Blue Lipstick

Jessie, a high school student, struggles to find her place. Her unique interests, from modern art to the cello to volleyball and of course blue lipstick, with the help of her own personal wall and aversion to meat eaters and pretty much everyone in high school keep Jessie a bit lonely. However, she starts to take down that wall throughout the book and build friendships with unexpected people.

While the plot of this poetry book is a bit scattered or limited compared to some of the much longer Ellen Hopkins and Sonya Sones books that are told in verse form, the visuals of this form poetry provide a strong element of humor and fun. I found myself rotating and turning the book as I read many of the poems and identifying with Jessie. I too do my best thinking in the shower and was amused when the words tumbled out of the shower head like water.

There is a certain element of visual literacy required to understand the humor or cleverness of this book and the poems in it. Interpreting a deeper meaning would be nearly impossible if a reader were unable to first take in the entire picture, read the text, and follow Jessie's sense of humor. Obviously, without this skill in visual literacy the plot would feel even more fragmented

I enjoyed and shared this book with students at several grade levels for several reasons. The themes, becoming a woman and overcoming teen angst, are understatedly mature. The moral, dealing with the pressures of high school is a task best completed with company, can be applied by almost anyone. Also, this book and the one Grandits wrote previously, Technically, It's Not My Fault: Concrete Poems, are constantly interactive. For example, in Blue Lipstick, Jessie writes a poem about what she sees in the mirror. To read the poem, I had to hold the book up to the mirror and read the reflection. The only real issue that I have with this book is the way that it mocks cheerleaders, though I am not naive enough to think that people in the stands aren't doing that. I found it unnecessary, when creating the form of a cheerleader with letters, to use the Os of "boobs" as breasts.

Blue Lipstick has won several awards. These awards include being named to the American Library Association's Notable Books for Children list, being nominated for the Beehive Children's Poetry Award and the Dorthory Canfield Fisher's Children's Book Award, and being named to School Library Journal's Best Books of the Year list.

School Library Journal calls this a "irreverent, witty collection." Also, the Horn Book says that this book has a cover that "will grab and adolescent girls attention---and the poetry inside is equally appealing."

As someone who has taught creative writing, I wish I had known about this book then. The are some great examples that students from 4th to 12th grade would enjoy mimicking. For example, in a poem titled Volleyball Practice, the words follow the path of the ball as it is served, spiked, and the point is delivered as the ball rolls away. Students could easily do this with a game of football, hockey, basketball, or pretty much any other sport. Stands of words on top of a head make for a poem titled Bad Hair Day. Every person could share a similar experience. The book also makes an interactive read aloud, having students or listeners read a steam of water as they trace the path down with their finger.

All in all, this book made me smile and laugh while I was reading it. Also, every person that I have shared a poem or two with have responded with "neat" or "cool." This book is easy to share and show to students and library patrons.