It will encourage young readers to put their own emotions into words precisely because the form is so much less daunting than thickets of dense prose. The ground is covered swiftly, as befits a novel with running as its theme. Annie used to think of the baby as 'alien baby', but the feeling she expresses, of huge relief that all is well, will be instantly recognised by every new parent. She even manages to be funny about it: 'The baby has perfect hands and feet and / fingers and toes and ears / and eyes and nose / (and it is a human baby / which is a great relief)'. Her description of childbirth is very good, and will, as a bonus, teach young people what to expect. Creech, however, rarely falls into sentimentality. Sometimes, they tread a very fine line between the cheesy and the touching. There are places where the individual poem seems to be no more than a piece of prose cut up into short lines, but for the most part, they work well. They get to the point and don't waste time on descriptions, which seem to annoy a lot of young readers. They manage to pack a lot of emotion into a very short space.

True, they are, in the hands of a good writer like Creech, both elegant and economical. The last drawing of the apple is one tiny seed: all that's left after it's been eaten. Annie doesn't say this aloud, but it's there in the text for careful readers. The baby emerging into life is the beginning of a continuum that ends in death. It also demonstrates, neatly and economically, the truth about life: that it passes, that every day is different, that you must notice things before they disappear, and so forth. The progress of the apple and what becomes of it is a metaphorical parallel for what is happening to Annie's grand-father. They must each choose an apple and draw this piece of fruit every day for 100 days. Teachers and neighbours play walk-on parts in the drama and life outside the family circle is cleverly sketched into the picture.Īnnie's art teacher sets her class a project. Annie's mother is pregnant and the baby is a source of amazement, wonder, nervousness and awe throughout the book.

Her best friend, Max, who runs with her every day, is desperate for trainers so that he can take part in a particular race, but he can't afford them. He is sliding towards memory loss and the process grieves her. She lives with her parents and her grandfather, whom she adores. In Heartbeat the writer of the poems is Annie, who loves to run and who is good at art. Love That Dog described a young boy's discovery of the power of verse to console and also to encapsulate emotions that would otherwise be overwhelming. She won the Carnegie medal for her novel Ruby Holler and has in recent times branched out into the difficult area of poetry for younger readers. Sharon Creech is a prize-winning and prolific American writer who lived for many years in this country.

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