Bronx Masquerade

This past week I got to the pleasure to read "Bronx Masquerade" by Nikki Grimes. It was a refreshing novel to read. The poems that followed each character's feelings really broke up the readings and made the book read much faster. I did however think that focusing on 18 different characters was too much for me to handle. I found myself forgetting who was who. Sometimes characters were mentioned and then not revisited to later on and I thought they were completely new characters. So I had to write down every new character with a little description so I could keep everyone straight. Also the amount of characters made me wonder why the author focused on some of the characters more than the others. She started to talk about one character, but then not really elaborate on them except for one poem by that certain character. Also I felt that some characters were developed more than others and I would like to know why she chose those certain characters to develop more instead of the others. I thought all the poems were very well written and it made me wish I could express my feelings and thoughts as eloquently as the students did. I felt all emotions and events that a teenager might experience in high school were touched on, which made the novel relatable to almost anyone. I found myself going back to my high school years and relating to a character or two. Some issues that the students were dealing with were very deep and sometimes taboo to talk about, such as losing a parent to an Overdose. Obviously these issues are out there and I think it is important to talk about them and to let the children who are experiencing these issues to know they aren't alone. Besides the confusing characters overall I really enjoyed this book and it definitely didn't feel like homework when I was reading this novel.