The poems in this award-winning collection celebrate the relationship between mothers and their children, with a wide variety of subjects and emotions--from a child walking in her mother's comforting, protective shadow to a ten-year-old girl wondering if her mother was a clean freak when she was young. Here is "Mother's Heart" "My mother's heart / is a bottle / I want to fill with warm milk / to soothe her hurts / with honey to trap her bitterness / with a squirt of Tabasco--Shake her up " Inspired by her memories of her mother and her own role as a mother of a young son, these poems by Wong,...

In this collection of 36 poems (plus a new author's note at the end of the book), award-winning poet Janet Wong covers familiar territory: everything from parents as air bags ("in your face") to car shows to cop stops, hitchhiking to unlucky license plates, parking manners, crashing, insurance, and learning to drive. This book will remind drivers of all ages of their own funny and poignant driving stories and inspire you to write some of your own; a great gift for new drivers. Award notes: Behind the Wheel was an ABA "Pick of the Lists" and an ALA/YALSA "Quick Pick for Reluctant YA Readers."

Acclaimed poet Janet Wong is known for her eclectic range of topics, and this collection is no exception. Twenty poems explore liberty, kids' rights, free speech, political debates, unusual presidential candidates, the two-party system, voting, the electoral college, and more. "A Voter's Journal" appears at the end of the book, featuring a dozen writing prompts and a discussion guide with space for journal entries. These poems are simple enough for a second grader to understand, yet complex enough to start interesting discussions among people of all ages. An author's note urges readers to...