Lang Leav's "Poemsia"

You can find this book here.

Leav's book is a young adult novel that encourages readers to see the passion of poetry. Whilst there are none of Leav's poems within this story, at times she writes with poetic descriptions from her protagonist to show her craft.

Verity Wolf is nineteen and obsessed with poets, like Mena Rhodes, and poetry (reading and writing it). With the help of her best friend Jess and an Instagram post that highlighted a favourite poem from an old book called Poemsia, Verity is thrown into a social media frenzy where poets like her can become famous in an instant.

I would argue this is a fairly standard young adult novel: friendship, love, betrayal ... elements that make a teenager's life exciting and overwhelming. However, the protagonist is fresh. Verity is not modelesque, and she may not even be girl-next-door; which makes her unique. The backdrop of books, literature and poetry also brings something fresh to the table as this would be an element seen as possibly outdated to some readers.

In saying that, the book is also very focussed on social media presences, behaviours and attitudes. The book has Twitter feeds, for example, as part of its writing style. This, as well as the writing, make it a fast-paced read and easy to get through.

Even if poetry is not your style, the universal themes within this book are great for hooking youth readers.

Links for you:

Leav in the Library:

Lullabies

Be aware this is a book of her poetry.

Read-a-likes in the Library:

#Find the girl
Lucy and Lydia Connell

Permanent record
Mary H. K. Choi

These books were picked as coming-of-age stories where the main character needs to find some form of identity amidst dealing with relationships (familial, friend and romantic) and social media.

Staff pick: Philippa Gregory's "White princess"

This book can be found here.

I found this book to be detailed, compelling, thought-provoking and shocking. 

It is an historical romance, with so much detail given to the time period and the political and economical struggles at the time that I had to rethink what I knew of the English Monarch during the Tudor reign. The story is told from the female protagonist’s point of view and it sheds light on the royal family and the struggles of a person perceived as lesser or of little value other than to bear a male heir. The woman in this story is a unique and untold hero who faces real villainy.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves historical novels, a strong female protagonist; stories revolving around historical Royalty; or, who is interested in learning an in-depth account of a story already told a thousand times before.

-- K

Here are other formats you can borrow of Gregory's book (including a television series).

It is also book five (5) in Gregory's Cousin's war series; but it is not necessary to read them in order.

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