Remember life at nine years old. The simplicity of childhood starts to open up into a larger awareness of the world and one's place in it. This can be both exciting and overwhelming, and feelings of isolation and confusion are common. In this unique poetic conception, X. B. Alloway returns to the experiences and memories of her nine-year-old self with poems about first love, conflict with parents and siblings, the transition from elementary to middle school, and other themes preteens will relate to, helping them to see that they are not alone.
Alloway's poems are imbued with her hindsight wisdom while remaining true to the tone and questions of a nine-year-old. Ultimately her message is an essential one for people of all ages: No matter what you're going through, it always gets better. You just have to take life day by day, moment by moment, and poem by poem.