Quantcast
Channel: Poetry | The Guardian
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 4232

Toffee by Sarah Crossan review – a profoundly moving YA novel in verse

0
0
Trauma, grief and belonging are all addressed in this poignant verse novel from the Irish children’s laureate

Young adult verse novels are currently in the ascendant, with three American poets appearing on the Carnegie shortlist: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, and Rebound by Kwame Alexander. On this side of the Atlantic, the driving force behind the verse novel’s resurgence is the Irish children’s laureate Sarah Crossan, whose 2011 book The Weight of Water won acclaim both from adult reviewers and from a wide-ranging young readership.

Crossan went on to produce more highly successful verse novels:One, a story of conjoined twins, won the Carnegie in 2016, and Moonrise, an account of a boy’s farewell to a brother on death row, was shortlisted for the 2017 Costa children’s prize. Toffee, her latest story told in verse, returns to several poignant and recurrent themes: belonging, identity, grief and trauma, and shaping one’s place in the world.

Related: Joe Dunthorne and Sarah Crossan on poetry and fiction – books podcast

Continue reading...

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 4232

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images