Reaching for Sun

by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

Josie Wyatt knows what it means to be different. Her family's small farmhouse seems to shrink each time another mansion grows up behind it. She lives with her career-obsessed mom and opinionated Gran, but has never known her father. Then there's her cerebral palsy: even if Josie wants to forget that she was born with a disability, her mom can't seem to let it go. Yet when a strange new boy―Jordan―moves into one of the houses nearby, he seems oblivious to all the things that make Josie different. Before long, Josie finds herself reaching out for something she's never really known: a friend… and possibly more. Interlinked free verse poems tell the beautiful, heartfelt story of a girl, a family farm reduced to a garden, and a year of unforgettable growth.

Genres: Poetry, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Disability, Middle Grade, Fiction, Novel In Verse

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had always thought I wasn't into books in prose, but I know I'm wrong now. It takes talent to tell a story without too many words, but with enough imagery to capture the readers interest.

Josie is a girl with cerebral palsy and feels very much on the outskirts of life. Until one day she meets a fellow outsider, Jordan, does she begin to feel a sense of normalcy. Though the book is short we go through a year of Josie's life and quite a year it is. On the lower right hand corner of the page there is a picture of a flower emerging and once you reach the end that flower is in full bloom, much like the journey of Josie's year of growing up.

I would have liked to have seen a novel based on these characters but I do understand that the author's strength is prose so I won't lament too much about that. My favorite line, "For the first time I feel as broken inside as everyone must see on the outside." Though that is the line that touched me the most my favorite part would have to be on page 158.

I think I really could appreciate this story even more because I know someone who has to live like Josie, and it made me smile to know that Josie saw a way to live her life and be happy.

[L- Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reaching for Sun is a story in verse, providing the insights to the world of protagonist Josie, a girl who lives with cerebral palsy. She is aware of her limitations and her strengths, as well as the social isolation during the middle school years. She lives with two strong characters, her mom who is never home between work and school and her gram who provides warmth and wisdom. As Jordan enters the story, the new sensitive and geeky kid in the neighborhood, Josie finds real friendship with a peer who sees her as a person rather than a disability. When Gram becomes ill, Josie has opportunity to shine with her strengths, during time of sadness and loss. The poems flow in this book, creating a vivid picture of Josie as she narrates her story. It provides increased awareness of what it means to live with a disability in a seemingly authentic voice. I was surprised at how quickly I read the book, in part because I did not want to put it down. This format would be a good introduction to free verse in middle level and perhaps grades 9-10. I would include it as an option for a book group, introducing journal writing using a free verse format.

[Heaven Adore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a deep love for people with chronic illness, so when I saw this book at the library, I just HAD to pick it up. I've also developed a love for novels in verse. I feel like these types of book have much more depth, meanings, and really make you ponder. There's such beauty in the rhythm. And I loved how the friendship between Jordan and Josie developed. The way they became vulnerable with each other and how he accepted her despite her illness. He "found" her at her lowest point and brought her back up. *swoons* Just so sweet. I would totally read this book again and highly recommend it!

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually hesitate with books in verse though the few that I have read I liked. After being told how great Reaching for Sun was I decided to give it a try.

I read it in one day and it was effortless. In the few words that are used I understood what was trying to be said. Cerebral Palsy makes others around Josie think she is retarded but she knows full well about the things going on around her. Josie is realistic in her views of the world but not really self pitying. She is more frustrated than anything I think.

13-year-old Josie has lived with her mother and grandmother for all her life and has never had a friend until a new neighbor comes in. From there a friendship blossoms as they spend time together. But it all isn't sweet and sugary just because of her new friend. Josie sees her mother's efforts as being told that her mother think she needs to be fixed. Classmates treat her as if she were stupid still.

