Booked

Books in verse are so much fun for many reasons.  First, kids who don’t think they can read a “real book” because it has too many words on the page feel empowered.  I’ve had a few kids this year tell me that they really love reading now because of books like Booked and House Arrest (another middle grades novel written in verse).  Second, it shows kids that poetry doesn’t have to be boring…or rhyme…it just has to have a beat and rhythm to it.  Yes, sometimes it does rhyme and yes, it can showcase other literary elements like repetition, personification, metaphors, and imagery, but just knowing that poetry can come in lots of different visual forms is mind boggling to some kids.

Booked is about an 8th grader named Nick who is obsessed with soccer.  He plays on a competitive travel team, and they’ve been asked to play at a prestigious tournament in Dallas this year.  But as Nick is preparing for his big game he is hit by a bombshell:  his parents are going to “spend some time apart” and his mom is moving to Kentucky to restart her equestrian career.  Now Nick is left with his father, a linguistics professor who makes him study the dictionary every night.  Nick’s confused and angry, and the only thing that is getting him through the day is his best friend Coby, his eccentric school librarian Mac, and his crush on April.

This book is an easy read and very relatable for kids.  It does cover some hard issues, like divorce, bullying, and suicide (Nick posts a rap lyric online about how he feels and his parents see it as a cry for help, so they attend family therapy sessions to work out Nick’s feelings) but in an age-appropriate way.  Another great thing about the novel is the vocabulary.  Since Nick’s dad has verbomania (an extreme obsession with words) Nick knows and uses lots of interesting words, like pugilism, flummoxed, and sweven.  Even if the kid doesn’t know what they mean, there are footnotes to explain them with some choice descriptions from Nick.  I also like how the author incorporated some blackout poetry into this novel.  My only qualm was the ending.  It felt very rushed compared to the rest of the novel and not nearly as descriptive.  After such a good read, the ending was kind of a wash.

If you enjoy this book, you should also check out Kwame Alexander’s other books in verse:  The Crossover and Solo.  You will not be disappointed!