Franco,
Betsy (Ed.). Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems
by Teenagers. Cabridge, MA: Candlewick Press. 2008. ISBN: 978-0-7636-3437-7.
SUMMARY
Fall into
the world of teenagers as they reveal their deepest feelings about love and
sexuality through their poetry. Poems of joy, confusion, longing, and
self-doubt fill this anthology of love poems that reveal the tender hearts of
teenagers as they begin to experience the emotions that follow when love
begins. The teens' poems are refreshingly honest and open - revealing to the
world their innermost thoughts as they pass the stage of a child's crush on
another child and enter the world of adulthood and deeper love. The poetry,
sometimes humorous and other times serious, addresses sexual identity, love, and
lust with a candor that reminds us that love can be both beautiful and painful
to those who fall into it.
ANALYSIS
Betsy
Franco's Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by
Teenagers opens the world of teenagers as they experience the adult
emotions that come with falling in love. The poems' themes explore innocence,
sexual identity, broken relationships, budding relationships, tired relationships,
and many more tangled feelings that the teens pour out into their poetry as
they begin to unravel and recognize the complexities of emotions born from
love.
Free verse
poetry fills the pages as the young poets use metaphor and vivid imagery to
capture their feelings and release them into poetry. Sixteen year-old Hector Jasso's poem "Love is
Like" uses simile to describe love: "Love is Like/the sweetness of
honey/falling from a bee hive.//You have to be careful/not to get stung."
In his poem, the image of the beehive and the tempting taste of sweet honey
speak of the alluring call of love to a young man. However, his following lines
that warn of the danger reveal that there can also be pain if a young heart
is not cautious when approaching love.
The desire
to be truly loved rings out from Ben Cuevas' (age 18) poem, "Fat
Kid." His words create the rhythm and rhyme that carry the reader through
the current of his poem as he expresses his need for human warmth: "...A
stranger's touch can/become a crutch/used to/limp from bed to bed/to get
some/drug-like fix of lust instead of/looking inside to/realize that/I may
actually be worthy of love..." His poem continues, crying out for someone
to see he is "bruised and broken by/thoughts unspoken of a /fat little boy
who/lives inside the/shell I am today..."
Franco's
choice of poems to include in her anthology cannot help but touch the hearts of
those who read and appreciate the sensitive, and at times brutal, honesty of the
young poets featured in Falling Hard: 100
Love Poems by Teenagers.
BEST BOOKS
Bulletin
Blue Ribbons, 2008: The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, United
States
Pure Poetry,
2008: Voice of Youth Advocates, United States
YALSA Quick
Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, 2009: ALA, United States
SUGGESTED
ACTIVITY
Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers would be a valuable resource for professionals who work with teenagers (psychologists, counselors, etc.). If a teenager is in a troubled relationship and/or finds it difficult to express feelings, then perhaps there is a poem related to the teen's conflict that can "break the ice" and help the teen to open up to a counselor.
Because of some of the mature subject matter included in this book, I strongly urge librarians and teachers to read this book prior to placing it in a library collection. I do recommend this book for high school libraries. High school students' maturity levels are better suited for understanding the powerful messages and emotions expressed in the poems.
In a classroom: After reading "Love is Like" by Hector Jasso to your students, have them create their own similes that describe how they feel about love.
Because of some of the mature subject matter included in this book, I strongly urge librarians and teachers to read this book prior to placing it in a library collection. I do recommend this book for high school libraries. High school students' maturity levels are better suited for understanding the powerful messages and emotions expressed in the poems.
In a classroom: After reading "Love is Like" by Hector Jasso to your students, have them create their own similes that describe how they feel about love.
Love is Like
the sweetness of honey
falling from a bee hive.
You have to be careful
not to get stung.
Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers. Cover
illustration. Internet on-line. April
26, 2013 from
http://www.flr.follett.com/search?SID=4674a0f991fd609075eb2035c09db2d3.
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