A simple book full of feeling. I might've liked it better as a novel but for what it is it deserves a lot of credit.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this book for grade 7 and up. This is a story about a girl named Josie. She has cerebral palsy and lives in a farm with her family. Developers are trying to take the land from her family. I love that this story is told from a seventh graders point of view in free-verse! It makes the story so much more rich and almost tangible. A rich boy named Jordan moves to a mansion behind the farmhouse, Josie soon realizes they have similar passions. Jordan is neglected by his father, so he enjoys Josie's company. Both Josie and Jordan love nature, so the novel is filled with botanical images - a nice touch! Josie's grandmother works with her in the garden and really helps her grow throughout the book...like a flower. I really enjoyed the short chapters and the simplicity of the text. The book was well written and easy to read. This is a great book for all students and even for an all class poetry unit!

[Joana · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this is a rare occasion, but it I really enjoyed this book even though it was written in verse. My main complaint with poetry books is that they I cannot connect to the characters, but this was not the case with this story.
We follow young Josie who has cerebral palsy, and her life with her mom and grandma. She meets a young boy named Jordan, and both become best friends, as he doesn't judge her for her disease (unlike all other kids at school).
This book was so sweet and heartwarming. I couldn't put it down, and really enjoyed reading it.
A definite recommend when it comes to poetry books.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended for ages 10 and up

From Booklist
As if seventh grade weren't enough of a challenge for anyone, Josie also struggles with cerebral palsy, social isolation, a mom she needs more time and support from, and monster bulldozers that are carving up the countryside to build huge homes around her family's old farmhouse. Enter new neighbor Jordan, a sensitive kid whose geeky, science-loving ways bring a fun spirit of discovery into Josie's days. He melds with her and her family, especially the warm and wise Gram, and the friends create a kind of magic as they conduct all kinds of plant and pond experiments. Further challenges face Josie when Gram becomes ill and Jordan goes off to camp. Then, risking her mom's wrath, Josie secretly ditches her hated therapy sessions; when mother and daughter eventually reconcile, Josie emerges from her rough patch in a believable and transforming way. Written in verse, this quick-reading, appealing story will capture readers' hearts with its winsome heroine and affecting situations. Anne O'Malley

I fell in love with this story and it's language. Writing about poetry is difficult for me to do, so I dont know that I can express my full joy when reading this book. The actual story of Josie's relationships with her mother, grandmother and friend was fantastic and engaging. However, the language that Zimmer uses in this book toppled me. I found myself bookmarking particular passage that I re-read to friends and family members. When Gram gives Josie a quilt with the "colors of summer- watermelon, tomato, blue skies and lemonade" I was overwhelmed with feeling, thinking, "Yes! That is summer!" Zimmer, so gently and beautifully tells the story of Josie, often through metaphor of the flowers and plants in the garden and surrounding land. I have never really liked poetry. I didn't get it and didn't like the formulaic poetry we were made to write in school. However, this book has completely changed my idea of poetry. Gorgeous! I will buy this book!

[Jesse German · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reaching for Sun is a wonderful book that opens up your eyes to what it is like living with cerebral palsy. The book follows a young girl named Josie and is written in first person from her perspective. One thing I really enjoyed about this book was that it was written in poem form, which kept me focused and intrigued throughout the whole book. At the beginning of the book, Josie feels really alone and only has her grandmother to talk to until a boy named Jordan moves in the rich neighborhood next to her family farm. He is really into science which fascinates Josie. They begin doing experiments with her Gran with flowers and planting. When summer comes, Jordan goes off to summer camp and Josie's Gran has a stroke which leaves her unable to talk and in the hospital. I think that this book is a great example of all of the curveballs life throws at you and the strength it takes to persevere, as Josie does. The book ends with Jordan and Josie's Gran coming back home and although things will be different you get the feeling that they are all going to be okay. This book is a great realistic fiction novel because this story could easily be true. It is very easy to connect with the characters in this book. I think that any student 3-5 or older would love reading Reaching For Sun. An activity you could use this book for is having students write poems focusing on a hardship in their life or using a character from the book.

[Clare Snow]

I saw what I thought was this book at the bookshop. I read the blurb and wondered why it was on my TBR. Turns out what I saw at the bookshop was Sensitive.



