A Lion's Hunger

VOYA - Katie O'Dell Madison

This slim volume of poetry traces a year in a young woman's life in which she experiences her first love. After meeting a new and exciting boy who shares her love for books and good conversation, the narrator believes she has met a soul mate. The relationship progresses throughout the school year, and the young woman grows closer and closer to her boyfriend, until after a night of drinking red wine and driving in a rainstorm they crash into another car. Though no one is killed, the two are forbidden to see each other. This forced separation is the beginning of the end for them, and finally the boy breaks off their relationship, forcing the girl to reconcile her feelings for her lost first love. Each poem captures a single event or feeling experienced by the girl, and these moments work together to tell the story. As a collection, these poems effectively snapshot the fragile highs and dangerous lows of love. The shape, style, and language of the poems are quite accessible, and those readers looking for melodrama and angst will be satisfied. The forced hand behind the poems causing the clichéd drunk driving accident prevents these poems from being more than a typical teen story, however. The illustrations are average quality oil paintings that type these characters as middle-class white kids. While the poems themselves could be felt and related to from a variety of readers, the paintings serve only to limit the reader's imagination. Still, with teens' appetite for love stories, both happy and doomed, many readers will relate to this story, and that, combined with the accessibility of the poetry, is sure to make this a popular choice. VOYA Codes: 3Q 4P M J S (Readable without serious defects, Broad general YA appeal, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9 and Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).