Judy Scruppernong by Brenda Seabrooke

     Growing up I never really liked reading poetry. I liked simple straight-forward reading and with poetry I always thought that it was complicated to figure out all of the meanings. Well now that I am older I still kinda feel the same way, so in order to change my way of thinking I thought I would look for a different type of poetry book. What I found was very unexpected! I found a book that I just couldn't put down! This book is made up of poems that tell a story, and an interesting one at that!
      In the series of poems we catch a glimpse of how life was in the 1950's back when it was a world of powdered mitts,nickel cokes and candy bars, and fourteen-cent movies.The book Judy Scruppernong is set in the summer of the early 1950's in Fitzgerald, Georgia.  A new girl named Judy has come to town and become friends with 3 girls. The book is a set of poems that are from Deanna's, one of the friends, perspective. She goes through how the four girls play together and become close friends. She also talks about the differences between how the local girls are treated in comparison to the new girl, Judy. At the end of the book we see exactly why Judy is treated so differently and if Deanna tells the rest of her friends the truth..
     I enjoyed reading this series of poems because it feels like I'm actually reading a book. The freestyle writing made it easy to read and even enjoyable. For example, one poem titled Lunch is exactly what it says, it's about the three friends wanting to go to lunch with Judy but being told they couldn't and feeling disappointed.  Although it was set in the 1950's, I feel that the story being told is still relate-able today.

     In conclusion, the book Judy Scuppernong is a highly enjoyable series of poems. The story of Judy and what happens to her is very interesting and I couldn't put the book down! The ease in which you can understand the poems makes this book a great read!