I like this book for many reasons. First, I like this book because of the message it conveys. It teaches readers that Poetry does matter and poetry is important. This book broadened my perspective on how powerful of a role poetry can play in everyone's lives. In this book, the main character, Ralph, is a broke college student who doesn't have enough money to buy his whole family amazing gifts for Christmas, so instead of buying them gifts, he writes poems for each of them that fits their personalities. I think writing poems is a lot more meaningful and personal than just giving someone money or another store- bought gift, anyway. In addition, I enjoyed this book because the writing in the individual poems is very organized and flows well with other lines in the same poem. For example, I think the poem, "Divorce" : "Parents together, they love each other, then they split. Like the wrong ends of a magnet put together or like a passenger fleeing from a sinking ship." The lines in this poem sound perfect together when read, and they convey a message that could be understood by any child who has suffered from a divorce. ( )

I love Fletcher's emphasis on rhythm, emotion, image." ?áHis advice is summarized on the cover art:

Capture a moment.
Read it aloud.
Get in the habit of observing the world.
[Build] a Word House.
Think small.

Learning how to write, to make your ideas sing, can most definitely help you read, to appreciate what makes someone else's good poem (or prose) vigorous & memorable.

Learning to write effective poetry can improve the writing of a novelist, or even (as made evident here) an instruction manual.
As J. Patrick Lewis said "Verbs are the muscles of good writing (and adjectives are the fat)."

Writing poetry can be an effective part of keeping?áa journal or daybook.

I love that Fletcher includes lots of samples of kids' own writings. ?áAnd that he interviews three other published poets to get their take on the ideas. ?áAnd that he covers a *lot* of ground, in a carefully outlined step-by-step sequence, but boils it all down to an essence that is clear and fresh. ?áAnd that he includes an *annotated* bibliography, of several pages, of poetry books.

I highly recommend this book to everyone except hoity-toity *L*iterary types who over-emphasize forms, historical & cliqueish?ácontexts, and classical & other obscure allusions." ( )