Review Detail

Are you an aspiring poet? This how-to book by Allan Wolf promises to be an informative, slightly irreverent and totally tremendous guide to living the life of a poet. The book itself is clever and witty, but also has a lot of meat to it. The pages are full of examples of poetry of all different kinds (whether youre into rhyming or not, shape poems, you name it).

Writing prompts are incorporated as well, each with an example to get you started. But before you start delving into all of that, the front part of the book gives you the basics: the anatomy of a poem, the difference between internal and external rhyme, the rhythm of a poem, metaphors&in other words, the basic building blocks of poetry.

The illustrations are fun and colorful and the pages are well-laid out to keep wannabe poets moving through the pages.

There are also numerous sections on making your own poetry chapbooks and fun poetry games like exquisite corpse poems (a collaborative poem among friends&or hey, even enemies). All in all, this is an excellent book on poetry for any teen interested in learning more in a fun way.

It could definitely be useful in a classroom setting, but I think it would be even more fun for kids to use on their own at their own pace. There are lots to discover in these pages. Recommended for ages 10 12 and up. Even adults new to poetry would get a lot out of this book.