Poetry-Review

The Simple Gift

By: Steven Herrick

A. Bibliographic Data

Herrick, Steven. 2000. The Simple Gift. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

ISBN: 978-0-689-86867-2

B. Plot Summary

The Simple Gift is a novel in verse. The book is about a young teenage boy named Billy who runs away from home because of an alcoholic and abusive father. Billy settles in a town and lives out of an abounded freight train. Billy meets and falls in love with a rich girl named Caitlin. He also meets and befriends an older runway. Billy calls the older friend Old Bill. Through the friendship of Old Bill a great opportunity is presented to Billy when he is in trouble. Billy learns the lesson of life that nothing is as it seems.

C. Critical Analysis

The Simple Gift is a novel, however written in verse or with poems. The book moves quickly as the reader becomes very interested in the characters found in the story. Steven Herrick does a profound job of weaving the characters thoughts and actions through poetry. The books aides in reader in understanding what life is like for a runaway and the sacrifices that are made when hard decisions have to be made. The novel also teaches the valuable lesson of nothing is as it seems, and we never know what people have been through or are going through when we meet them face to face. It also teaches how we should never judge someone based on their social status. The Simple Gift is written in easy to understand poetry, however the message and meaning behind the story runs very deep.

D. Awards

*Vision Australia Library Awards (2001)

*The Childrens Book of the Year Awards (2001)

Notable Australian Childrens Book - Older Readers

*Childrens Peace Literature Award (2001)

School Library Journal Review-"A free-verse novel told in three voices. Billy, 16, says good riddance to his abusive father and hops a freight train. Settling in a small town in Australia that has a friendly librarian and a train yard with abandoned cars to call home, he adjusts quickly to life, figuring out how to eat and keep clean. Intelligent and mature, the teen thinks about cruelty, compassion, and what his life has become–"I'm poor, homeless, but I'm not stupid." He meets and falls in love with Caitlin, a rich and dissatisfied girl who quickly sees there is more to Billy than a starving bum grabbing leftovers off the tables in McDonald's. He also befriends Old Bill, a homeless drunk who teaches him a few things, including how to earn money. Billy has little to offer but compassion, and that's what these two people so desperately need. All three of them are able to give the simplest gifts to one another in this beautiful, subtle, and sensitive story. Tough language is occasionally and appropriately used, and the sexuality is indirectly portrayed, sweet and full of love. A dramatic and compelling story that will appeal even to reluctant readers, this book exceeds Herrick's pair of verse novels, Love, Ghosts, & Facial Hair and A Place Like This."-School Library Journal Review

E. Connections

*Read and introduce other novels in verse to students.

*Have students write and discuss about what it means to belong or have a home.

*Conduct an author study over Steven Herrick and his homeland Australia.