I really enjoyed this book. It has nothing to do with Shakespeare himself other than the main character Kevin's nickname is Shakespeare because he writes poetry. The entire book is written in poetic form. It is a delight and an enlightenment at the same time. Kevin challenges himself to write in different forms of poetry - he writes free verse, quatrains, couplets and villanelles.Kevin's father, a writer himself, gives him a red note book in an attempt to encourage his son's writing talent. Kevin discovers how useful it is to have a secret keeper. He writes about his girlfriend Mira. He writes about baseball. He writes about his grief at his mother's death. He writes about his father's grief. He writes poetry which makes compelling reading. At a poetry reading evening Kevin meets Amy - an exceptional poet. He begins a friendship with her but begins to realise that their mutual love for poetry is developing into something more.
This book is a sequel to Shakespeare Bats Cleanup and true to form our library doesn't have that book either - so frustrating. I can say that as I am the one who creates the orders each year. I will be ordering the first book. However, we do have two other works by Ron Koertge which I will be looking into when we return from the winter holiday.
Review from Guys Lit Wire Blog
60secondrecap take on the book