Keesha's House

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Frost, Helen. KEESHA’S HOUSE. New York: Frances Foster Books, 2003.

PLOT SUMMARY
KEESHA’S HOUSE is a verse novel that discusses the life situations of 7 teenage kids as well as the feelings of those around them. Keesha lives in Joe’s house. Joe allows kids who have been abandoned or have run away because of bad circumstances at home to come and live in his house so they are safe. The novel combines the lives of the 7 kids and focuses on how they deal with what life has thrown at them.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
KEESHA’S HOUSE is a verse novel. It is built of multiple poems that could stand on their own, but by putting the poems together in a particular order the author creates a narrative that falls into place. The book is arranged as a chapter book with a table of contents available. Each chapter includes a poem written from the perspective of each of the seven characters. The characters start off very separate but begin to intertwine throughout the novel.

The lining of the poems are written in a traditional form. The author uses sestinas and sonnets as the form although she strays from the rules from time to time. The wording and line arrangement is not as important in this book as it is in others. The words read the same no matter how they are placed on the page.

The most important impact of this novel is the emotional impact it has on the reader. The stories of these kids bring in the reader and make them feel like they are in the characters shoes. I found myself unable to put the book down because of the emotional connection I had made with some of the characters. This book is intense and refreshing at the same time.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Revealing heartbreak and hope, these poems could stand alone, but work best as a story collection. Teens may read this engaging novel without even realizing they are reading poetry. SLJ

This moving first novel tells the story in a series of dramatic monologues that are personal, poetic, and immediate, with lots of line breaks that make for easy reading, alone or in readers' theater. BOOKLIST

CONNECTIONS
This is certainly not a novel that should be used in an early education classroom. The ideas and topics discussed in the book are more appropriate for an older group of students. This book would be a good source for counseling in many different situations.

The best thing about the book is that it opens your mind to different thoughts and ideas as well as different ways to express them. This would be a good time to allow students to express themselves in any artistic way they choose. Ex. Song, poem, story, painting, drawing, monologue.