died two years ago. Finn’s about to fail seventh grade and has never made headlines . . . until now.

Caught on camera vandalizing a cemetery, he’s in big trouble for kicking down some dead old lady’s headstone. But it turns out that grave belongs to a legendary local mountain climber, and her daughter makes Finn an unusual offer…climb all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks with her dead mother’s dog, and they can call it even.

In a wild three months of misadventures, mountain mud, and unexpected mentors, Finn begins to find his way on the trails. At the top of each peak, he can see for miles and slowly begins to understand more about himself and his dad. But the mountains don’t care about any of that, and as the clock ticks down to September, they have more surprises in store. Finn’s final summit challenge may be more than even a hero can face.

My Review

This story is mostly told in verse with a few letters and articles mixed in. At first, Finn writes poems as part of an English assignment for school. The early poems are written unwillingly, so some of the things he writes are funny from the perspective of watching a kid try to weasel out of doing work. But as he keeps writing, he begins to appreciate poetry as a vehicle to process his thoughts and experiences.

The same is true of his hiking experience. At first, he’s only participating unwillingly. He knows his mom can’t afford to replace the headstone he broke, and this is an alternative way that he can apologize for his behavior and make it right. As he spends more time outdoors, he starts noticing more of the natural world around him and even forms connections with his hiking mentors.

That leads him to process his grief over losing his dad during COVID-19. As the story unfolds, he also learns about connections between his hiking life and his dad’s experiences. I loved some of those connections. One in particular really hits deep, so grab some tissues as you get to the end of the book.

I have enjoyed every book by Kate Messner that I’ve ever read, so it isn’t a huge surprise that I loved this one. I think this is the first novel in verse that I’ve read by her, and I think she did a fabulous job with it.

If you’re looking for a nature-centered book about hiking or a story about a kid who’s made some bad choices and has a chance to turn things around, you’ll want to check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Finn kicked over a headstone in a graveyard and broke it. References to September 11th. References to an injured person carried by a firefighter. The story includes brief memories of the COVID-19 pandemic. References to an animal attack. References to the death of a parent.

Drug Content
Finn’s dad struggled with alcohol addiction.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Fragments That Remain by Mackenzie Angeconeb

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Poetry, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

The Fragments That Remain
Mackenzie Angeconeb
Cormorant Books
Published March 8, 2025

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About The Fragments That Remain

First-year college student Andy can’t afford to slow down. Study, volunteer, work, make new friends, fall in love ― whatever it takes to keep her from obsessing over her brother Ally’s death, which was ruled suicide by overdose. Navigating a new life chapter without her “honorary twin,” Andy writes letters to him as she strives to embrace her bisexuality and her Indigenous identity. Once she discovers Ally’s hidden poems, Andy pours over them to make sense of her brother’s life ― and his death.

Back in senior year, Ally dreamed of being a poet. His parents encouraged him to write as a hobby, but they always expected him to inherit the family-owned bookshop with his sister. Ally wrote to cope with his emptiness, until he turned to drugs to fill the void.

Reaching for her brother through unanswered words, Andy must reckon with living a once-shared life alone.

My Review

This novel is divided into three parts. Andy’s letters to her brother make up the first and last parts of the book. The middle part is made up of poems her brother Ally wrote and left in a box she finds partway through the story.

The letters read like diary entries. They show Andy processing her brother’s death, dealing with grief, and her struggle to form new connections with others. At times, Andy circles between grief and depression, vividly describing her emotional pain. When she discovers the poems, she wrestles with wanting to know Ally’s thoughts and worrying she’ll discover something she can’t unknow.

I found her journey easily relatable. She had a lot of guilt over her brother’s death. At one point, she experiences rejection and has an explosively angry reaction. She doesn’t become violent, but she feels incredibly betrayed and says some hurtful (ace-phobic) things. As she processes her feelings and reflects on her behavior, she realizes she acted badly and apologizes.

I love her mom’s reaction when she tells her parents she’s dating a girl. Her mom is so chill about it that her dad thinks maybe she doesn’t realize what Andy is telling them, so he repeats it, and her mom is like, yeah, I know, but what’s her name? It is a sweet moment.

