Creech, Sharon. Heartbeat.
12-year-old Annie ponders life the year that her mother becomes pregnant, her grandfather begins faltering, and her best friend (and running partner) becomes distant. (Juv Fic)

Creech, Sharon. Love That Dog.
A young student, who comes to love poetry through a personal understanding of what different famous poems mean to him, surprises himself by writing his own inspired poem. (Juv Fic)

Frost, Helen. Spinning Through the Universe.
A collection of poems written in the voices of Mrs. Williams of Room 214, her students, and a custodian about their interactions with each other, their families, and the world around them. (Juv Fic)

Grimes, Nikki. What Is Goodbye?
Alternating poems by a brother and sister tell their feelings about the death of their older brother and its impact on their family. (Juv Fic)

Grover, Lorie Ann. On Pointe.
Clare and her grandfather must deal with changes in their lives when Clare's summer growth spurt threatens to end her dream of becoming a ballet dancer and her grandfather suffers a stroke. (Juv Fic)

Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust.
15-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression. (Juv Fic)

Hesse, Karen. Witness.
A series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to infiltrate the town. (Juv Fic)

Smith, Hope Anita. The Way a Door Closes.
13-year-old CJ knows too much-about losing his father, about his family's pain, and especially about what it means to hold things together when times are the toughest. (Juv Fic)

Testa, Maria. Almost Forever.
A young girl describes what she, her brother, and their mother do during the year that her doctor father is serving in the Army in Vietnam. (Juv Fic)

Testa, Maria. Becoming Joe DiMaggio.
Christened after legendary ballplayer Joe DiMaggio, young Joseph Paul learns much at his Italian grandfather's knee -- about holding your breath in front of the radio during a 3-2 count with the bases loaded and having the audacity to dream big dreams. (Juv Fic)

Whybrow, Ian. Little Wolf's Handy Book of Poems. (Little Wolf Adventures, no. 6)
Little Wolf, in a series of letters to his parents, tries his hand at writing poetry and produces some work that his friends admire and his parents find very useful. (Juv Fic)

Williams, Vera B. Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart.
A series of poems tells how two sisters help each other deal with life while their mother is working and their father has been sent to jail. (Juv Fic)

Woodson, Jacqueline. Locomotion.
11-year-old Lonnie writes about his life, after the death of his parents, separated from his younger sister, living in a foster home, and finding his poetic voice at school. (Juv Fic)

4/20/06
Duluth Public Library, 520 W. Superior St., Duluth, MN 55802