Rosen, Michael J. Running with Trains: A Novel in Poetry and Two Voices.

Rosen, Michael J.   Running with Trains: A  Novel in Poetry and Two Voices. Boyd's Mills/Word Song    102p  $15.95      978-1-59078-863-9       ms/hs     VG Realistic fiction

It is not difficult to see why Michael J. Rosen is a prize-winning poet.  In this book, three strengths stand out: the unique plot, the creative writing style, and the fully-realized characterizations. 

The story weaves back and forth between the lives of two young boys, farm boy Steve and traveler Perry.  Perry rides the train weekly between his mom’s house and Gram’s house, and he despises it.  He wants to be with his mom full-time, but she must go to school to provide for the family that remains after Father has gone missing in action from the Vietnam War.  Steve has responsibilities too great for his young age, but that is expected of a farmer’s son.  He is ordered around until he can’t stand it anymore, and he seeks solace in chasing the train that crosses his family’s farm, wishing he could board it and go far away.  The poetic meter simulates the whooshing of a train as it flies along the tracks, and before the reader even knows it, he/she is drawn into a reading rhythm.  At the end of the book, the author explains all of the poetic forms he used to write this book.  Mostly it is written in blank verse with a meter of iambic pentameter. 

Finally, the characterizations are wonderful.  More mature readers will relate to some of the feelings that the boys experience about their situations.  We especially feel regret for Perry when he tries to communicate through letters to his sister who is away at college.  He tries to use guilt to convince her to write to him, but she resists.  The chapter about Steve that one can connect to is his chapter on rules.  Even younger readers will relate to this section!  The lives of the two young men intersect when cows escape the meadow and stop the train.  The conductor, Steve and Perry join forces to corral them, and both boys experience an exhilaration that unites them.  Perry discovers that happiness has to happen in the “now”, and that is the greatest message that comes out of this book.  Teenagers who love poetry will undoubtedly enjoy this book.  Teenagers who loathe it will have trouble with the setting and the characters’ stories and the time period.  Language-arts teachers will find a use for this book at the high-school level.  It could easily be used to teach theme, compare/contrast and character traits.  With support, middle-school language-arts classes could read this book as well.       

Stories in verse, Vietnam War–Fiction, Farm life-Fiction    

-- Martha Squaresky