Bronx Masquerade, Nikki Grimes
subjects: spoken word poetry, verse, alternating narrators, poetry slam, writing, urban teens, poverty, teaching, teen pregnancy, romance, domestic violence, courage
Grade: B
Set in a Bronx high school classroom, this book is written with alternating narrators, partially in verse. The main narrator, Tyrone Bittings ties the story together, recounting Fridays in English class when they have a poetry slam and students volunteer to perform their spoken word poems. The poems carry on the narration as well. The difficulties each of the teens face is clear, as is their strength and resilience (not to mention budding writing talent, as evidenced through their poetry).
It's a powerful story, well-woven together. For me, it didn't have the same narrative pull or ingenuity as Levithan's The Realm of Possibility, but it was engaging nonetheless.
I just started reading this book yesterday with a group of 10th graders. I'm interested in how it will turn out. And I also loved your idea down below about using book trailers as an assignment. I think I'll steal that one from you!
ReplyDeleteAmy - I'm curious to know what the 10th graders think of the book and if they're brave enough to try some spoken word poetry themselves. Let me know how it goes!
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