The Horn Book Guide

LITERATURE

George, Kristine O'Connell

Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems

80 pp. | Clarion | September, 2002 | Trade ISBN 0-618-15250-4 $$14.00

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Debbie Tilley. This accessible collection traces a girl's journey through the first year of middle school. In short poems in a variety of forms, the girl faces the challenges of making friends, figuring out the mysteries of her locker and the "endless corridor[s]," getting dressed in the un-privacy of the locker room. Though the too-young illustrations don't help, the poems are unpretentious and down-to-earth; the voice is believably that of a twelve-year-old.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2003