This little novel in verse is flat-out amazing. Woodson writes in the voice of Lonnie C. Motion, a young boy trying to cope with the unimaginable: the deaths of both parents, his separation from his sister, and his move into a foster home from an inhumane group home. We see Locomotion (his mother's pet name for him) find his voice in poetry, inspired by his beloved and baffling teacher, Ms. Marcus. This white woman reaches him in ways other can't.

Locomotion uses his poetry to tell his story, to avoid parts of his story that are just too sad to face right now, and to try to make sense of his losses. I LOVE Locomotion, and wish I could have him in MY class.

The poetry, the forms, are models that could easily be used in a classroom when teaching poetry. I loved how some of the boys in Locomotion's class resisted writing until the cagey Ms. Marcus reminded them that rap is just another form of poetry...Clever lady. Sensitive lady.

Haiku:
Today's a bad day
Is that haiku? Do I look
like I even care?

Gotta love a boy who composes that.