I just just finished reading Lori Weber's wonderful new verse novel Yellow Mini.
One of the great things about being friends with a talented writer like Lori is that you can call her up when you are halfway through her book and say, "I'm loving it!"
So that's exactly what I did this afternoon when I was halfway through Yellow Mini!
The book is a series of poems, narrated by a group of kids who go to the same high school, but there are adult narrators who find their way into the story, too. At the Montreal launch of Yellow Mini a couple of weeks ago, Lori explained how the book began with Annabelle. Annabelle is still smarting about the fact that her former friend Stacey has dumped her. The Yellow Mini of the title belongs to a guy named Mark who Stacey is now dating.
I underlined lots of parts of the book that I want to remember. Here's some of what I underlined -- hopefully these bits will make you want to read Lori's book for yourself:
"The kitchen was completely silent/ except for the hum of the fridge/ and the drip of the tap/ and five noses breathing"
and
"their shoulders tapping like glasses/ as if every word was a celebration"
and
"When Annabelle/ blows a hole into/ the whipped cream./ a dab of it clings/ to her upper lip./ I want/ to lick it off."
Yellow Mini, by Lori Weber. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 241 pages, $9.95