Theater provides not only entertainment, but also, for many kids, a place to be creative and find friends who enjoy the same things they do. Limelight: Curtain Up On Poetry Comics! by Renée M. LaTulippe delves deep into the theater world from the perspective of each element.
For instance, there’s the audition from the perspective of the actors and the director. But there are also unexpected viewpoints, like from the costumes, the stage curtains and the theater seats. Readers get to learn about the buildup to a show until opening night.
Even more fun, is that each element gets the spotlight with a bit of poetry. A guide at the back tells which kind of poem was used in each case. There are well known forms, such as rhyming couplet, abstract, and concrete poems. But there are also many that are not common known, such as reverso, echo, monorhyme, and pregunta, which is described as “the first stanza asks one or more questions that are answered in the second stanza.
Illustrations by Chuck Gonzales provide the graphic interface that helps readers pull it all together. It’s a great way to hooked on poetry as well as theater. I recommend Limelight for anyone ages 9 to 12. It’s sure to appeal not just to budding actors, but to anyone who likes attending performances or who may be interested in working behind the scenes on the stage crew.
The publisher provided a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
