Children's Books
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This is the sequel to Locomotion, continuing the story of Lonnie Collins Motion, but unlike the first book which was written in poems, this one uses letters written by Lonnie to his sister Lili who lives with a different foster family. He's decided that he will write as much as he can about the time before they are able to live together again, as the "rememberer" as Lili called it. One reason for the lack of poems is because his new 6th-grade teacher has told Lonnie that he is not a poet until he has something published. These words not only effect his poetry writing, but his overall school grades as well. But when another teacher takes over for his pregnant teacher, he is once again encouraged to write his poetry. As a backdrop to Lonnie's school troubles, where he is terrible at math, the story of Miss Edna's son Jenkins is brought to the forefront. He has been fighting in a war and is missing. Lonnie thinks a lot about peace and begins to end his letters to his sister with "Peace, Locomotion". Also, Miss Edna's other son, who returned home at the end of Locomotion, is back and studying to become a teacher which makes Lonnie laugh because Miss Edna has told him stories about how bad Rodney was in school as a child. He provides wise words to Lonnie, though, about how kids are really smart but sometimes don't know that they are. A lot of tough issues, including the recovery of Jenkins who has lost a leg, how Lonnie fits into his changing foster family, and the fact that Lili is now calling her foster mother "Mom" are covered in very few words. This book is excellent on CD and won a 2010 Odyssey Honor for recorded books. Highly recommended for grades 4-6. 
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