Friday, December 18, 2009

Peace, Locomotion (MG)


Woodson, Jacqueline. 2009. Peace, Locomotion. Penguin. 136 pages.

Imagine Peace

I think it's blue because that's my favorite color.

I think it's soft like flannel sheets in the wintertime.

I think Peace is full--
like a stomach after a real good dinner--
beef stew and corn bread or
shrimp fried rice and egg rolls.

Even better

Than some barbecue chicken.

I think Peace is pretty--like my sister, Lili.

And I think it's nice--like my friend Clyde.

I think if you imagine it, like that
Beatles guy used to sing about?

Then it can happen.

Yeah, I think

Peace can happen.

--Lonnie Collins Motion,
aka Locomotion
Peace, Locomotion is a wonderful novel, very beautiful. It's a companion novel to Locomotion--a novel that was a finalist in the National Book Awards. But I haven't read the first book, and I still was able to appreciate it. So I think it is able to stand alone. (Though reading this one made me want to read the other.)

Locomotion is a twelve year old boy in the foster care system. He is separated from his younger sister, Lili. She's in another foster home. They were not able to be placed together. But that doesn't mean that they've stopped loving (and needing) one another. The novel is his letters to his sister. They show how very much he loves her; how very important family is to him. The letters have it all--good, bad, happy, sad. They journal his emotions, his life.

A beautiful little novel about family, about life, and what it means to belong.

It is not a verse novel. Though the book does contain a few poems. (Lonnie considers himself to be a poet.) Definitely recommended!

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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