The Poetry of Baseball

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup is also a baseball story.  And a story of loss.  And a story of growing up.  And self-discovery.  And it is yet another great book from Ron Koertge.  Told in poetry, it is the story of  a young teen who loves baseball and is quite the star.  When mono keeps him off of the field for many weeks, he turns to poetry out of boredom.  But it turns out, poetry isn't quite so bad! Through his poetry he talks about the loss of his mother, his relationship with his father (who seems like a really nice dude) and a new love interest.  Great stuff and I can't wait to read the second one.  I wish that I could have read it all in one sitting, but life was a bit crazy, so I had to break it up a bit, even though it is super short and makes you want to keep reading and reading.  I would imagine that it is even more powerful if read all at once, so try to carve out an hour, uninterrupted to read this little, powerful book.

Stoner and Spaz

 Stoner and Spaz is the first book in maybe just a two book deal about a girl who is a "stoner" and a guy who refers to himself as a "spaz." And I didn't chose it because of the cover, because I can't quite figure out what that IS on the cover!  I picked it up because of Ron Koertge who wrote books I have very, very much enjoyed. And I did enjoy this one, very much, too!  Koertge must be brilliant. He sure writes like a genius.
Ben is a WASP who lives with his VERY WASPy grandmother and he also has CP and for that reason, he considers himself a "spaz" and has always been a loner.  One of his favorite things to do is go to an old fashioned movie theater and see old movie, by himself.  One night though the very controversial and very drug-addicted Colleen starts talking to him.  They start a complicated friendship.  What a great, great book.  I can't wait to read the second one.  It is set in LA, which always adds something awesome to a book.

First Off...

I want to just say outright, that I feel guilty in saying that I enjoyed Sharon Flake's  You Don't Know Me, more than Every Man for Himself: ten short stories about being a guy.   I mean, Sharon Flake ISN'T a guy and the guys who wrote the stories in Every Man, well, they ARE guys!  And the guys of Every Man are seriously wonderful writers.  Mo Willems, Walter Dean Meyers, I Don't Like Fat People David Levithan, Ron Koertge, I mean these are some of my favorite writers!  Some of these stories were super great.  Walter Dean Meyers' story, for example.  No surprise there!   What I realized now is that I listened to the audiobook and therefore, didn't get to read the whole book!  Some of the content is in graphic novel form.  My local library doesn't own it, so I asked my brother, who is a librarian at a library that does own it so that he can bring it to me!  Then I will finish this review!

Fairy tales are hot these days.  And after I read Coaltown Jesus, I was anxious to read more from Ron Koerteg and so it was pretty cool to just see Lies, Knives and Girls in Red Dresses sitting on the shelf at public library.  This is kinda like a mix of Cloaked in Red and the Tale Dark and Grimm series, but for folks a little older.  The art done by Andrea Dezso is creepy and wonderful.  This was a great little book of poems.  I enjoyed it very much and probably will listen to it, someday, if it is available as an audiobook, but I am glad I got to look at the art.

Simply the Best

or at least one of the very best I have ever read.  Coaltown Jesus is theology done right.  Walker asks for help from God when his brother dies and he and his mom are having a tough time of it.  He asks God to help his mom, who runs a nursing home and is just so beaten down by the death of her eldest son, I think the death was drug-related, but when Jesus actually show up, he ends up helping both Walker and his mom.  Amazing, amazing book.  Wonderful.  Wonderful.  I can't say enough.  This was the first book I read by Ron Koertge but it won't be my last.