The covers arn't even that similar, except a whole lot of (diff) yellow flowers.

I still want to read Reaching for Sun. It's not at my library nor recently published so who knows if I will.

[Kristen Luppino · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book told from the point of view of a girl with cerebral palsy in poems. A voice that should be heard. It's about finding a place in a world that doesn't consider you having a place. Beautiful.

[Shel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zimmer, T.V. (2007). Reaching for Sun. New York: Bloomsbury.

181 pages.


Appetizer: Josie Wyatt is in the seventh grade. She lives with her mom (who is almost never around since she's trying to complete her college degree) and her grandmother. She hates school. She's never met her father. Her family has had to sell most of their farm land and must watch subdivisions for the rich be built around their house. She is bullied by most of the kids at school. And she has cerebral palsy.

Reaching for the Sun is set over (just about) a year as Josie makes her first friend, deals with her grandmother's deteriorating health and struggles to find the words to get her mom to let her not participate in a summer clinic designed to help her with her cerebral palsy.

This novel in verse is written by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, a local author who I have heard speak a couple of time, and who (full-disclosure!) made contact with the literary agency that would eventually represent me. So far, this is my favorite book by her. Josie's voice is honest and poignant. The moment that really drew me in was when she thinks about what type of man her absentee-father must be:
"I wonder
if he ditched me and Mom
when he found out about my disability,
or if it gave him the excuse he needed--
typed letter left behind in the mailbox,
no stamp.
I wonder if I got my straight
blond hair, blue eyes,
and cowardice from him,
and whether he's real smart,
rich, and now got himself
a picture-perfect family" (p. 15)
Ouch!

Throughout the book, there are also illustrations of a flower growing in the bottom right margin of each page. As you go through the story, Josie grows and blossoms as a character and the flower grows and blossoms too. I thought this was a wonderful touch that complimented the content and name of the story beautifully.

Overall, I found Reaching for Sun to be a very touching and realistic story of a girl coming into her own.


Dinner Conversation:

"The last bell rings,
but
I'm hiding
in the last stall
of the girls' bathroom
until I hear
voices
disappear behind closing
classroom doors.

Only then
do I slip out
into the deserted hallway
and rush to room 204,
a door
no one
wants to be seen opening.

Not even
me." (p. 3).

"With my odd walk
and slow speech
everyone knows
I've got special ed,
but if I wait
until the hall clears,

taunts like tomatoes
don't splatter
the back of my head" (p. 4).

"Mom wants me
to love school like she does,
follow her lead to college,
make my mark:
the first astronaut with
cerebral palsy,
or at least
a doctor or lawyer,
something with a title or abbreviations, I guess.
But Mom's dreams for me
are a heavy wool coat I
wear, even in summer." (p.46).


Tasty Rating: !!!!

[Anke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer is a 2008 Schneider Family Book Award winner. This book is written in free verse poetry, narrated by the protagonist Josie Wyatt, a middle school student with cerebral palsy. Josie lives in a small farmhouse with her mother and grandmother. Acres of their farmland needed to be sold when her mom decided to go back to college to pursue her career. Subsequently, the sold land becomes a new development consisting of enormous homes. Fortunately for Josie, a boy named Jordan moves into one of the new mini mansions and he becomes her new and first real friend. Jordan is a unique, quirky boy who sees Josie for Josie, not her disability and it’s through him and Josie’s voice, with her beautifully written free verse poetry, that we appreciate this unique friendship.

The reader also sees clearly through Josie’s eyes the social isolation, miscommunication, stereotypes and pain that come with cerebral palsy. To avoid being seen walking oddly in the hallways between classes, Josie hides in the bathroom. She also doesn’t like people to see her entering “Room 204”. And the fact that she talks slowly does not mean “she’s retarded” as many kids whisper behind her back.

Josie has many strengths, she knows herself better than your typical 12-year-old and this story does a fantastic job showing us how she grows up and changes during the course of one year, especially when she encounters the challenge of Jordan going off to camp and her grandmother becoming ill. When students read this book they will learn that what you see on the outside is not what is heard or felt on the inside. And if they look a little deeper, they will learn that opening yourself up to friendships with all kinds of people, can change your life.

