Reactions to Middle School poetry novels

Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf
by Jennifer L. Holm

This book is hilarious. I loved reading it and know that middle school students would love reading it as well. This novel is a series of pictures, poems, notes, bills, and everything else a seventh grade students names Ginny accumulates throughout her seventh grade year. The book begins with her back to school list and a poem about going back to school. The way the author involves poetry in a book that chronicles a middle school student's day to day life makes it interesting for those students. I love how relatable this book is to anyone that was ever a child of that age, especially a girl. The poetry is also interesting because it is written by a middle school student. She writes about her life and her problems and shows students they can do the same. I would absolutely use this novel in my classroom.



The Upside Down Boy: El nino de cabeza 
by Juan Felipe Herrera

I thought this book was very interesting. It was written in both English and Spanish writing which made it so fun for me to read because I took some spanish. This book would be great for students in eight grade that are learning spanish. It is the story of a boy that is going to school for the first time. In one section of the book the boy writes a poem of his own. I loved this part because he was still learning English but was able to write such a fun poem. I think this book could be encouraging to students that do not think they can write poetry. I thought the pictures in this novel were also great. They were very colorful and rich and really caught my attention. I think this is a fun poetry book to use in the classroom.