Helen Frost knows how to Play with poetic forms AND how to tell a story with heart, heartaches, and hope. It took 23 years for me to finally read it. Thanks to a young colleague who loved the book when he was in middle school who gifted the book to me.
It definitely feels like a precious gift, just considering how precise Frost had to be while composing each line, stanza, and poem, with the strict rhythm and rhyming schemes of sestinas and sonnets. And how much she cared about these young characters’ stories to be that diligent in telling their tales.
Did you read it? How did you find it? Comment below and we can discuss!
I haven’t read Keesha’s House, but I am moved that your student gave you a copy of the book because they loved it so much. I enjoyed Crossing Stones, and as I re-read descriptions of it, I thought it would be timely reading today, as it was 16-17 years ago when Americans were grappling with sending their sons to fight in WWI. What spoiled Crossing Stones for me was that Woodrow Wilson addressed the nation by radio — something that was not available then. Frost might have changed that detail in a later edition.
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