Grace Notes

April 15, 2024
Grades 7-12 Nye's latest is a rich, personal memoir in poems that traces the ups and downs of families with honesty, authenticity, and vulnerability. In verses expressing her sentiments toward her relationships with her mother and other influential figures, especially women, she writes with language resonant enough that readers will have no trouble connecting with her experience and emotions or relating to her childhood experience of growing up with a diverse cultural background and immigrant parents. Of particular note is how, as the daughter of a Palestinian father and white American mother, she understands the ways culture and outside events, such as war, have shaped her family for generations. Nye uses the power and beauty of words to express her feelings about her family and community and encourages children and young adults to do the same. While primarily focused on the theme of family, the poems also cover such topics as mental health, cultural expectations, war, immigration, refugees, family history, and the impact all of those forces have on personal identity.

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Starred review from May 15, 2024
A powerful account of a mother's life, narrated in verse by award-winner Nye, the former Young People's Poet Laureate. Nye describes small meaningful moments from major events in the life of her late mother, Miriam Naomi Allwardt Shihab. The opening poem introduces Miriam, explaining how she met Nye's Palestinian immigrant father in Kansas, marrying him only three months later. Subsequent entries delve into Miriam's mental health, which was affected by her rigid upbringing ("Her parents were tightly closed German boxes"); Miriam struggled with depression later in life ("You could never tell your friends. / Before I was born, my mama tried to die"). On the subject of her parents' marital conflict, Nye notes that "children who live in sad houses / hope to fix things." However, the poems also uphold Miriam's profoundly positive impact as a mother who passed on her global awareness and empathy, passion for the arts, and respect for diversity: "She never thought she was / the center of the world." Understanding her mother's mysteries becomes a quest for Nye to both understand herself and appreciate Miriam more deeply: "Maybe we are all born from our mother's kilns," she states in her introduction. Her writing dwells upon the secret mysteries of our lives and the grace it takes to forgive and love others. Through this intimate and compassionate exploration of one woman's life, readers receive an invitation to contemplate human interconnectedness. Beautifully written poetry about the butterfly effect of human experience. (index) (Poetry. 13-18)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 27, 2024
Nye (The Turtle of Michigan) centers themes of family and examines the life of her late mother in 100 never-before-published poems. Using eloquent and raw verse, the author describes how her white Lutheran-raised mother meet her Palestinian father (“my mom married/ the first Arab she ever met”), summarizing the astonishing confluence of events: “the fact we exist at all/ is a random grace note/ of a forgotten symphony.” Her mother’s side “carried their Germany with them,” while her paternal grandmother “wore a white hijab, lived to 106/ always seemed young.” Stanzas describe her family’s Kansan beginnings (“then one day they come to a town in Kansas”), their move to Jerusalem “fter my parents divorced and remarried,” and how war motivated their flight to Texas (“Texas, here we come”), where Nye still lives today. While some verses engage in artful wordplay (“Pizzicato possibilities,/ arpeggio challenges,/ staccato surprise”), Nye’s full power radiates in simple lines that slice to the heart: “I told the boy/ I had a bad dream./ He said, Have a new one.” Select poems touch on the contemporary crisis in Gaza in this mature and timely collection that emanates brilliance and soul. Ages 10–up.

Starred review from June 14, 2024

Gr 6 Up-In her latest collection of poems, Nye mostly characterizes grief. Written during her mother's decline and after her death, these poems offer tender memories of Nye's childhood with a chronically depressed parent, reflect on the different ways people mourn, and highlight observations of life's astonishing moments. Her mother's depression is revealed in "Freedom": "Was she still alive?/ This was the bad secret I carried./ She might not be. I needed to check./ You could never tell your friends./ Before I was born, my mama tried to die./ I had to check on her." In "New," Nye is hopeful: "It's unexplored territory, / this beautiful grief/ of all this new space." This autobiographical collection also includes Nye's backstory as the child of a Palestinian father and American mother, as well as a few mentions of the current war in Gaza. Writing sometimes in the second person, the poet brings readers directly into the perfectly selected words' grasp. Ultimately, these graceful poems are love letters to families past and present. Small but profound messages are revealed in a way only poetry can express. VERDICT An essential purchase for middle/junior high school and teen collections. This may not be a high-circulation item, but it will be a lifeline for astute poetry lovers.-Elaine Fultz

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2024
Nye's (most recently Everything Comes Next, rev. 1/21) latest collection of free verse poems is divided into two parts: "No Age Is Empty" and "Sometimes We Need a Bigger Family." Her focus is on growing up and her own personal family circle, particularly her mother. The 117 lyrical poems reveal the many ways that families, friends, culture, and memories shape us. One of the book's major themes is posited at the start: the beauty of living with "the fact that we exist at all / is a random grace note / of a forgotten symphony." The poems ask deep questions such as "Who are we all, in the big picture?" or about "who you might / become, / how you might / unfold." Nye does not shy away from addressing some of life's difficulties, including her mother's depression, the constraints of having strict grandparents, and even the impact of war. In "Everyone," each of the three parts offers a powerful revelation: "Everyone has burdens"; "Everything is a mystery"; and "Everyone has secrets." The verse is vulnerable, channels emotions that are universal, and raises existential questions and observations in reflective and comforting ways: "Life / is full of mysteries. / They're not mine, not yours. / They're life's." Full of love, empathy, and compassion, these poems are thoughtful, honest, and uplifting. Sylvia Vardell

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2024
Nye's (most recently Everything Comes Next, rev. 1/21) latest collection of free verse poems is divided into two parts: "No Age Is Empty" and "Sometimes We Need a Bigger Family." Her focus is on growing up and her own personal family circle, particularly her mother. The 117 lyrical poems reveal the many ways that families, friends, culture, and memories shape us. One of the book's major themes is posited at the start: the beauty of living with "the fact that we exist at all / is a random grace note / of a forgotten symphony." The poems ask deep questions such as "Who are we all, in the big picture?" or about "who you might / become, / how you might / unfold." Nye does not shy away from addressing some of life's difficulties, including her mother's depression, the constraints of having strict grandparents, and even the impact of war. In "Everyone," each of the three parts offers a powerful revelation: "Everyone has burdens"; "Everything is a mystery"; and "Everyone has secrets." The verse is vulnerable, channels emotions that are universal, and raises existential questions and observations in reflective and comforting ways: "Life / is full of mysteries. / They're not mine, not yours. / They're life's." Full of love, empathy, and compassion, these poems are thoughtful, honest, and uplifting.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)