As a first year teacher at an inner city elementary school, it was difficult for me to find materials that my fourth graders could relate to. I remember finding this book while searching the Coretta Scott King Awards as part of my graduate class on children's literature so I figured I'd give it a shot and see if it appealed to them. They were instantly enraptured with this text. They loved that it was written in the voice of an African American kid about their age. They made connections with almost every poem in the book. I was afraid some of it would be too heavy for my students to understand, but I ended up being surprised by how strongly they connected to certain parts. This book opened up dialogue in my class about many issues related to school, class, and society, and engaged some of my students, especially the boys, that were previously disengaged during reading. I recommend this to any teacher who is having trouble finding literature that appeals to intermediate students.

Locomotion is a book about an eleven year old boy and his life. The boys name is Lonnie Collins Motion. His parents died when he was 7 years old in a fire and him and his sister are in two different homes but not to far from each other. The whole book is poems in a notebook his teacher gave to him. He visits his sister every once in a while and just knows her foster mom doesn't want a boy to live with her. There are many things that go on in his life and he deals with it by writing it in a poem.

Locomotion is a story about a kid that wrote a book in poetry-form. He talks about stories of his mom and his family. This is a sad story. Some of the stories talk about his friend or classmate that is disabled. I liked this story because it's written in poetry-form and that he talks about a lot of poems in this story. I think that you should read this book if you like poems.But it doesnt have so much action.