On the whole, I enjoyed the book. I think readers who enjoy stories that reflect on unexpected tragedy or address the fallout of addiction or loss will want to read The Fragments That Remain.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing, references to sex (not shown on-scene).

Spiritual Content
Andy reads her letters aloud and thinks of it as reading them to her brother’s spirit. Vague reference to praying to whatever gods are listening.

Violent Content
References to drug overdose/death by suicide.

Drug Content
References to drug use.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes

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Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance
Nikki Grimes
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published January 5, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance

From Children’s Literature Legacy Award-winning author Nikki Grimes comes a feminist-forward new collection of poetry celebrating the little-known women poets of the Harlem Renaissance–paired with full-color, original art from today’s most talented female African-American illustrators.

For centuries, accomplished women–of all races–have fallen out of the historical records. The same is true for gifted, prolific, women poets of the Harlem Renaissance who are little known, especially as compared to their male counterparts.

In this poetry collection, bestselling author Nikki Grimes uses “The Golden Shovel” poetic method to create wholly original poems based on the works of these groundbreaking women-and to introduce readers to their work.

Each poem is paired with one-of-a-kind art from today’s most exciting female African-American illustrators: Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Cozbi A. Cabrera, Nina Crews, Pat Cummings, Laura Freeman, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Ebony Glenn, April Harrison, Vashti Harrison, Ekua Holmes, Cathy Ann Johnson, Keisha Morris, Daria Peoples-Riley, Andrea Pippins, Erin Robinson, Shadra Strickland, Nicole Tadgell, and Elizabeth Zunon.

Legacy also includes a foreword, an introduction to the history of the Harlem Renaissance, author’s note, and poet biographies, which make this a wonderful resource and a book to cherish.

My Review

I am woefully underread when it comes to poetry, something that I’m working on fixing this year. I know that we studied a poem by Langston Hughes when I was in middle school, but I’m not sure we ever returned to his work later or ever really acknowledged the Harlem Renaissance. So, I figure doing some learning about this is long overdue.

I had heard of Nikki Grimes before picking up this book, but I don’t know that I’d read any of her work. At first I was hesitant about reading a book that paired authors from two different times and added artwork. Like, would it be confusing to me to bounce back and forth and remember which poems were from the Harlem Renaissance and which were more current?

I shouldn’t have worried, honestly. Looking back, that was a silly excuse, and I’m glad it didn’t stop me from reading this collection. The way Grimes put the collection together really celebrates the Harlem Renaissance poets.

First, you read a poem by a Harlem Renaissance poet, such as “I Sit and Sew” by Alice Dunbar-Nelson. One or two lines of the poem appear in boldface. “Room for Dreams” by Nikki Grimes appears on the next page, and the bold-face words from Dunbar-Nelson’s poem appear one by one at the end of each line of Grimes’ poem. So, the lines that appeared in bold in the original poem appear vertically in the poem by Nikki Grimes.

The themes from the two poems also connect. For example, both “I Sit and Sew” and “Room for Dreams” call out the limits that women faced (and face) in having prescribed societal roles.

Stunning artwork follows each pair of poems. The vibrant colors are captivating, and the illustrations reflect the emotions found in the poetry. Biographies about each poet and illustrator fill a section at the end.

Conclusion

Altogether, this is a fantastic illustrated poetry collection that celebrates women poets and artists. While this book should be enjoyed year-round, it’s a wonderful resource for Black History or Women’s History celebrations.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renée Watson

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Black Girl You Are Atlas
Renée Watson
Illustrated by Ekua Holmes
Kokila
Published February 13, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Black Girl You Are Atlas

A thoughtful celebration of Black girlhood by award-winning author and poet Renée Watson.

In this semi-autobiographical collection of poems, Renée Watson writes
about her experience growing up as a young Black girl at the intersections of race, class, and gender.

Using a variety of poetic forms, from haiku to free verse, Watson shares recollections of her childhood in Portland, tender odes to the Black women in her life, and urgent calls for Black girls to step into their power.

