How exciting! Today I welcome another visitor to my blog, here to help me celebrate the release of Toppling by guest blogging about what she likes about children’s poetry.
Please welcome the lovely Karen Collum. Over to you, Karen.
The Thinking Reader’s Novel
I’ve always been a voracious reader, devouring children’s books of every kind at an alarming rate. Verse novels, however, are a new discovery for me. When I first heard the term ‘verse novel’, I had to ask another author exactly what it meant. I was familiar with rhyming picture books texts, but verse novels? That was something new. And now that I know, I have one thing to say: I’m in love.
The first verse novel I ever read was Jinx by Margaret Wild. Since then, I’ve read Sixth Grade Style Queen – Not! (Sherryl Clark), Do Wrong Ron (Steven Herrick) and Pearl Verses the World (by the lovely Sally Murphy). Each and every one of these books has been a delightful adventure into the world of verse and has inspired me to read in this style more widely and even attempt writing my own.
One of the most appealing aspects of verse novels for me is the brevity of the text. As a picture book author, I place high value on the ‘less is more’ concept. A standard novel has the luxury of taking the reader by the hand and guiding them through the story in many thousands of words. Verse novels however, are limited to a select group of well-chosen words, each of which much serve the dual purpose of enhancing the progress of the story and adding beauty and meaning to the text. The construction of a verse novel may well bear resemblance to that of a picture book, with each and every word fighting for its place in the text. Anything that is not absolutely essential to the text must be abandoned. There is no room for the unnecessary in a verse novel.
This leads me to something else I love about verse novels: readers are active participants in the construction of meaning. In my mind, verse novels are the ‘thinking reader’s novel’. The author gives enough information to make sense of the story, but leaves the reader to join the dots. As a reader, my brain is engaged from start to finish as I look for the subtle clues the authors place to assist me in completing my dot-to-dot. From clever use of headings, to the intentional placement of illustrations, verse novels are beautifully crafted and encourage me to notice the little things and to piece them together in a meaningful way.
Congratulations on the release of Toppling, Sally. I can’t wait to read it and get lost in a verse novel once more.
Thanks, for dropping by Karen, and for your lovely words.
You can visit Karen online at her website.
Great interview Sally and Karen,
I agree with you Karen; one of the things I like about verse novels is that they allow the reader so much scope for their own interpretation and appreciation.
Dee:-)
Verse novels are new to me as well. Of the books you mentioned, I have only read Sally Murphy's two, which I really enjoyed.
I found my 10 year old son, a voracious reader, didn't respond to the novels as well as I thought he would. He loves non-fiction as well as fiction and I think the change in format/brevity of the text unsettled him a little.
My 8 year old