Forgive me, I meant to do it

by Gail Carson Levine

Illustrated by Matthew Cordell

Harper, 2012. Nonfiction.

This book stole a place in my cold, sarcastic heart. Inspired by William Carlos Williams' ruefully famous plum poem (look it up), popular fairy tale author, Gail Carson Levine, explores the most famous of all genres: the non-apology. Levine starts each of her poems in the same way as that famous ode to sweet plums: "this is just to say." And nearly every poem contain the same flippant "forgive me" that William Carlos Williams immortalized. If you're not intrigued enough yet, consider this: true to style, Levine makes most of the poems a twist on popular fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Trust me, you're going to want to know who steals Jill from Jack, and just why that princess could feel a pea underneath a pile of mattresses.

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