Monday, March 9, 2009

I've long had a fascination with the verse novel form, in particular verse novels for children and young adults. Since I read one for the first time, I have sought them out, read them, loved them, and shared them with others. I also dreamt that I would one day write one, though I imagined myself first studying the form in more depth - reading treatises on the form, studying how-to books and articles and then, perhaps, finally being brave enough to tackle a project of my own.

I did eventually write my first verse novel, though the process was very different than that which I'd imagined. One night I was getting into bed and some lines of poetry popped into my head. I wrote them down, then a few more. Over the following weeks little bits of poetry came to me at odd times, and finally I realised these poems were connected and that a little girl wanted me to write her story. There was some wrestling as I tried to figure out just what her story was, but really the story just flowed. That story, Pearl Verses the World, will be published in May this year by Walker Books Australia.

Here on this blog I'll not only share news about Pearl, but also my thoughts and responses to other verse novels, and also news and opinions from across the blogiverse about verse novels.
Enjoy.

7 comments:

  1. Sally,
    Welcome to the kidlitosphere. I look forward to visiting your blog and learning more.

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  2. Congratulations on your new blog! And looking forward to meeting Pearl.

    A wonderful verse novel that immediately springs to my mind is Andrea Cheng's Where the Steps Were - http://www.papertigers.org/wordpress/books-at-bedtime-where-the-steps-were/

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  3. Sally, I love verse novels and have read many of them. I can't wait to read yours!

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  4. I'd like to learn more about verse novels. I read Sold last year by Patricia McCormick. Is this considered a verse novel?

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  5. Thanks for your feedback, ladies.
    I will defintiely check out Where the Steps Were and Sold - I've not read either yet.

    I attempted tor eply to your comments ssoner, but seem to have been blocked by my own blog! Goodness. Hopefully it will work this time.

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  6. Sally, good to know about your blog! And best wishes on your new book! Look forward to your postings on Poetry Friday.

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  7. Dear Sally, Ellen Hopkins isn't Australian - she's American. i met her at the SCBWI conf in Sydney two years ago - or more maybe, hard to remember. But i did review all her books. She's been on the NY Best Seller list with Crank - on the top for weeks. Very powerful stuff about drug taking and the mess it makes, and also why it's so addictive. You can have my reviews if they're relevant. Virginia

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