Class Dismissed II

Mel Glenn has written with humor, pathos, and gripping imagery about the realities, the dreams, the ups, and the downs of being a teenager. From girls who get up the courage to make the first move that is ignored to guys who wonder what went wrong, romantic distresses and exhilirating successes are discussed in words straight from a teen's throbbing heart.Glenn presents a multicultural viewpoint of surviving the teenage years. Miguel turns his life around one year after graduating from high school, and the reader cheers him on. Brandon, one year after high school, is still a loser, and the reader recognizes Brandon's lack of motivation. Isabel is fighting poverty and personal demons, but when she begins to dance onstage . . . oh, how she leaps above the pain of her life! Veronica's father is in the service, and she complains about the schools in seven states and compares her life to the red lines on the Rand McNally atlas. Barry humorously describes failing his road test again and wonders how he will travel. Dana finds out that there are no "express lanes to happiness" and thinks that perhaps returning to school would be more productive than his K-Mart job. Self-centered Dorothy wonders why her friend leaves, Robert wonders who's going to college--him or his parents, Paul means no disrespect but wonders if his teacher has any books that deal with real life . . . The poems touch on every aspect of what it is to be human, alive, young, reaching, hoping, dreaming, achieving, losing, and trying again.As a language arts teacher, I use these poems as journal prompts to springboard my students into writing, and these poems touch my students in ways classical poetry does not. My students see themselves in these poems and are always eager to discuss the teens represented in these pages as if they are real people. I highly recommend this book to language arts teachers, teenagers, or those who would like to remember what it was like to be a teen.