Behind the Wheel: Driving Poems [Hardcover]

Janet S. Wong (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999

Forget kindergarten,
sharing.

Everything you need to know

you learn right here
behind the wheel.

So begins the title poem of this collection for young adults in which Janet S. Wong looks at driving as a metaphor for life. Through thirty-six poems that range in subject from passing the written driver's test and borrowing a car, to parallel parking and being pulled over by a cop, to car accidents and parents' anxieties, the poet succeeds in touching on all the subjects of concern to young people -- love, death, hopes and dreams.

Contemporary, honest, and direct, these poems offer a fresh approach to a subject of deep interest to today's young people.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Grade 6-8-Wong presents driving as a metaphor for life. She makes the rather obvious analogy in the poem "Behind the Wheel": "Everything you need to know/you learn right here/behind the wheel./Watch out for the other guy./Keep your eye on your rear./Thank the old lady who lets you in./Don't steal someone else's spot./When you rush to park and end up hopeless, crooked-/just start over." Many of the poems are simply memories of driving-related events, e.g., taking grandma to the store, a first hitchhiking attempt, and dreaming of luxury cars at the auto show. These glimpses are a bit distant, not really enticing readers to slip inside the memories. The metaphors continue throughout the book, often becoming tiresome. In "Restraint," parents are compared first to seat belts, and then to airbags: "...when you mess up-WOOOMPH!-/they're there, like air bags,/in your face." There is the obligatory, somewhat preachy poem about drunk driving, a little too light to have much impact. Not entirely convincing, these poems don't succeed as extended views of life.
Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 7^-up. "Forget kindergarten, / sharing. / Everything you need to know / you learn right here / behind the wheel." As in her previous poetry collections, Wong uses simple, personal free verse to explore the spaces between family and self, this time through distilled moments in the car and on the road. In one poem, a grandchild connects a car crash with the financial crash that took her grandmother's savings; in another, a daughter criticizes her father for picking up a hitchhiker and, in her sullenness, realizes she looks "not at all like my father's daughter." The poems are mostly intimate, first-person monologues, but there are some narrated vignettes and very funny radical suggestions for reshaping the rules of the road (in "Insurance for Teenage Drivers: A New Plan," the speaker suggests that, as punishment for violations, young offenders should: "Direct traffic, / head shaved bald . . . flanked by parents / dressed in pajamas"). Wong's brief, clear lines will be accessible even to the most reluctant poetry readers, and readers of all ages will be moved by the intersection of poignancy and humor as she describes the thrilling freedom of the car and an emerging adult's awareness that, although she's traveled, her road still leads to home. Gillian Engberg

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry; 1st edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689825315
• ISBN-13: 978-0689825316
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,334,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Janet S. Wong (www.janetwong.com) is an award-winning author of 23 books for young readers and teens. One of the most distinctive things about her body of work is its variety: from picture books about family (THE TRIP BACK HOME, BUZZ) to poetry books about yoga and driving (TWIST and BEHIND THE WHEEL) to chapter books about friendship (ME AND ROLLY MALOO, MINN AND JAKE) to a "Meet the Author" book about writing (BEFORE IT WRIGGLES AWAY). Her fans span the entire age range, from toddler to adult.

Janet Wong's latest projects are eBooks designed specifically for the Kindle. Janet is particularly excited about eBooks because of their affordability and also because they make poetry easy to find. "Poetry is buried in the 811 section of the library," Janet says, "where you're not likely to stumble on it. But you can type 'poetry' into your Kindle and dozens of titles (with free samples, even) will magically appear." Her first eBook is ONCE UPON A TIGER: New Beginnings for Endangered Animals, which features illustrated poems and nonfiction notes about familiar animals such as the tiger and also unusual creatures such as the axolotl. Her second eBook is a group effort, a forthcoming anthology called POETRY TAG TIME (to be available in April 2011) which she compiled with children's literature professor Sylvia Vardell. It features a connected chain of 30 poems by 30 of the best poets in the world.

When Janet Wong is not writing, speaking at teacher conferences, or sharing writing tips with children in schools, she spends most of her time trying to grow blueberries at her home in Princeton, NJ.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile book of poetry, October 27, 2004

By 

H. Lum (Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Behind the Wheel: Driving Poems (Hardcover)

If I hadn't known anything of Janet Wong, I would never have noticed this book based on the title. In fact, people who saw me reading it thought I must be really bored to pick it up. Don't be fooled! It's worth the time and money to check it out. Because the poems are simple and real, I use them in my classroom with 5th and 6th graders.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For every mother of a teenage driver, December 31, 1999

By 

Carol A. Jago "Carol Jago" (Pacific Palisades, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Behind the Wheel: Driving Poems (Hardcover)

Janet Wong uses driving as a metaphor for growing up. As the mother of a 16-year-old son with two moving violations and two accidents under his belt already, the collection made me laugh and cry.

5.0 out of 5 stars A SMOOTHE RIDE!, November 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Behind the Wheel: Driving Poems (Hardcover)

This book is the perfect driver's ed graduation gift. It will speak directly to teens who are finally getting that ticket to freedom: the driver's liscense! It's funny, touching and thought provoking - a smoothe ride down a fascinating highway.