Funny enough, though, I highly recommend this book to young male readers. I feel that too many published books today don’t produce novels that have young male readers as their target audience. THE CRIMSON WITCH has a lot of action and a lot of attitude that I think would appeal to teenagers. The characters speak in an urban way, with lots of swearing and slang. A reviewer on Amazon mentioned this as a point against recommending this to a YA audience, but I feel that type of attitude is why books published today don’t appeal to many teenagers or young boys. Give them something they want to read and that will excite them. THE CRIMSON WITCH has a lot of the narrative plot lines that are settled by fisticuffs. Aurora’s main goal is be stronger than everyone else, which is very reminiscent of Japanese anime. She’s a lot like Goku, or Naruto, which are hugely popular amongst young men.

In Days to Come, by Lisa Timpf, is the type of book that makes one wish more people read and appreciated poetry. Timpf’s writing conjures a tone that slips right into the consciousness, leaving one with the impression that they are conversing with a childhood friend.

I have often suggested to my prose-writing students to study poetry, and Paola Caronni is definitely one that should be analyzed for the clear yet concise language she uses that invokes lyric yet concrete imagery. “I harvest red tomatoes, bite their sweet inviting meat / dripping joyous blood that tickles my naked arms.”

This is noteworthy considering the obstacles Sonia has endured throughout her life, and it reveals the bright spark the poet carries for a future that can be so much better than the past, no matter what trials happened in yester-years.

DON’T CRY, PHOENIX is a collection of 56 poems from poet Sonia F.L. Leung.

In each bend you discover surprises, tragedies, wisdoms and little bursts of learnings, such as the poems about the making of clay tsa-tsas.