Undercover

Kephart, Beth. Undercover. New York: Harper Collins, 2007.

At school, Elisa ghostwrites love notes, Cyrano-style, for the boys in her school. After school, Elisa discovers her love for ice skating on a neglected pond in the middle of the woods. At home, Elisa is desperately hoping that her father will return and make things right again.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed reading Elisa's poetry - not the love-garbage that she wrote for the boys at school, but her real poetry. I love Elisa's English teacher, who replies to the inevitable, "How long does it have to be" question with "The right length: long enough to tell a story. Short enough to persuade me it's true." I also liked the teacher's choice to introduce the class to different types of poetry, and when asked if the students had to write poems like the ones they've studied, she answered, "Of course we are. This is Honors English."

This is a good book. A nice story. I was not uber-satisfied with the ending, but it is, nonetheless, a good read, well worth being placed on a classroom shelf.