On the bottom right hand corner of the book is a sketch of a blooming flower. It starts off as a small bud and grows tall, in full bloom on the last page. If you skim the pages quickly, similar to an animated flip book, you can see the flower move as it grows and eventually blooms as it “reaches for the sun.”

This would be a wonderful book to use in middle school when studying poetry, journal writing and what makes people different. Tracie Vaughn Zimmer's webpage gives this a reading level from ages
9 through 12.

[Laura Petto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usually, I don’t like verse at all. I haven’t read a book in verse since my “conversion” into liking poetry this summer. I got Reaching for Sun without knowing it is written in verse, and surprised myself by liking the first poem. I figured that if I liked the first poem, I might like the second. If I liked the second, I might like the third, etc. until I had read the entire book.

Josie suffers from cerebral palsy, and everything not thought about by people without cerebral palsy is painful. She struggles to walk normal, talk normal, just look normal. She loves the escape from school at three each day, where she can run home to her grandmother, and frolic on her family’s dwindling farmland. Sometimes the taunts that Josie is mentally challenged get to her, even though she is really bright and even witty at times.

Life as Josie knew it comes to a complete halt when she meets Jordan, who unlike any other, sees behind her mangled hand and slow speech. Jordan becomes part of Josie’s small family- all while Josie is pretending to be at speech camp. She started skipping on the first day when she saw she was the only eighth grader. She’s going to have to break it to her Mom someday, but just not now. It’s always “Not now…”

I’m really happy this won the Schneider Family book award. The plot is a little slow, especially in the beginning. Other than that, I really felt that Zimmer understood Josie and completly immersed herself into Josie’s character. I couldn’t read any “adult” in the poetry, with the exception of the very last poem. I find that the Schneider Family book award generally picks some of my favorite books. A Mango Shaped Space won, and now I am even more curious to read all the winners.

[Jessica Gilligan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vaughn Zimmer, Tracie. (2007). Reaching for Sun. Bloomsbury U.S.A. Children’s Books.

Junior Book Log: Schneider Family

2008 Schneider Family Award Winner

I chose this book because someone close to me has cerebral palsy and I wanted to get an idea of what things might be like from her perspective. Although I didn't learn anything I didn't already know, and although this is just a fiction written by someone without cerebral palsy, this story still hit home for me. The main character of this story, Josie, is so similar to the person in my life with cerebral palsy.

Told in the form of a series of poems, we learn that Josie, a 13-year-old girl with cerebral palsy is just another normal teenager, with a depth of emotions, wishes and intelligence. But the world doesn't see her that way: not her single mother who is too busy with school and work, or her over-reaching grandmother, and especially not her classmates. When she's not working in the garden with Granny, she lives in a lonely world of one, being shuffled from one therapy session to another, always outcast from her peers because kids don't understand her disease. One day, fate changes as she meets someone who sees her as she wants to be seen: as she really is, not by her lack of motor control or labored speech. Jordan and Josie become inseparable, as they are both isolated by their peers for different reasons. This is a beautiful, yet painful, story about coping with the setbacks of a disability. It's a essential book for middle school students in that it teaches tolerance and helps kids see things from a different perspective.

[Brittany Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Junior Book Log
Title: Reaching for Sun
Author: Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
Category: Schneider Family
Source: Junior Book Award 2008

