So I like Sara Holbrook, not in an Edgar Allen Poe sort of way but she's cool

Sara Holbrock
Poetry Books by this author include:
I never said I wasn’t Difficult
Am I Naturally this Crazy?
By Definition
Walking on the Boundaries of Change
The Dog Ate my Homework
Wham, It’s a Poetry Jam, Discovering Performance Poetry
More than Friends: Love
Sara Holbrook has also written and co-authored other books for younger children.

What I appreciate about Sara Holbrook’s work is that the middle school students are able to relate to the poems she is writing. Her poems capture the identity crises that students feel in middle school, the plight of fitting in, falling into “like” with someone, feeling alone, developmental changes, fights with friends, and feeling confused. Students can find respite and sometimes even humor in the words of her poetry. Her work is so different from the more traditional works of the poets so often taught in middle school. Students “get it” and I this is something I appreciate the most about Sara’s work. It isn’t so fluffy and silly that the students think that they are being patronized and being spoken down to like the work of Jack Prelutsky (for example, though I do LOVE his work too for younger children). It is just very “real to life”.

Sara Holbrook began writing poetry as a child and as she states on her blog, writes poems for the not-so-bad, kids, not unlike the kind of child that she considered herself to be when she was growing up, a little grumpy at times, but all and all, good kids. I believe this type of writing appeals to most pre-teens and teens because most of them are “not-so-bad” kids caught up in a tough time developmentally As a teacher of 12-13 year olds, I read these poems and I can “see” certain students living out these poems. I’ve thought to myself, “this poem totally describes Matt or Lexie”. The kids appreciate the writing too and they seem almost surprised that Sara Hobrook is able to capture their experiences in a poem.

Sara Holbrook not only writes poems but she also performs them, something we’ve been recently addressing in class. She writes that, “a poem doesn’t really come alive until it is read aloud.” This ties in well with our discussion last week on performance poetry. There is something about listening to a poem being read aloud that makes it different somehow, more alive, more real. I have read poems many times but when I’ve heard them read to me, listened to someone else breathe life into the meaning of the poem, I’ve enjoyed it so much more. Ms. Holbrook does have one video on YouTube during which she is sharing a poem. Though it isn’t my favorite poetry performance (by far), but she still uses pauses, rate and emotion to add something to what otherwise might have been just a “quick read” kind of poem. This performance, found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ff0Mdd-mdQ wouldn’t be one that I’d show my students, it still gave me a better sense of the voice behind the writer of these teen-focused poems. I liked the line where she says with a LONG pause, “my hair brown, hers…… purple” (very drawn out) because I have thought this, and I am sure kids and parents and teachers have often had this kind of reaction as well when meeting someone with unique features. Her poems are real. I like that.

Learn more about Sara Holbrook at her blog: http://saraholbrook.blogspot.com/ or read some samples of her work at: http://www.readinglady.com/mosaic/tools/sara%20holbrook%20poems.pdf