Locomotion

Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson, is a verse novel and tells the story of Lonnie, a young boy whose parents were killed in a fire. Written from Lonnie's perspective, it is a journal of his grief process written in poems -- all kinds of poems. With his teacher's encouragement, Lonnie writes out his feelings about the death of his parents, missing his young sister and living in a foster home. Over sixty poems in many different styles, chronicle the life of a young boy who has to face some stark realities and grow up quickly, but shows strength in the process.

This novel in verse can serve two purposes: teaching children how to deal with grief and also teaching them that poetry can take many forms. Through Lonnie's experiences with writing different types of poetry, children will learn more than they could ever learn by having to analyze a poem line by line in the classroom. Lonnie teaches by example and they can relate to him.

I think this book was an ingenious way for the poet to teach children more about her craft. The examples of the different types of poetry, from free verse, to haiku and others, make this a great "hook" to get kids interested in writing poetry. I found myself wanting to experiment with writing some poems of my own.

The story of Lonnie was sometimes painful to read. Even so, it warmed my heart that this story was able to show his courage and how he was able to find hope in unexpected places.

This book was chosen for the Coretta Scott King Honor. I would recommend it for the 5th grade and up.

Keywords associated with this book: death, fires, tragedy, foster care, orphans, adoption, school, poetry, African-Americans.