Sunday, March 1, 2015

Young Poets Speak Powerfully




Broken Hearts . . . Healing
Young Poets Speak Out on Divorce

Edited by Tom Worthen, PhD
Poet Tree Press
Logan, Utah, 2001

Reviewed by Laura Harting 



Copyright 2001 Poet Tree Press
This book for teenagers is a powerful collection of poems written by young people ages 9 to 18.   The poetry takes the reader from heartbreak to resilience as these young poets share their feelings and experiences of divorce in a particularly poignant way.  Designed to offer the reader a place to come where he or she is not alone in the pain of divorce, this book accomplishes that task. The pain is real and the feelings are raw, but the sense of camaraderie written in the pages and felt by the reader are somehow comforting. 
 
Appropriate for middle and high school students, this is a good book to read when the divorce is new and life feels chaotic and painful. Divided into chapters based on themes, it can and should be read a little bit at a time, rather than from start to finish. This book can be picked up and read for a minute or for an hour.  Read one poem and put it down, or read 25 poems that vary in how they connect with the reader’s experience.
 
I like how this book gives the children of divorce the power to share their voices. Rather than adults writing about what divorce is like for children, the children are the writers. That makes this different from any other book I have read or reviewed. 

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Laura Harting, LCSW, sees young clients at her office in Paoli, Pennsylvania.

3 comments:

  1. Additional reviews of this 4-star book may be seen on Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Hearts-Healing-Young-Divorce/dp/1588761509#customerReviews

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  2. Great website! This is such a terrific resource for children of divorce, and your reviews are particularly aimed at helping readers determine which is the best book to pick up. The idea that this one can be read for a minute or for an hour is a terrific help to potential readers. Nice work. Jane

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  3. Thank you for your comment. This book of poems is one of my personal favorites. I have always enjoyed poetry, ever since my grandmother gave me a copy of "Favorite Poems Old and New," edited by Helen Ferris and published by Doubleday & Co, back in 1966.

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