Book of the Week: Rhyme Schemer, by K.A. Holt

Rhyme Schemer, K.A. Holt
Realistic fiction/Verse

First stanza (it’s a novel in verse):
First day of school.
My favorite.
Easy prey.

Booktalk: Kevin is a bully. On the first day of seventh grade, he looks around for “easy prey” and sees lots of it: the girl with freckles, the short kid, the teacher with a big mole on her face. He trips his enemies in the hallway, skewers them in his journal, and even starts vandalizing library books! He tears out a page, circles words to form poems making fun of his teachers and classmates, then posts them up on the wall of the school.

Unfortunately for Kevin, karma is coming for him. First he gets suspended. Then one of his enemies finds his poetry journal, photocopies the pages, and passes them out to the whole school. Kevin goes from a bully-er to a bully-ee, as his classmates follow him around calling him “Poetry Boy” and threatening to beat him up. And back at home, Kevin still has to deal with four older brothers who hate him and two doctor parents who ignore him.

With help from the surprisingly awesome librarian Mrs. Little, will Kevin be able to turn things around, or is he doomed to be a poetry outlaw forever?

Similar titles: Runt (Nora Raleigh Baskin), Crossover (Kwame Alexander), The Bully Book (Eric Kahn Gale)

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