Reaching for Sun tells the story of a seventh-grade girl named Josie who was born with cerebral palsy. The author wrote the book as a set of free verse poems that are separated into the four seasons, and tells the story of one full year of Josie’s life. She starts off feeling different and an outsider who doesn’t have a great relationship with her mother so she just follows the lead of her Gram. Then Josie meets Jordan, a boy who moves in a new house behind Josie’s. They form a deep meaningful relationship, as Jordan is also feeling distant and an outcast. At the end Josie is focusing more on her creativity and love for the outdoors with the support of Jordan and Gram. My favorite aspect of the book is that Zimmerman added is a growing flower on the bottom right corner of the page. It is a small flower that at the beginning is small and weak, but at the end is strong and beautiful, it creates a flipbook. This is a great representation of the path Josie was on that year of her life, how much she transformed and grew up into a young woman. This would be a great novel for upper elementary school students as the rich vocabulary in the free verse poems is right on and the students will be able to relate to the emotions felt by Josie. This would be a great book to use as an example and have the students write their own free verse poems. I believe the student would thoroughly enjoy this book and I highly recommend it!

[Jenni Frencham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zimmer, Tracie. Reaching for Sun. Bloombury, 2007.

Josie has cerebral palsy, and she doesn't have many friends at school because it is difficult for her to communicate. When Jordan moves next door, though, she finds a friend who sees past her disability and is willing to get to know her. Told in blank verse, this is a story of a year in Josie's life as she advocates for herself and her needs as well as dealing with the ups and downs of life in general.

This book was a very fast read. Blank verse in general takes less time to read than prose, but this book is maybe 1/10th the size of an Ellen Hopkins book, so I finished it during the first half of my lunch break. It's a good book in that we see the thoughts and musings of Josie and she's shown as what she is - a normal teen who argues with her mother, lies about skipping therapy, and gets upset when Jordan goes away to science camp for four weeks. Her disability doesn't limit her thoughts or imagination or hopes or dreams. This book is an excellent one to use as both a window and a mirror. Recommended.

Recommended for: tweens, teens
Red Flags: none
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Out of My Mind, Stuck in Neutral, Girls Like Us

[L-Crystal Wlodek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This poem novel is recommended for students in grades 7 and up and is a Schneider Family Book Award (2008). This book chronicles the life and struggles of Josie, a seventh grade girl with Cerebral Palsy, who lives with her mother and grandmother. It also describes in detail a blooming friendship between Josie and Jordan, her neighbor, as well as challenges, which include her grandmother’s illness and her best friend going off to camp for the summer.

This is a heartwarming and inspiring story is hard to put down. The unique poetry format also adds to the appeal of the book. It is a quick read and a relatable book with issues regarding friendship, life struggles, illness, and family. Josie, the narrator of the book, is bright and does not fully realize her limitations or her strengths. The language used throughout the free verse poetry novel is also particularly strong. Reaching for Sun has wide appeal for readers of diverse abilities. Reluctant readers will be attracted to the simplicity of the text, with short chapters and lots of white space on each page. Every poem included really adds to the flow of the book, so much so that some readers may not even realize that they are reading poetry. However, more advanced readers will find enjoyment in the poetic structure used throughout the book. Overall, this book is touching, uniquely written, and will appeal to a wide range of readers as they discover what it feels like to live with a disability.

[Kim Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This verse novel was a new experience for me. It was nice how the thoughts were complete, but the words were so carefully selected that not many words were needed to create an amazing effect. I also enjoyed how the subject changed each page or two, definitely kept me interested and wanting to turn the page to see what would come up next.

The main character, Josie, has cerebral palsy and is used to her school friends making fun of her. She spends most of her time with her Gran and her mother (even though she is a busy working mom also going to school), until she makes a friend in a boy that moves into her neighborhood. He barely mentions her disability and becomes her first true friend. He accepts her for who she is, not how she talks or walks.

The story deals well with the fact that Josie's Gran becomes very ill and returns home unable to walk and talk like she used to. Josie's sadness and pain while missing her Gran while she is in the hospital leads the reader to feel for Josie and her Gran at the same time.

This is a heartwarming story about a young girl that loves her family and longs for someone to want to be her friend.

There are two lines in the book that illustrate the descriptive verse that I enjoyed:

"But Mom's dreams for me
are a heavy wool coat I
wear, even in summer."

"Granny wears her goofy
polka-dotted bathing suit
with the frilly skirt;
her wide hips
slip out the side like bread dough
rising in a pan."

