In My Sky at Twilight by Gaby Morgan (editor)
| In My Sky at Twilight by Gaby Morgan (editor) | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Laura Bailey
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| Summary: A really great, varied collection of classic love poetry aimed at teenage fans of the Twilight series. This collection would appeal to anyone with a penchant for romance. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 144 | Date: January 2010 |
| Publisher: Macmillan's Children's Books | |
| ISBN: 978-0230745865 | |
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Off the back of the success of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series there has been a boom in vampire novels aimed at teenagers. In My Sky at Twilight is perhaps one of the most unusual books to come out of this craze as it is a collection of love poetry aimed at teenage fans of the series.
In My Sky at Twilight has been put together by Gaby Morgan, the Editorial Director of the Macmillan Children's Books Poetry list. Morgan is responsible for other well known children's poetry collections such as Read Me: A Poem for Every Day of the Year, Read Me and Laugh and Read Me at School.
This collection is mainly made up of the archetypal love poetry that we all know and admire. It includes classics such as Shakespeare's Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's How Do I Love Thee? and Byron's She Walks In Beauty as well as poetry by John Keats, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Blake. It also includes a nice range of more modern poets such as Carol Ann Duffy and John Betjeman. It is the kind of book that you will find yourself wanting to read in a park on a summer's day.
Chances are that those at the age to read the Twilight series may have come across some of these poets already and so will feel as if they are in something like familiar territory - a good way of encouraging them to keep reading. The variety in this book is also wonderful, with nearly all the poetry in this collection being short enough and accessible enough to hold the attention of younger readers who may not be familiar with reading poetry.
There are a few poems that I felt jarred with the book's intentions, such as The Orange by Wendy Cope and Stella's Birth-Day by Jonathan Swift. As much as I appreciate these as poems in their own right, they don't quite seem to fit in a book about 'eternal love' aimed at teenage fans of vampire literature.
This way of getting teenagers interested in reading poetry is a really good idea and a great use of marketing. This book has similar contents to hundreds of love poetry anthologies, however, this kind of packaging makes it more socially acceptable for teens to be seen reading poetry, and with a cover and style that looks familiar they will be much more likely to pick it up.
The poems in this collection are all beautiful and this is the kind of anthology that it is perfect to dip in and out of at leisure. Despite being an adult, and therefore not part of the target market, I still found this collection gorgeous to read and, ignoring its packaging, (which I actually quite like) the contents would probably appeal to anyone. This is therefore a book that will continue to hold the reader's interest long after their teenage years have left them.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Further reading suggestion: If you liked In My Sky at Twilight then you might like The Fury (The Vampire Diaries) by L J Smith.
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You can read more book reviews or buy In My Sky at Twilight by Gaby Morgan (editor) at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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