Black Girl You Are Atlas encourages young readers to embrace their future with a strong sense of sisterhood and celebration. With full-color art by celebrated fine artist Ekua Holmes throughout, this collection offers guidance and is a gift for anyone who reads it.

My Review

Another blogger recently said, “You can’t go wrong with Renée Watson,” and, wow, that is so true. I’ve seen this book in different places lately and I’ve had it on my reading list since it came out, because: Renée Watson. Finally, I had time to sit down and read it.

This book is a short (92 pages) poetry collection with gorgeous collage illustrations following each poem. It may contain only a few poems, but each one is as powerful as a punch. One is a tribute to her older sister, Dyan, capturing how older sisters lead the younger ones, protecting them and helping them as they grow. She writes about growing up in Portland, about her family’s roots and culture. She writes about being a woman and her hopes for all girls.

This book is a feast for the eyes and the heart. I absolutely loved every page. Watson is an incredible storyteller, nowhere more so than in her poetry. This book is definitely worth reading, especially for anyone who loves poetry or is looking for work about the current American experience.

The artwork is phenomenal. I found myself just sitting and studying some of the illustrations and marveling at how they capture the spirit of the poems in the book. Fans of Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin will want to read this one, too.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to romance. She sees a relative kiss their partner.

Spiritual Content
References to growing up Baptist and a Bible open on the table.

Violent Content
References to Rodney King being beaten by police and Anita testifying about Clarence Thomas, and the death of Emmett Till. References to a boy who touches her after she’s told him to stop. One poem is dedicated to Breonna Taylor.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride

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We Are All So Good at Smiling
Amber McBride
Feiwel & Friends
Published January 10, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About We Are All So Good at Smiling

They Both Die at the End meets The Bell Jar in this haunting, beautiful young adult novel-in-verse about clinical depression and healing from trauma, from National Book Award Finalist Amber McBride.

Whimsy is back in the hospital for treatment of clinical depression. When she meets a boy named Faerry, she recognizes they both have magic in the marrow of their bones. And when Faerry and his family move to the same street, the two start to realize that their lifelines may have twined and untwined many times before.

They are both terrified of the forest at the end of Marsh Creek Lane.

The Forest whispers to Whimsy. The Forest might hold the answers to the part of Faerry he feels is missing. They discover the Forest holds monsters, fairy tales, and pain that they have both been running from for 11 years.

My Review

I don’t know if there’s anyone else in the world who writes quite like Amber McBride. We Are All So Good at Smiling came out at a time when I was bogged down with other reading projects, but it’s been high on my reading list since it was released, and my expectations were high.

They were met, if not exceeded. How often does that happen?

This is a weird book. It mixes fairytales and a magical landscape into a contemporary setting, almost like Rochelle Hassan does in “The Buried and the Bound” series. Somehow, telling the story in verse seems to make it even more ethereal. It reminded me a little bit of The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R. M. Romero.

Some of the references feel pretty on the nose, such as a fairy boy named Faerry. There are so many layers to the story, though, so don’t be tempted to take things too much at face value.

I loved the creepy forest and the way that Whimsy and Faerry’s journey unfolded in connection with it. The way the fairytale characters appeared and how they changed depending on what was happening was really fascinating. I also thought exploring fairytales alongside mental health made for an interesting juxtaposition. It made me think of some of the moments in the book Disfigured: On Fairytales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc.

All that to say that I very much got swept away in this remarkable, immersive story. Amber McBride is quickly climbing my list of auto-buy authors because she always delivers such rich, thought-provoking stories. If you haven’t read any of her books, this is a great one to start with. If you like fairytales and/or novels in verse, definitely put this one on your list!

Content Notes

Depression, suicidal thoughts, loss of a close family member, bullying.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Whimsy and Faerry are Black and have depression.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Whimsy practices Hoodoo, as passed down to her by her grandmother. Her family are conjures. Faerry is a fairy with wings few people can see. The story contains magic as well as fairytale and folktale references and characters.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Bullies call Whimsy names and hold her underwater. Other characters harm Whimsy and Faerry, causing cuts to open on their bodies. References to Whimsy being suicidal at the beginning of the story and in the past.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.