Description:

I was smitten, bitten by a love bug or something. I didn't even care that I'd just been hit. I was in deep smit. Laura Crapper, a seventeen-year-old combat-boot-wearing poet with spiked red hair, renames herself Sister Slam and hits the road with her best friend, Twig. On the way to a slam poetry contest in New Jersey, they hit a pig, get pulled over by the cops, fight with one of the judges, lose the contest, get into two more fender benders, fight with each other, and finally land on the front page of a New York City newspaper for their amazing impromptu performance at the famous Tavern on the Green. The girls and their fresh style of poetry take the city by storm, but when Laura's father back in Pennsylvania has a heart attack, she must face her fears about home and the still-raw loss of her mother. This inspiring romp of a coming-of-age story, written entirely in Laura's in-your-face slam poetry style, proves you don't have to give up your home to live your dream. ** ### Amazon.com Review Told in the jagged rhythms of rap, with unexpected rhymes and frenetic energy, *Sister Slam* is a soul sister to Francesca Lia Block's *Weetzie Bat*. Hip but innocent, sharp but sweet, fresh out of high school in Banesville, Pennsylvania, plump Laura Crapper and her skinny friend Twig ("an indie-goth-hippie chick like me") set out in their '69 Firebird for the *Sixth Annual Tin Can, New Jersey Poetry Slam*: "We'll be driving/ into the so-cool/ School of Real Life./ The College Of Reality!/ The University/ of Gray Road, Blue Sky,/ and Yellow Lines," exults Twig. As a mark of the importance of the occasion Laura chooses a new name "so hot it sizzled/ and blistered your fingers/ like Crisco-fried ham./ My new name was: Sister Slam!" In *Tin Can* the new poets bomb when the subject of Sister's angry poem turns out to be one of the judges. And like all road trips, this one has its bad moments (their car is totaled by a collision with a Mustang) and its wild surprises (the driver turns out to be a hunky guy named Jake with "avocado-hotto eyes"). A spontaneous performance at a restaurant catapults the two poets into fame on the slam circuit, with success beyond their dreams as they rant onstage in thrift store chic--until real life intervenes. Teen slammers will snap their fingers along with Twig and Sister in this lighthearted and innovative verse novel. (ages 12 to 16) *--Patty Campbell* ### From School Library Journal Grade 8 Up-A powerful main character and great premise are nearly defeated by the form of this novel in slam-verse. Just graduated from high school in nowheresville, Laura Crapper changes her name to Sister Slam and takes off with her friend Twig on a road trip to a poetry slam in Tin Can, NJ. A very lame experience there drives them on to New York City, where Sister Slam is certain they'll be appreciated. And they are: a car wreck with a cute rich guy on the Jersey Turnpike lands them an invitation to stay with his family at the Waldorf. A subsequent dinner performance at Tavern on the Green, overheard by an editor from the Village Voice, sets them on the fast track to fame and love. All this is told by Sister Slam in her inimitable voice. As they drive in to New York City: "It was a smorgasbord/of humanity/and profanity/slipped from my lips.//"Holy shit!/I never saw so/many different/races in the/same place!" This voice, sadly, wears thin, as the energy and freshness can't be sustained through the plot, characterization, and dialogue that a novel requires. Much of the dialogue comes off awkwardly, as everybody else sounds just like Sister Slam, and the verse in the slower sections turns bland. The fairy tale of a story teeters wildly over the edge of credibility-Francesca Lia Block fans might bring the right willingness with them, but they won't find the magic to carry them along. All that said, the character of Sister Slam-big, brash, naive, and completely winning-will stay with readers long after they've breezed their way through her galumphing and spotty story. *Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.