Preposterous: Poems of Youth [Hardcover]

Paul B. Janeczko (Compiler)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1991

An anthology of poetry about being a teenager and adolescent problems and concerns.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up --A collection of more than 100 short poems by contemporary authors such as Leo Dangle, David Allan Evans, Gary Soto, and Charles Harper Webb that center on the bittersweet experience of growing up. Those who have enjoyed Janeczko's Pocket Poems (1985), Going Over to Your Place (1987), and Don't Forget to Fly (1981, all Bradbury) will recognize the appeal of this one--a wide range of poems that describe basic human experiences in deceptively simple language. Some of the epiphanies are lighthearted, but the overall tone is wryly serious. The narrator in Eric Trethewey's "Rescue" ponders over his brother: "how to keep him out of jail is what I want/ to know, and keep his fists in his pockets/through one more year of school." The girl in Linda Schandelmeier's "Secrets" doesn't let her mother know she's begun menstruating, hating the thought she's now "like her." Zeroing in on issues that concern most adolescents--alienation, belonging, friendship, movies, sex, school, truancy, family, and death--these poems will grab readers and not let them go. The anthology concludes with William Stafford's lines, "It's hard being a person./We all know that." Janeczko makes the notion that poetry is boring seem totally preposterous. --Ellen D. Warwick, Robbins Library, Arlington, MA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

By more than 80 authors, including Robert Penn Warren, Anne Sexton, Langston Hughes, and Herbert Scott, an anthology of recent (70's and 80's) poems plus a few nostalgic looks at long- gone youth, with references to WW II and earlier. Many relate sharply poignant stories or epiphanies, succinctly and powerfully recalled; Janesczko's familiar themes (e.g., small-town life, Catholic angst) frequently recur. The voices are almost overwhelmingly male (an imbalance echoed in the handsome jacket painting of a small, worried girl peering from behind a much larger, confident man), but the quality is so high, the appeal so immediate, and the selection so personal that it's a forgivable happenstance; teen-agers will easily identify with the problems expressed, often reflecting adolescence as a time of deep self- absorption and loss of faith in childhood beliefs. An excellent collection for any library, especially those with activities involving poetry. Index. (Poetry. 12+) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 134 pages
• Publisher: Orchard Books (April 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531059014
• ISBN-13: 978-0531059012
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,306,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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