Content area
Abstract
In 2003, Alison Halliday was one of the first scholars to define the verse novel for young readers, explaining that "while there is an increasing role for narrative elements in these verse novels, they continue to be made up of separate lyric poems. [...]the verse novel links each poem within the text in a linear fashion" (223). Much like photography, the haiku depends upon both the writer/creator and the reader/viewer. [...]the response of the reader constitutes a significant portion of the impact of the poem. Each of the paratextual elements (family tree, scrapbooked photo pages, and author's note) further invites the reader to examine the verse novel not only as a fictive or poetic work, but also as a window into Woodson's personal history. [...]each of these accompaniments romanticizes the way in which memory and childhood are portrayed-the pages of photographs and the prefatory family tree create the feeling of opening an actual, material scrapbook. The idea of writing stories that didn't deal with them just seemed so unrealistic and not true" (157). [...]for Woodson, the connection between her writing and the tradition of the problem novel addresses an underlying truth that constitutes the core of writing for young people.
Details
Confessions;
Racism;
Novels;
Politics;
Childrens literature;
Traditions;
Children & youth;
Childrens poetry;
Classism;
Paratext;
Young adult literature;
Narrative techniques;
Literary characters;
Narratives;
Plot (Narrative);
Literature;
African American literature;
Aesthetics;
Sonnets;
Palimpsests;
Alcoholism;
Authorship;
Bildungsroman;
Intersectionality;
Literary devices;
Literary influences;
Logic;
Narrative structure;
Poetry;
Readers;
Publishing industry;
Publishing;
American literature