Sharon Creech

Our exchange student recently asked me what my favorite book was. I told her To Kill a Mockingbird, which is accurate, but she was looking for a book to read and I realized that it requires way too much understanding of American history and of context for her to be ale to read it without asking a lot of questions. Not that she shouldn't ask questions, just that she'd probably be very confused. So I went to my second favorite book, Walk Two Moons. If you haven't read it, put down your Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo (yeah, I'm getting through Les Miserables. I started it three years ago...) and read just a little Sharon Creech. The conversation inspired me to reread Heartbeat, which is a book in poem form. Like Dante, except not about hell (or purgatory. Or heaven.), and not with a specific rhyme and rhythm, and not using grotesque imagery, and not written to spite anyone, and not in Italian. So basically not like Dante at all. I enjoy reading Heartbeat, but I'm becoming suspicious that part of why I like Sharon Creech so much is because she writes about things I enjoy, like cooking, and running, and poetry, and travelling to Europe. Then I realize her books are also about dealing with death and spending summers on farms and that these are things I have a particular aversion to, so maybe I just really like Sharon Creech. ~Researches~ There is a sequel to Love That Dog called Hate That Cat. Wow I am so impressed. Except she's probably kidding about hating cats.

This is why I enjoy it:

one l-e-a-p over to the bank

up the hill

past the old barn faded red

one side curved inward

like a big dimple

around the pasture

newly mown

smell of growing grass

slim green blades sticking

to our feet bare and brown

until we reach the red bench

beside the sycamore tree

with its mottled trunk

and wide yellow leaves

while Max checks his time

on his grandpa's pocket watch

and he looks displeased

and says we will have to

pick up the pace on the way back

and I tell him

he can pick up his own pace

but my pace is fine

thank you very much

and he says I will never get anywhere

if I don't pick up my pace

and I tell him

I don't need to go anywhere

She has good detail. And good voice. And good everything. And it makes me smile. And I realize this blog is not about book recommendations, but it is about creative writing and I felt this was something you (plural-vosotros form :P) could benefit from.