[Christina Getrost · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet, quiet book written in verse, about a 7th grader, Josie, who happens to have cerebral palsy. She has some speech difficulty, and her arm and leg are affected, but she can communicate just fine with others. She lives on her family's farm (which has been sold off in parcels for subdivisions, so it is no longer a farm), with her single mom and her grandmother. The whole family loves to garden and grow things; her mother is studying for her nursery management degree, and the book is full of flower and vegetable metaphors. The story takes place over a year, as Josie meets a new boy, Jordan, who becomes her friend, seeing past her disability to revel in their shared love of science and plants. Josie ditches her summertime therapy sessions to spend as much time as possible with her friend, before he leaves for science camp, but of course she gets in trouble with her mom for lying, and suffers jealousy over his time spent with other girls. Her changing relationship with her grandmother is also a key part of the book. The poetry is beautiful, with lots of nature imagery, showing how their whole house blooms when the family is together. Good book about friendship, and for showing how to treat people who are different, by respecting what's on the inside for it may surprise you.

[Rhiannon C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in 2007, the realistic fiction book Reaching For Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer is a wonderful book and excepting people for who they are that I found very interesting and thought provoking. It starts in the middle of 7th grade with a girl named Josie, who suffers from cerebral palsy. People pick on her for her slow speech, and her disability, where her wrist and shoulder are connected, she has a limp, and her thumb is pasted to her palm, which sets her behind all the other kids in terms of physical activity. Then a fellow outsider, Jordan, comes to the school and helps Josie forget what makes her different and becomes her friend. Like on the first page it says, "No one wants to be seen going into room 204, not even me." It suggests that room 204 is the 'special help' room and if you went in there you were considered different. Also if you look at the bottom right corner of the right page you will see a flower, as the story goes along the flower changes, going into full bloom as does Josie throughout the book after meeting Jordan, it really helped the development of the story. I recommend this book for any audience, it does not contain strong language and is a thought provoking book.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reaching for the Sun By: Tracie Zimmer
Lexile Level: N/A
Pages: 182
Summary:
This book is written in verse by Josie Wyatt who has cerebral palsy. She gets teased at school because her speech is different and she walks very awkwardly; as she says “everyone knows I am special ed.” She really has a rough and grueling life; she has to go to a speech therapist, occupational therapist & a physical therapist. The physical stretches that she has to do are painful, but she must do them if she doesn’t want her bones to autotroph at an even faster rate. She has to go through flash cards every day in order to keep common words in her vocabulary. Only her Mom and her Grandmother know how much she goes through, because her Dad took off when she was a baby and Josie has only one friend and that is Jordan, a boy who lives behind their farm.
Recommendations:
This was a very good book to read because it was written from the perspective of a character with cerebral palsy. You learn how it feels to be shunned because of your differences, and you see how you get treated differently by others, even your own family members.
4 out 5 stars

[Michelle Pegram · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an exercise in beauty from beginning to end. Written in verse, it tells the story of one summer in the life of a young girl with cerebral palsy.

Josie lives with her mother and grandmother on a family farm that is being sold piece by piece to developers who want to build mansions. Josie has no friends, none that is until Jordan's family moves into one of the mansions behind her house.

He does not seem to notice Josie's differences and she finds herself hoping that she has a friend. With this new confidence, Josie begins to make decisions for herself - decisions that don't fit with her moms plans for continued therapy in a special summer program.

This book could serve double duty in a classroom. I can see it opening great discussions about differences in people as well as the universal coming to age milestone of independence. The other way I could see it being used in a classroom is in a poetry unit. It would be a great way to add to an exploration of the different types of poetry available in the world.

