I won't easily forget Forget Me Not

 

I read Forget Me Not, a middle-grade story, in a day--not because it's a slim verse/vignette novel, which it is, but because it sucked me into Calliope's world. The writing is beautiful and the story compelling.

Calliope has Tourette syndrome (as does the author, Ellie Terry). I suspect most of us have little knowledge of this neurological disorder except that we heard that people with it can't control themselves and yell obscenities in public. But for Calliope it's something to try to hide even when she can't stop her tics (pulling her hair, winking, tapping, repeating words), but of course kids notice.

To make her situation worse, her mother keeps moving them so Calli has started new schools ten times in her short life. When she moves to a new town and meets Jinsong, she hopes she's found a friend but nothing comes that easy when you're different.

There is sadness in this story but also hope and resilience. Calli's voice is in free verse while Jinsong's is in prose vignettes.

Here is a sample verse of Calli's voice as they arrive in a new place:

We roll to a stop
in St. George, Utah:

bright blue skies,
hills the color of rust
speckled by sagebrush

unlike any town I've seen,
looks like someone took a paintbrush,
dipped it in a sunset

wish that pretty paintbrush
could sweep away this feeling
of hot air suffocating me.