Embedded Files
Somebody Give This Heart a Pen by Sophia Thakur
From acclaimed performance poet Sophia Thakur comes a stirring collection of coming-of-age poems exploring issues of identity, difference, perseverance, relationships, fear, loss, and joy. From youth to school to family life to falling in love and falling back out again—the poems draw on the author’s experience as a young mixed-race woman trying to make sense of a lonely and complicated world. With a strong narrative voice and emotional empathy, this is poetry that will resonate with all young people, whatever their background and whatever their dream.
Review from School Library Connection:
This book contains a series of vignettes written in verse and which speak powerfully on subjects such as motherhood, lovers, the African diaspora, and more. The author uses imagery to create just enough detail for the writer to envision each vignette as it unfolds, and the effect is like witnessing a painting in progress. The book is particularly good at evoking the emotional back and forth of relationships, whether it is between lovers, ex-lovers, mothers and daughters, or fathers and daughters. The pain and emotion are visceral in the verses about couples, and readers experiencing their first serious relationship are sure to identify strongly with those vignettes. The vignettes themselves are not organized in any particular order which is sometimes confusing, but the overall quality of the language and storytelling makes this book a worthwhile read. There is no offensive content, but the maturity and intensity of the relationships described might make it more suitable for older students who will be in a position to more fully grasp the nuances inherent in the emotional subject matter.
Page updated
Report abuse