Amiri & Odette:  A Love Story by Walter Dean Myers and Javaka Steptoe, ill.  New York:  Scholastic Press, 2009.

ISBN: 0590680412

Media:  Acrylic paint on asphalt, collaged with candy wrappers, gold jewelry, newspaper, plastic bags, and other items

Q5/P5

Poetic version of Swan Lake set in the projects.  Amiri and Odette fall in love, but first they must free Odette from the villain Big Red.  Amiri fights and wins.

CURRICULUM CONNECTION:  7^TH – 12^TH grade language arts classes

METAPHOR:  Examples are “his eyes are radar beams”; “Her thin arms flutter nervously”; “a broken arrow quivering alone”; and “a dying swan chose love.”

FBoggs 07/09

Amiri & Odette: A Love Story by Walter Deam Myers, Javaka Steptoe, Ill. NY: Scholastic Press, 2009. ISBN-10: 0590680412. Q5/5P.

            This modern re-telling of Swan Lake takes readers to the inner city where Myers and Steptoe believe love is still born. This poem could be used in an English class for middle or high school age students. The use of rhythm in the choice of language is extremely moving with some lines rhyming with others and some words used in clashing juxtaposition to others for a profound effect. It’s chilling references to the harsh realities of people growing up in the projects is a message that must be told in hopes for change.

-Christina Gendron, 7/31/09