Welcome to Poetry Friday! Our host for this week is the talented and fellow nature lover, Rose Cappelli. You can join the round-up on her blog at Imagine the Possibilities.

This week, I want to celebrate Jone Rush MacCulloch’s new book, Tilt, by offering my review of this novel in verse. I’ve been blessed by Jone’s friendship and trust, as she allowed me to be a beta reader for her book. She used so many positive and thoughtful writing constructs in this piece of work, on top of the story, that she deserves to revel in its publication. Thank you, Jone, for sharing this story with me as you moved toward publication, and now with the world, as it became published. I am honored by your inclusion in this heartfelt and important piece of work.

Tilt: A Book Review

by Carol Labuzzetta, April 27, 2026

When I read Jone MacCulloch’s new book in verse, Tilt, many things came to mind.

Tilt is a middle-grade novel inspired by the lived experience of a student Jone knew at the school where she was the librarian. Jone and the school community wgreatly affected by the death of a student years ago. She wrote the story partly to ensure that this student would not be forgotten.

Jone took the inspiration from true-life events and wove them into a fictional story with characters that were experiencing relatable, unfortunate life events, including divorce, death of a parent, friendships – both new and old, relationships, and testing the limits of who you are when you are in fifth grade. This was expertly done and realistically incorporated into the story.

The dialogue in Jone’s story, which includes the reason for using the word “Tilt,” arises naturally. She accurately represents how students talk to each other and act during a time when they are figuring out not only their own identity but also where they fit in with peers. Middle school is hard. Life sometimes makes it harder.

Written in verse, the author augmented the story’s emotional context. In some odd way, the brevity of the verse makes the story addictive, urging the reader on to the next chapter. I feel this is perfect for a reluctant, middle-grade reader.

The reader will follow the main character, Darrah, through some difficult times in her life. At the outset, her parents’ relationship changes, and thus, she changes in the ways she thinks about her life and her friends. When Darrah’s friends don’t react the way she thinks they should to events in her life, she becomes hurt, angry, and frustrated.

Some coming-of-age themes, such as testing limits set by parents and oneself, navigating friendships through grief, peer pressure, and jealousy, becoming a latchkey kid, which is shown, not told, and more, set the tone of this serious but engaging story.

As Darrah’s home life and friendships change, we meet more characters. Central to the story is Garry the Oak, a tree in Darrah’s front yard. The old oak tree challenges Darrah to believe in herself and encourages her to take chances. It is a reliable influence in her life, returned to during the story again and again.

A boy, Jackson, who becomes Darrah’s new friend, challenges her on many levels. She enjoys his intellect and joie de vivre as they adventure together during their fifth-grade school year. He replaces the friendship Darrah felt she had lost.

Throughout the naturally flowing book created by Jone, the reader becomes invested in the story. No one could write such a believable, relatable story using the emotions, actions, and conversations we see during the tale unless they had dealt firsthand with students at the age the characters are in this story.

Although there is a tragedy near the end of the book, Darrah and Jackson’s story is told with compassion and grace, with the realistic details of life woven in. You’ll laugh, and yes, you might cry, but one thing is certain: you’ll enjoy this book.

School, public, and home libraries will soon include Tilt. Students will relate to it. Parents will read it, recognizing their children in the story. And teachers will have a new book to refer their students to about life, loss, friendship, grief, and resilience.

I highly recommend the book Tilt by Jone Rush MacCulloch.

Jone has the book available on Amazon. (I am not an Amazon affiliate and will not benefit from your purchase.)

This week, I have moved away from poetry to working on a picture book idea I have. The story is written, and I am on my third revision. It’s given me a fresh perspective to work on something different.

The loons appear to be back on the lake. One is silently swimming alone at dusk near our dock. I wonder if he’s guarding a nest. I have to investigate soon, but I don’t want to scare them off. In the meantime, I came up with this haiku:

Welcome home, Loon friends-

I have longed to hear your calls,

Build your nest and stay

I am still working on the new website (although I haven’t done much this week). If you didn’t get to check it out last week, the URL is https://caroljlabuzzetta.com

At this time, the only way you can leave a comment (I believe) is to use the contact form. You can also sign up to follow me/receive newsletters. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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And, finally, I know some have reported difficulty accessing this WordPress site. I can report that there was no malware found and the site is secure as of this writing. It is not blacklisted or harmful to be on this WordPress site as per the scans I ran. I went through and deleted a couple of pages I had left empty – in hopes of editing – because it appeared that might have been contributing to the problem. Thanks.