Pearl verses the world, by Sally Murphy

Pearl struggles to fit in at school. She is not part of the footy group, the ballet group, or the rough kid group. She is in her own group of one. She lives with her mum and her granny. Always has. Always will. Pearl loves to write poetry. But not poetry that rhymes. This is a problem as her teacher Mrs Bruff says all poetry needs to rhyme.

Granny's health is deteriorating, the prettiest girl in school thinks Pearl has stolen her boyfriend, and all Pearl wants to do is write poetry that doesn't rhyme.

I am certainly not an expert on the form and structure of poetry but I love how well verse novels use language. This verse novel (which of course does not rhyme) is no exception. No words are wasted. It is tight and evocative.

Pearl verses the world is a great introduction to verse novels for younger readers. It is a well written, sad and beautiful story that will tug at the heart strings of adults too. Oddly, just as I was getting to the end I got some dust in my eye. Yeah, that's what it was. Dust in my eye.

Jonathan @Ashburton

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