I highly recommend this novel.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a teacher there are several reasons why I would choose to include this book in my classrom library and in my literature circles. I read this book because it was written in poetic verse. I wanted to find texts that supported the 6th grade curriculum that involves reading and writing poetry. The book Reaching for Sun does give an excellent example of poetic prose.
The other reason why I would want to include this book in my classroom library is because it is written from the perspective of a girl, Josie, with cerebral palsy. The book discusses how a person with disabilities may be misunderstood. I think this book would be great for teachers who teach adolescents. You could talk about differences and the challenges students face when they aren't like everyone else.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josie has cerebral palsy, she tries to forget, but her mother is constantly reminding her. It's not until a new boy moves into the neighborhood that Josie sees what it is like to have a friend, someone who treats her like he doesn't notice anything different about her.

This book was pretty sweet. It was written entirely in poems and I loved how the author described Josie's world in only a couple words or sentences and yet you understood exactly what she meant. It was a fairly quick read and I thought that it had a lovely message and would definitely recommend it.

*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2008...

[Lauren Brittain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great book. It is by the same person who wrote the Floating Circus.This book is full of beautiful and heartfelt free verse poems telling a story about a girl with celeberal palsy. Josie Wyatt has no friends and people assume she is stupid just because she is handicapped. Finally a great boy Jordan comes along and sticks by her. Being his friend helps her learn that she is fine just the way she is even if her mother can't seem to let her disability go. Jordan helps her go through a life full of an ever working mother and a very opiononated grandmother, a garden that used to be a farm, a new expirience of friends, and a year of growing for the both of them.

[Richard Gartee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know why I picked up this book, or even that it was written in verse, but I’m glad I did. I had not seen this form of writing before – sort of a novella in verse. But as someone once told Robert Heinlein, “Good fiction, is good fiction.”
This story of a young girl with cerebral palsy has well developed characters that you get to know and care about, and all the structural elements of a good novel. On top of that Tracie Zimmer is a heck of a poet.
I think you will probably find the YA section, but don’t be put off by that. It is a cleverly written, nuanced, story that should appeal to any age. And even if you’re not a fan of poetry, you’ll completely forget you’re reading verse.

[Morgan Swank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Verse Novel
I really enjoyed this book! I didn't think I would like it because of the way it was set up in verses, but I think it actually made the book even more enjoyable. Even though Josie had cerebral palsy she was still extremely smart and it made me mad when kids that didn't even know her would make fun of her. It also made me mad when the "popular" girl invited Jordan to her pool party just so he could fetch the ball when it went out of the pool. I thought it was amazing though how Jordan seemed to not notice that Josie was different from anyone else and this was a great story about friendship. I would recommend this book to anyone in middle school or older.

[Allison Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a novel in verse, something I’m usually not a fan of, but I loved it here. Josie is a young teenager who has cerebral palsy, and no friends because of that. When Jordan moves into the neighborhood, he not only becomes Josie’s friend, but possibly more. Josie’s life fills with helping her grandmother garden, doing science experiments with Jordan, and volunteering at an old folks’ home. The seasons change and so does Josie - bonus if you get a hardcopy with a flip book flower in the lower right corner! I loved that this book didn’t focus on the fact that Josie has CP; it obviously affects her life, but isn’t the main point of the book.

[Nyla Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josie Wyatt is a little girl that isn't quite same as everyone else. Josie and her family lives in a small farmhouse. Her mother has an obsession, and her grandmother is dogmatic. Josie has never known/seen her father. Josie also has a disorder called cerebral palsy, and her hand is deformed. Sometimes Josie tries to forget about her disorder, but with her mom it seems impossible to forget. Jordan, Josie's friend, doesn't understand her disorder and makes it oblivious. He somewhat makes her feel uncomfortable. She finally reaches out to something; finding a new friend. After all, the flowers on each page represent Josie's growth.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reaching for the Sun is a novel in verse form. 13-year-old Josie has cerebral palsy and no friends. All the kids at school think she’s retarded. (Her words, not mine.) Josie lives with her mother and grandmother on a beautiful piece of property covered with plants and flowers. Josie’s mom is going back to college and Josie barely sees her anymore. Seventh grade is horrible until a new boy moves into the neighborhood. Jordan is extremely smart and knows lots of random facts. He and Josie quickly become friends and seventh grade turns out not so bad at all.